Jesus Served - Day 40

Last Supper. The disciples knew it. Jesus knew it. We know it by reading the account. Solemn. Quiet. Tense.
At a quiet moment, Jesus “got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.” (see John 13: 1-15) After wrangling with Peter about whether or not Jesus is going to wash his feet, Jesus says, “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”
I was in seminary and was chosen to be one of representatives in the community that would have his feet washed by one of the faculty members. As I saw Fr. Hunt (he was our Old Testament professor) kneel before me to wash my feet I began to cry.
Once I got out of seminary I was asked to oversee the foot washing ceremony at the Cathedral in Portland, Maine, when the bishop would wash the feet of 12 leaders from the diocese. As I watched the bishop do this washing I kept hearing in my heart and head Jesus’ words: If I have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I knew at that moment that someday I would design a foot washing service where everyone was invited to wash and be washed.
Which is, of course, what we have been doing at Palmer for many years now. Every year I go back to that moment when Fr. Hunt washed my feet. Every year I cry as I see couples come forward and children and parents come forward and complete strangers come forward and sometimes even folks who don’t much like each other come forward to wash each other’s feet. Every year I see Jesus in it all. Every year I see so much grace and love and peace and connection and joy.
The water from the feet washing is, of course, a bit…well…linty. But it is also Holy Water. It is Holy because Jesus was in the water, in the washing, in the touching.
If you haven’t come to this service before, don’t be afraid or anxious. Just come. Just wash. Just be washed. See Jesus kneeling before you. See him in the person you wash. Jesus said “do it,” and we do.