Humble Hospitality

Scripture: John 13:1-20

Before the Festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.

² Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. The devil had already provoked Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God. ⁴ So he got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing. ⁶ When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You don’t understand what I’m doing now, but you will understand later.”

⁸ “No!” Peter said. “You will never wash my feet!”

Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t have a place with me.”

⁹ Simon Peter said, “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head!”

¹⁰ Jesus responded, “Those who have bathed need only to have their feet washed, because they are completely clean. You disciples are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹ He knew who would betray him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”

¹² After he washed the disciples’ feet, he put on his robes and returned to his place at the table. He said to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you? ¹³ You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am. ¹⁴ If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do. ¹⁶ I assure you, servants aren’t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them. ¹⁷ Since you know these things, you will be happy if you do them. ¹⁸ I’m not speaking about all of you. I know those whom I’ve chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture, The one who eats my bread has turned against me.

¹⁹ “I’m telling you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I Am. ²⁰ I assure you that whoever receives someone I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Questions

1. What was the purpose of foot washing?
2. Why was Peter so appalled by Jesus washing his feet?
3. What is the point of Jesus’ response in verse 10 about bathing and washing feet?
4. John intentionally frames this scene with Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, what does Judas’ betrayal have to do with Jesus’ act of washing feet

Background

Related Scriptures: Luke 7:36-50, 22:27

Cook a meal, clean a bedroom, yard work, deliver groceries, drive someone to appointments.

Water in John’s Gospel is connected to salvation, Jesus washing the disciples’ feet may indicate his generous servitude to bring salvation to them.

Jesus’ comment in v10 may allude to the ritual bathing prior to eating the Passover meal.

Reflection

Washing feet is very strange to us today, most of us cannot imagine taking our shoes and socks off to allow another person to wash our feet. After all it is only the very old and very young who need someone else to wash them. But we can easily understand why people in the 1^st century, who walked all day on dusty roads in open sandals, might want to wash their feet before reclining on a couch for dinner with others. We all know (or maybe are) a person who is hesitant to take their shoes off around others because of the smell. Now imagine laying next to this person while you eat dinner, that is why foot washing was so important. In Luke 7, we are again foot washing is brought up, this time Jesus criticizes his host for not providing water for the guests to wash their feet. This was a breach of etiquette, Jesus expected there to be a bowl of water where he could go to wash his feet before reclining to eat. But if it was customary for a person to wash their own feet why would Jesus do this for the disciples?

In the wealthiest houses a domestic slave might have been assigned the task of washing the feet of guests as they entered a house. This task would almost assuredly fall to a slave with little respect and clout in the household. We need to take time to meditate on Jesus’ actions, he is willingly placing himself in the role of one of the lowest household slaves in a wealthy household. This makes Jesus’ words in verse 14 even more powerful, “If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet.” The cultural expectation of the time was that each individual would wash their own feet, there would have been no discussion of debasing one of their number this way, each one would have taken on the task of attending to their own needs. This is what Peter reacts so strongly against, that Jesus was doing something the only the lowest people in the house were commanded to do. Jesus was willingly humiliating himself and Peter’s response is an attempt to mitigate that humiliation by saying that he is in need of Jesus’ complete purification. But Jesus silences him by saying that what Peter needs is to allow Jesus to show him true humility and service. Jesus wanted to teach the disciples a lesson, the lesson that in their culture we force people to demean themselves in this way and they are considered the least important in the household. And those who were guests saw this as luxurious, pampering, and the epitome of hospitality.

Jesus is displaying a mindset for his disciples that calls them to be so committed to showing guests in God’s home such hospitality that they themselves will willingly take on themselves the role normally assigned to the lowest slaves. Jesus is at the meal serving Judas with the same grace and giving him the same dignity as Peter, James, and John. Jesus is humbling himself to show even the least among the group the same respect and hospitality as the greatest, the one who is most opposed to him is loved equal to the one who shows him the most support. It can be easy to accept serving others that we love, respect, and enjoy but Jesus is telling us to show this same level of hospitality to everyone who happens to be present even the one who does not deserve it and that can be much more difficult.

I think there is a further lesson in Peter’s response, it is easy for us to let some people serve us but difficult to let others do the same. Jesus serving Peter placed Peter in an uncomfortable situation where he had to renegotiate the relationship he had with Jesus. He had to ask questions about his place in God’s kingdom and how that kingdom was constructed. What does it say that he, who should have served, was being treated as the honored guest, while the king was doing the serving? Jesus’ action seems simple to us, he wiped the daily grime from the feet of his friends, but this action has profound repercussions for us even today. Jesus’ actions teach us about the offer of hospitality in God’s kingdom, an offer that is for everyone, even those we would like to ignore and causes us to confront our relationships with people and accept the love and grace they offer. Foot washing does not have the same cultural context today that it did when Jesus preformed this sign for us, but the calling to us is the same, look for ways to show humility and hospitality to others through service. We are meant to make others feel welcomed and special in Jesus’ home and around his table, this may take many forms but we do it consistently remember that this is how we love him by keeping his commandment.