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Washed their Feet
Washed their Feet
“Then the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder” (Genesis 43:24).
Here we see one of nearly 50 passages in the bible that speak of washing of people’s feet, 19 of these are in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament period the primary footwear was the sandal and the primary mode of travel was walking, and the primary road/path was dirt. This simply made for a universal condition of dirty feet. What do you do with dirty feet? You wash them. In those conditions, if someone comes to your dwelling place, you provide for them to wash their feet. Sometimes you provide them the water and they wash their own feet; at other times a servant might wash their feet. This was just common courtesy that was necessitated by the conditions of the day.
Such continued to be the condition of the world in the New Testament period. Thus, such was the common expectation of conduct of hospitality. Such is the background to Jesus washing the feet of the disciples in John 13. Such was not a religious ceremony; it was an act of serving. The disciples, because of their pride, refused to serve one another in such a way. Jesus, their master and Lord of all, had no such reservation about serving. Philippians 2 states that “although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant…” (vs. 6-7).
Today, with modern socks and shoes of OUR country, and the paved roads and sidewalks, the use of cars, busses, bikes, and such, there is little or no need to either provide for the washing of one’s feet or the actual washing of them. Hospitality, yes, but this specific act – no.
Move to another country where they yet wear sandals and walk on dirt roads and paths, such may be a correct way of providing for needs of others. In such cases, people ought to wash each other’s feet.
What I am getting at is simply that while the specific act may no longer be needed of us, the attitude of serving one another IS still to be part of our character. We are instructed simply “by love, serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).
If Jesus was able to serve others, surely YOU can be a servant! You can do acts that are considered ‘lowly and demeaning’. You can – or can you?
Hugh DeLong
