One of the unfortunate consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, is that, as we all know, we’ve had to change the way we do things during our church services. One of the casualties of that, is that tonight, we can’t continue that great Maundy Thursday tradition of the Washing of Feet.
I suppose though, how much of a sadness that is, depends on how you feel about having your feet washed. Some people are quite happy for the parish priest to wash their feet but others, are most definitely not happy about it. And I suppose which of those two camps you fall into depends on your feelings about feet in general because I know that some people just don’t like feet and really don’t want anyone touching their feet. Even though some people do feel that way though, there’s not usually a shortage of people who are willing to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday, in fact, there are usually more people willing to have their feet washed than the required number of twelve.
Having said that, I can remember a couple occasions in the past when it seemed that no one in the congregation of the parish church where I was serving at the time, were willing to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday. It must be said that, on each occasion, when I first asked for volunteers to have their feet washed, there was no shortage of them; a lot of hands went up. But when I said that we were going to do things slightly differently that Maundy Thursday, it was a very different matter. What I said was, that in line with our Lord’s instruction that his disciples should wash one another’s feet, I would wash the first person’s feet, but then that person would wash the second person’s feet, the second would wash the third, the third the fourth and so on until we got to the twelfth person, who would then wash my feet. As I spoke, I noticed that the hands started to go down and by the time I’d finished speaking, everyone had put their hands down. And, when I asked again who wanted to have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday, no one put their hands up!
I must admit, it came as no surprise to me that a lot of people put their hands down when I said what we were planning to do. But I was disappointed that everyone put their hands down and that no one was willing to volunteer to have their feet washed in those circumstances.
And I was disappointed because, actually, what I was suggesting we do, is far more in keeping with what Jesus said to his disciples than the way we traditionally carry out the Washing of Feet in Church on Maundy Thursday. Just think about the words we’ve just read:
“Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
Quite clearly then, both by word and example, Jesus is not telling us to let one person wash everyone else’s feet, but that we, his disciples, should all wash one another’s feet. That’s obviously not what we usually do on Maundy Thursday and it’s not the Church’s tradition, but I think this is one example of the Church being complicit in encouraging Christians not to follow the example and teaching of Jesus. And that was clearly shown in those parishes where so many people were prepared to let a priest wash their feet, but no one was prepared to wash any feet themselves.
There can’t be any doubt that we, as Christians, are called to follow Jesus’ teaching and example, whatever that teaching and example is; we can’t call ourselves his disciples if we’re not prepared to do that. That’s made clear in our baptismal promises, and if we were baptised as infants, as most of us probably were, in the promises we took on for ourselves at our confirmation. And we can’t say we’re not aware of what those promises are because we renew them, every year, either at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night, or on Easter Day. We’ve promised to turn to Christ as our Saviour, to submit to Christ as our Lord and to come to Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. And we pray for the strength to follow Christ in that way, in his way. So we can’t be in any doubt that we’re called to follow Jesus’ teaching and example, because we’re reminded of it every year and we renew our promises to do that, every year.
The thought of washing someone’s feet might not be a particularly pleasant one for some people. It might be a teaching and example of Jesus that some people wouldn’t really be too keen on following. But in light of our baptismal promises, it’s a teaching and example of Jesus that we should all be prepared to follow if necessary.
And in fact, if we think about the meaning of Jesus’ washing his disciples feet on Maundy Thursday, we find that it has many, many similarities with the meaning of our baptism.
Washing the disciples feet and being baptised were both things that Jesus didn’t have to do but did. And they’re both things that he commanded us, his disciples, to do too. In Jesus’ time, when someone arrived at a house, their feet would be washed to remove the dirt that people had picked on their feet as they’d walked on the dusty roads and footpaths of the time. And baptism is about washing as well. It’s not about washing away any physical dirt that we pick up on the roads and footpaths, but it is about washing away the dirt of the sins that we pick up as we travel along the road of life. It’s about being washed clean from that sin. That’s one way we understand the symbolism of pouring water over people at their baptism, and we symbolise that at the Renewal of Baptismal Vows on Holy Saturday and Easter Day by sprinkling with water from the font.
In the introduction to the Church of England’s baptism service, it says that, in baptism,
‘…we are washed by the Holy Spirit and made clean. Here we are clothed with Christ, dying to sin that we may live his risen life.’
St Paul speaks in these terms quite often in his letters. He speaks of the baptised being clothed in Christ or putting on Christ, and he explains what that means, the kind of life that those who are clothed with Christ should live. He says that the baptised should put their old, sinful ways behind them, and live according to Christ’s teaching and example. In fact, when people are baptised, they become members of the Church, they become part of Christ, part of the Body of Christ as St Pauls puts it. And we find Jesus saying words very much to the same effect in the Maundy Thursday Gospel:
“If I do not wash you, you have no share”, or “nothing in common with me.”
So we have these similarities between the Washing of Feet on Maundy Thursday and our baptism and baptismal promises. And when we look at it in this way, we can see that following Jesus’ teaching and example to “wash one another’s feet” is simply a living out of our baptismal promises.
And to wash one another’s feet is a better way to live out those promises than simply having our feet washed by someone else.
In Jesus’ time, washing the feet of others was the job of a servant or a slave. But it was something Jesus, our Lord and Master himself did. But didn’t Jesus also say to his disciples that,
“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”?
I know that the thought of washing someone else’s feet isn’t a very pleasant prospect for many people. Some perhaps think it’s beneath them to do such a menial job. But it wasn’t beneath Jesus’ dignity to do it. He is not only our Lord and Master, he’s our God too, and he washed the feet of his disciples. Are we too proud to follow his example?
Some people perhaps think washing someone else’s feet is a thoroughly loathsome thing to do, or even to be asked to do. They might be disgusted at the prospect. I’m sure Jesus wasn’t too thrilled at the prospect of being scourged and crucified on Good Friday, but he did it, and he did it for people who, on the whole, didn’t appreciate what he’d done for them. And he did it for you and for me. Can’t we even bring ourselves to do something much less unpleasant, like washing someone’s feet, in return?
Most people will probably never be asked to wash someone’s feet as part of their Christian discipleship, but we can see the washing of feet as a metaphor for all the difficult and unpleasant things we may be asked to do as disciples of Christ. We’ve allowed Christ to wash us in the waters of baptism so that we can have a share in him, so that we can be part of him, part of his Body, the Church. We’ve promised to have something in common with him by following his teaching and example. So are we prepared to wash each other’s feet, as he commanded us to? Where do we draw line between what we will and won’t do for Jesus, the one who gave his life for us?
Amen.
The Propers for Maundy Thursday can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 