Feet can be icky. In Jesus’ time, they could be really icky. The most common mode of transportation was walking…wearing open sandals…in hot, dusty country. It was a given that feet got filthy. Washing them before settling down indoors was a matter of course. A part of normal hospitality was providing a basin of water for guests to do so. Each home also had basins available for family members to use when they returned home after a day of activity.
For someone to wash their own feet was one thing. To wash someone else’s feet was a different matter. Such an act indicated that either:
- The washer was very lowly, a servant;
- The “wash-ee” was very highly respected; or
- The washer deeply loved the wash-ee 1.
The Gospels give three different stories involving foot washing. All were totally shocking to the participants, in very different ways.
Sinful Woman Washes Jesus’ Feet
In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus was a guest at the house of a Pharisee. As a guest, He might have expected that foot-washing water would be available. It wouldn’t even have been surprising for the Pharisee to have a household servant tasked to wash the feet of his visitors. But he didn’t. Someone else performed that service.
There was “a woman in the city who was a sinner” who crashed the party. She was definitely not an invited guest. By the Pharisee’s reaction, it’s obvious that she wasn’t part of his household, either.
And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.
Luke 7:37-38
Washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair 2, kissing them, anointing them with expensive perfume… I think that it is safe to say that this woman exemplified all three of the foot-washing criteria: She considered herself to be lowly, and she highly respected and loved Jesus. Why?
The Pharisee thought this a test of Jesus’ authenticity, and was offended by it. A real prophet would know who this sinful woman was, and would not let her near him. Jesus turned it into a teaching moment. As a “real prophet”, He knew that the woman was genuinely repentant and willing to gratefully accept His forgiveness. He also knew that the Pharisee put on a good show, but didn’t think there was anything wrong with him.
Jesus went on to demonstrate that He was not simply a prophet. He was on earth with divine authority to forgive sins, as only God has a right to do.
For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:47-50
Mary Anoints Jesus’ Feet
Another incident was similar. Instead of a sinful woman in a skeptical Pharisee’s house, though, the lead role was played by Mary, sister of Jesus’ good friend Lazarus. The story is told in John 12:1-8. It takes place after Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead (in John 11). It is now only one day before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and just six days until His crucifixion.
Again, Jesus is a dinner guest. Like the earlier woman, Mary anointed His feet with perfume and wiped them with her hair. This time the perfume was very expensive, the equivalent of almost a year’s wages. Judas was offended (or pretended to be) by the seeming waste. He said that the money should have gone to something more practical, like giving to the poor.
Jesus knew, and Mary apparently understood, that there was no more time for practicality. His time on earth was almost ended.
Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.
John 12:7-8
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
The third incident was most shocking of all. As John 13:1-17 records, Jesus got up after His final meal with the disciples, stripped down to only a servant’s clothing, and washed their feet. This time, it was Peter who was offended. He knew how lowly he was, and did not want Jesus stooping so far as to wash his feet like a servant. Peter knew that he did not deserve that kind of service; none of us do. But Jesus was giving a teaching moment for all of us.
You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 13:13-14
We can’t say that He met our first two criteria: He wasn’t lowly, and those he was serving were not highly respected. But He overwhelmingly met the third: He deeply loved His “wash-ee’s”. They didn’t know it at the time, but He was on His way to give His life for them. He wanted them to follow His example, and be willing to put aside all their pride and do whatever it took to serve one another.
Upside-Down Values
In a world where the culture says to advance so that we can have others wait on us, Jesus taught that the most advanced (How could anyone be more advanced than God in the flesh?!) were to wait on everyone else. His values are upside down from those of our world. That concept is so difficult to grasp that it took an object lesson this dramatic to get it through the disciples’ heads.
The same is still true today with us, His modern-day disciples … and wash-ee’s.
If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
John 13:17
Footnotes and Scripture References
- There is a lot of historical detail on the practice in this article.
- In a time when it was considered shameful for a woman’s hair to be uncovered in public, no less!
