Washing of the Feet

Holy Thursday! 

One of the few times of the year you can say this and it has both a secular and religious meaning. I confess, my exclamation was generated in the secular realm. As it is on Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Holy Friday, Holy Saturday and Holy Sunday. 

This is because I am a professional Foot Washer. You know the whole speech given by Jesus that fine Maundy Thursday so long ago? Yes, that would be my job description. 

For those less biblically inclined:

 “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

So…how did I acquire this auspicious sounding calling? Let me be clear…(bonus blessings if you can name who I stole that from…)…it’s not as uncommon as you think. In fact, given that this was the mandate of one of the most revered spiritual figures of all history (note: I’m religiously non-partisan), I’m pretty sure we are ALL called to participate in this at one time or another. Kind of like military service in some countries. 

And, I suppose like military service, there are the Lifers. Similarly, most of those who try it opt for the two to four year commitment, and then decide that they are just not cut out for this. Us Lifers just didn’t have that option. I think this is filed under the “many-are-called-but- few-are-chosen” category.

However, since we are all in this together, really, allow me to speak candidly.

Most of us will get our opportunity to Foot Wash with the children in our lives, whether that’s babysitting as a teenager, or having your own, or adopting someone else’s. And this then becomes a temporary exposure to the Footwashers Activities of Daily Living (henceforth to be called ADLs. You Footwashers know what I’m talkin’ about, don’t cha?) The rest of us will get our chance, most likely on the Back Nine of life, with parents, grandparents, or other people we love.

It’s a tough world, this Foot washing, because it actually entails a lot more than washing feet. I think Jesus was making a point, and rather than have the whole crew strip down, the lowly, middle-eastern-sandal-clad-dirty feet would have to serve as the example. We come to understand this in Foot Washing boot camp, which, as I said, is with children. It’s the whole child who needs to be washed. Daily. And what a noble calling and task it is. In fact, I pity the culture that allows some people to pay someone else to do this job, claiming they have better things to do…or are somehow above this. How sad. But there comes a day when those darling little biscuit feet belong to a rather oily, sweaty kid who is quite capable of handling their own ADLs, and if we even stopped to notice this, we'll rejoice!  

And then there’s us. A group I have labeled The Reluctant Elite. (Generally speaking, I dislike and avoid labels, but, well, if the shoe fits…wash the foot that’s in it.) We are the benefactors of feet that may never even wear a conventional shoe. And the body that goes with it. Yup…we were chosen.

The unfortunate part of this is that we live in a society that has gotten all some kind of squeamish about the human body and its function, to the point of almost complete dysfunction. Human beings in our American culture have fallen to new lows of self-loathing that have us believing that without multiple “products”, we are totally gross. We stink. We leak. We have bad breath and crooked teeth. We have hair we don’t want in places we don’t want it, and the wrong kind of hair in the places we do. Still more products needed. Our skin is too pale/dark/spotted/dry/oily and requires still more products to “fix”, and if you are female, requires some type of paint to accentuate one part and disguise the other. And only after we have donned our chemical costumes are we fit to join the rest of the world. We cringe when we see a body that is less (or more) than the air-brushed billboard model. And unless that body belongs to you, you certainly don’t want to touch it! And by the same token, we, in our very natural state, do not want to be touched! In the text prior to Jesus’ above statement, his pal Peter was going to have none of this pedicure done by holy hands, presumably because he felt unworthy, or Jesus was TOO worthy. Either way, Jesus tells him he’s going to understand later that there is no greater-than or less-than in the human being. Seems we’re still pretty lost on this count yet today.

So when the Foot Washers of today get their notice, it kinda feels like getting the short straw. And from a purely physical standpoint, we might be justified in questioning this calling. Isn’t it enough to have to keep track of our own hygiene? Our own self care, our own food intake and output (to put it delicately)? With the pervading attitude about our bodies, it’s no surprise to feel this way. “I couldn’t do what you do.” How many of us have heard that before? 

Well, that’s really too bad, because as a now 30-year veteran of this branch of service, I can tell you that Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”  I don’t believe, however, he was referring to the symbolic gesture of his own actions, or the Pope symbolically washing the feet of women prisoners (great PR move, by the way), or the poignant ritual at weddings and celebrations of commitment. I believe he was referring to our willingness as humans to embrace other humans, right down to the point of taking care of their most intimate and “dirtiest” selves when necessary. I think he was referring also to the magic that happens when we begin to see our calling as holy, sacred, and high. Tough to do when people pity you for it, but not impossible. 

It’s hard to explain to people, because Foot Washing takes place in the inner sanctum of the human world. Behind closed doors. Literally. What happens in the inner sanctum stays in the inner sanctum. And we wash our own feet alone, tend to our own cleansing rituals in the privacy of our own space, judged only by ourselves and our own view of our bodies. Naked and (hopefully) unashamed. Raw and uncensored. Pure. Holy. Sacred. But when you are called to enter someone else’s sacred space, you are humbled beyond description. To be the hands of another; to tend to the body of another who cannot tend themselves is a privilege of the highest order. While you have the able body, you realize the dichotomy that you are not the master, but the servant. Your ability to take charge and do what needs to be done does not make you the master…quite the cognitive dissonance in a society that still believes the myth of survival of the fittest, dog-eat-dog competition and only the strong surviving. Rather, it’s a baptism into the world of cooperation, and ultimate trust, where your abilities and strength make the survival of the weakest a blessed possibility. Your hands become the grace of God on earth, providing the human touch to those who often times receive precious little of that. To live up to the sacred trust of keeping someone else’s ears clean, nose clear, face free of oils, nails trimmed and scratching exactly where it itches without feeling it yourself is to live up to the highest call of God in anyone’s life. 

And so today, I lift my glass to my fellow Foot Washers, (who all know it contains coffee, since sleep comes to Foot Washers in 2-3 hour increments). You are good and faithful servants…and “now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (Jesus’ words…my experience!) May today be one of those days you KNOW those blessings. 

For those who are not currently Foot Washers…find one. They are all around you. You won’t see them much, because the title doesn’t afford them much on the social circuit. But they are there. Perhaps you would like to know of these blessings. How about shadowing them for a day? Or dayS? Or periodically stepping up to hand them a fresh towel? Get them a glass of water? Save them some supper? Stand in their gap when they need a nap? Rest assured that in the Circle of Life, you will either need to get your feet washed, or you will be a Foot Washer, but there’s no time like the present to get in on the blessings that are so richly bestowed upon those who “know these things”. 

Time to go and get today’s Master up and dressed. I get the smiling face, the morning hug which I must engineer, the laughter and the conversation during our daily “foot wash”. 

Holy Thursday, Jesus, you weren’t kidding about those blessings, were you?