Service, Ritual, Redemption:
Washing the Disciple’s Feet
©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson
image from turnbacktogod.com
To bathe soiled feet was but a servant’s lot,
eschewed by men whose station lent them grace.
These did not stoop to take a lowly place,
nor pause to wonder if, one day, they ought.
Perhaps their privilege came to them unsought,
casting a veil of pride on every face,
miscasting tender service as disgrace
and glory as a prize that can be bought.
No matter. Man sees darkly, through a glass.
‘Tis only One whose light our vision clears.
In Him, each blinding question that we ask
leads to a truth that vanquishes our fears.
Christ bathed His servants’ feet: a humble task,
then raised us all, washed clean in blood and tears.
“So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:4-10).
Tags: atonement, charity, Christ, Easter, humility, love, repentance, resurrection, sacrifice, service
