Hands and Feet
Notes
Transcript
“Having loved his own who were in the cosmos, Jesus now loved them to the love’s ultimate realization.” (John 13:1b - original translation)
Loving to completion was a one-time event. That end, that ‘telos’ in Greek, was not abstract in John’s Gospel. On the cross in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ last word is “It has been brought to perfect completion” (tetelestai) usually translated “it is finished” and then “he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
The scene is thus set for the last supper with Jesus loving fully, while also being fully aware of the betrayal that was to happen and what was to become of him.
In the midst of this recognition, one that sparked profoundly human emotion in him - the same emotion that led him to plead with God in Gethsemane to take the burden if possible but to let God’s will be done first - in the midst of all that emotion, Jesus strips off his outer robe, picks up a towel, and washes the feet of every disciple - yes, even Judas.
This act of humility comes with two admonitions from Jesus: first, they must allow Jesus to wash their feet to have a part in him, despite Peter’s protests that he should not debase himself to wash their feet. And second, they too must wash one another’s feet.
And countless Christians over the years have been inspired by this example. Many deacons and deaconesses, rather than the stoles of office we see on pastors, wear a small towel tucked behind the tie on their robes as a symbol of their commitment to humble service after this model of Jesus.
But is modeling humility in itself the Jesus’ main point here? I don’t know that it is.
This section was introduced with that talk about Jesus loving the whole world to ultimate realization - talk which, again, connected his love to the cross.
And what does John tell us in verse 3 explicitly about the specific reasons for Jesus to engage in this foot washing?
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.
Tell me: what does it take to wash someone else’s feet?
You need access to their feet. You need some water. And you need your hands.
And what do we know about Jesus’ hands? We know that the Father had given all things into them. Now, of course, that’s a nice metaphorical turn of phrase, but that is literally what the Greek says - “all things had been given by the Father into his hands”. And “knowing that” Jesus rose up from the table, took off his outer robe, tied a towel around himself, and washed their feet.
Here Jesus whose hands are full of all things from God uses those hands to cleanse and renew our feet for the journey ahead, much as Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus with costly fragrance for his journey ahead.
Jesus knew that he had come from God and was going to God, that his time here was short and so he gave the disciples not one but two signs of his love embodied, literally in humanity.
First, he washed the disciples feet with hands full of all that God had given.
Then, he offered his body and blood to them in the bread and wine.
And then what does Jesus do? He says “I have given you a model to follow, a paradigm - that you should do just as I have done for you,” which is to say above all that having loved God’s own who were in the world, we should love them through to the very end.
And what is that end? For Jesus, it was death on a cross, his hands and feet pierced, his body broken and blood poured out, blood and water pouring from his side (John 19:34). It was no accident that hands and feet, body and blood and water all feature prominently in John’s last supper narrative.
And they’re not just well-executed foreshadowing, either, though that’s certainly one way they function. Their more important role of these visceral elements is embodiment. What physical things are intimately familiar to every single person on earth? Our bodies and water.
Jesus isn’t above using local or regional culture and geography to emphasize a point - fig trees, mustard seeds, temples, widows. But in his last days, as he prepares to undertake the central act that brings his purpose on earth to fruition, Jesus tries to help his disciples connect the dots in as clear and direct and visceral of ways as possible.
And it must have worked. Because here we are, nearly 2000 years later, reading his stories and claiming his legacy as ours. Do this in remembrance of me. You also ought to wash one another’s feet. We are here because these imperatives hold power. The power of all things has been given from God into Jesus hands and then Jesus deigns to use those most powerful hands, not to conquer the world with military or political maneuvering (as many expected) but to wash feet.
It is finished. There is nothing more we need do. But, strengthened by his grace and the gifts he gave us in these most humble of forms - bread, wine, and water - we are not finished. We have the privilege of being called to love each, just as he has loved us.