The Towel and the Basin

The splash of water poured into a basin. The rustle of a towel. And the most important person in the room is kneeling on the floor, holding a fisherman's dusty foot in his hands.

It is just before the Passover festival, in Jerusalem. Jesus knows that his time has come to leave this world and go to the Father. John tells us that Jesus had always loved his own people in the world, and now he would show them the full extent of his love. Jesus and his twelve disciples are gathered for an evening meal. The roads of Jerusalem are dusty, and everyone's feet show it. John doesn't mention any servant there to wash them. And none of the twelve gets up to do it.

Jesus knows exactly who he is. John says he knew the Father had put all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God. And knowing all that, he gets up from the meal. He takes off his outer robe. He wraps a towel around his waist, like a household servant. He pours water into a basin. Then he goes from one disciple to the next, kneeling, washing their feet, and drying them with the towel he is wearing. The room goes very quiet.

Then he comes to Simon Peter. Peter can't stand it. “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answers, “You don't understand what I am doing now, but later you will.” Peter is firm. “You will never wash my feet. Never!” Jesus looks at him. “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” And Peter, being Peter, swings all the way to the other side. “Then, Lord, not just my feet. Wash my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answers him patiently. “Anyone who has had a bath only needs to wash their feet. Their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” John explains that Jesus said this because he knew who was going to betray him. Judas was in the room. And the way John tells it, Jesus knelt and washed every pair of feet at that table, the feet of the friend who would deny him and the feet of the one who would betray him too.

When he has finished, Jesus puts his robe back on and returns to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asks. “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, because that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you an example, so that you will do as I have done for you. A servant is not greater than his master. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

To feel how shocking this was, picture the roads. People walked everywhere in open sandals, along dirt tracks shared with donkeys and sheep. So a good host offered guests water to wash their feet, as Abraham did for his visitors in Genesis. But actually washing someone else's feet was a lowly job, usually left to servants. When King David asked Abigail to be his wife, she bowed and said she was ready to be a servant who washes the feet of his servants. That was the bottom rung. And that is exactly where Jesus chose to kneel.

The Towel and the Basin. You'll find it in John chapter 13, verses 1 to 17. The Lord of all took the lowest job in the room, and told his friends to do the same. So here's the question to carry with you. Whose feet is Jesus asking you to wash this week?