Today is what is known as Maundy Thursday. On the night before His crucifixion Jesus and His disciples met together in the upper room to share in the Passover Feast. It was during this time together with His disciples that Jesus showed them, and us, two remarkable things to remember Him by.
The first one was The Lord’s Supper or what we now call Holy Communion. That is what you I will share in tomorrow on Good Friday. After sharing in the Lord’s Supper Jesus did another remarkable thing. He filled a basin with water and put a towel around his waist and washed His disciples’ feet. He made Himself to be a humble lowly servant. In those days a servant who was a foot washer was considered to be the lowest form of servants ever. Later on Jesus says in John 13: 34-35 “A new command I give you; love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The word Maundy comes from the Latin pertaining to the commandments, hence the reference to Jesus’ New Commandment of Love. So now we often remember this event of foot washing as a way of showing each other and the world how much we love each other and our neighbors. I think it would be wonderful thing if we could get together and have a foot washing ceremony on this Maundy Thursday. But sorry to say, we are living at a time during this Corona Virus thing when we are not allowed to even touch each other let alone wash each other’s feet.
Perhaps what Jesus is telling us now is that there may be different ways in which we could be foot washers. Now during this time would be a great time to practice servanthood –so that they may see Jesus. Yesterday an elderly man told me that should he get really sick he would not want to be revived or have a ventilator used on him. He would rather save that ventilator for someone much younger than him who might have a family to care of. Could that be true foot washing? I know someone who makes sure that an elderly couple is supplied with groceries and their daily medications. Could be true foot washing? Not long ago Joanie (my wife) went to Costco and noticed that a lady had just grabbed the last case of toilet paper from the shelf. A rather disappointed lady was standing next to her and what the lady with the toilet paper did was split the case open and gave the disappointed lady half of the rolls and even paid for them. Could that be a true foot washing? I know someone who cooks a meal for a hard working nurse so that she doesn’t have to worry about making a meal for her family after a long and scary day of working at the hospital. Could that be true foot washing? I could cite many more foot washings going on during this scary and stressful pandemic time. Do you think that perhaps God is giving us golden opportunities to be foot washers to each other and to our neighbors during this time of fear and stress? How about we go and wash some feet----so that they may see Jesus.