This Week Don’t Forget Footwashing!

Many of us could go all the way through Passion Week without hearing of or thinking about pedilavium. What’s that? It’s Maundy. What’s that? It’s footwashing. Oh, right, I heard that’s in the Bible somewhere. Wasn’t there a Superbowl ad about that?

Maundy Thursday doesn’t mean much to the evangelical Christians I hang out with. It’s a practice of those liturgical churches. Emily Belz in a recent CT Online piece says many Christians get cold feet when it comes to footwashing. Their shoes will stay on this Passion Week.

The word Maundy comes from the Latin for mandate in Saint Jerome’s late fourth century CE translation of John 13:34

Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem—A new commandment I give to you that you should love one another. (John 13:34a)

Maundy refers to Jesus’ new commandment (mandatum) for his followers to love one another as he has loved them (John 13:34-35). And how did Jesus love them? In the context of John 13, Jesus loved the disciples completely, to the bitter end (13:1). He demonstrated this amazing love by washing their feet. Why would he lower himself to do such an odd, awkward, distasteful, thing as that? He did it to foreshadow his ultimate humiliation on the cross. He did it to teach us to take up the cross and do likewise. The question isn’t whether we should wash each other’s feet, but how we wash each other’s feet, literally and/or metaphorically. In the Gospel of John it’s sometimes difficult to draw a clear line between the two.

In this post we’ll look into the pedilavium—footwashing—and talk through the literal and metaphorical views of John 13:14-17. However you end up in your understanding of it, don’t forget to wash someone’s feet this week, and make it a habit in the days ahead. We servants aren’t greater than our Master.

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Go here for our previous posts on Passion Week, the cross and the empty tomb.

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Footwashing in the Ancient World and the Bible

In biblical times and places footwashing was a customary way to show hospitality to one’s guests, especially before a meal. People wore sandals or went barefoot. Many streets and roads were not paved, so roads were dusty or muddy. Animal and human waste was not relegated to sanitary sewers. People had to walk through this mess every day, so they welcomed any opportunity to wash their feet. There are several references to this sort of footwashing in the Old Testament. Abraham offered his mysterious visitors water to wash their feet, as well as a hastily prepared meal (Genesis 18). Lot, Laban, and Joseph treated their visitors similarly in Genesis 19, 24, and 43 (cf. Jdg 19:21; 1 Sam 25:41; 2 Sam 11:8).

In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus told Simon the judgmental Pharisee that he had been a poor host— he had not given Jesus water to wash his feet, or greeted him with a kiss, or anointed his head with oil. Rather, a sinful woman, whom Simon disdained, washed Jesus feet with her tears, kissed them, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with ointment. Jesus forgave her of her sins based on her act that demonstrated her great love for Jesus.

In 1 Timothy 5:9-16, footwashing comes up as a characteristic of widows whom Paul deems worthy of the church’s financial support. As in Genesis, this reference to footwashing appears in a context of good deeds related to family relationships, hospitality, and caring for those in need, all of which led to a good reputation. This leads many to believe that footwashing here refers to habitual hospitality, not to regular observance of a church ordinance or sacrament. Yet some think otherwise.

Footwashing was also part of the ritual preparation of priests who entered the sanctuary in the Tabernacle (Exod 29:4; 30:17-21; 40:30-32). Priests were to take water from a basin that stood in the courtyard to wash both their hands and their feet when they were entering the tabernacle or serving at the altar. This evidently was to emphasize the transcendent holiness of God. A priest entering the area dedicated to God with dirty hands and feet would profane God by implying there was no distinction between holy and unholy. Nadab and Abihu died for that sort of transgression (Lev 10:1-3).

Ritual washing to enter God’s presence was part and parcel of the Judaism of Jesus’ day. The remains of ritual baths (mikvaot) are commonly shown to tourists today at Qumran and on the Temple mount in Jerusalem. These ritual baths are still found Jewish synagogues today. The Gospel of John refers to water purification rituals several times (1:31; 2:6; 3:22-26; 4:1; 11:55; cf. Matt 15:1-2; Mark 7:1-5). John also speaks of water as a metaphor for ethical/spiritual cleansing (3:5; 4:7-15, 28; 13:8-11; 19:34), so spiritual cleansing is an undertone when Jesus’ healing miracles are connected to water (5:2-9; 9:1-12). When we think more widely of washing as spiritual cleansing in the New Testament, several other passages come to mind (Acts 22:16; 1 Cor 6:11; Eph 5:26; Tit 3:5; Heb 10:22; 2 Pet 2:22; 1 John 1:9; Rev 7:14; 22:1, 11, 14, 17).

The ritual and metaphorical use of water is a fitting transition to John 13. If people today think of footwashing at all, they’re probably thinking of John 13.

Footwashing in John 13

We won’t rehearse the entire footwashing episode in John’s Gospel. You can read John 13 here in different English versions with the analysis above in mind. I hope you do so repeatedly this week.

Let’s focus on Jesus’ conversation with Peter in 13:8-10 for a moment. Peter is astonished (the Brit’s call it gobsmacked) that his Lord is taking the role of a slave and washing his feet. He forbids Jesus to do it in about the strongest language available short of an oath (cf. Matt 26:72). Peter’s words here remind us of when Peter forbids Jesus to go to the cross (Matt 16:22). That didn’t go so well for Peter, did it? When Jesus says Peter will have no share or part with him unless he washes his feet, Peter turns on a dime and wants his whole body washed, not just his feet. At this point we protestant Peter-critics say, “there he goes again.”

No doubt all the disciples were just as gobsmacked as Peter was when Jesus began to wash their feet. No doubt Peter’s conversation was a teachable moment for them then as well as us today. Jesus’ response to Peter distinguished between a full bath and foot washing. Perhaps Jesus had in mind bathing before walking to a dinner somewhere else—upon arrival only one’s feet would need to be touched up. In effect, Jesus tells Peter and the other disciples (the word “you” is plural in 13:10) that they are already clean. They have bathed, they only need to wash their feet. John adds an editorial note here explaining that Judas was excepted from Jesus’ statement. Although Judas betrayed Jesus with clean feet, Judas was not a clean person.

Jesus went on in 13:12-20 to teach the disciples about following his amazing example in humbly serving others. People who talk about servant leadership today like to refer to these verses. I’m not so sure he was speaking about leadership at all, at least the way it’s often represented today, but that’s a post for another day.

Footwashing in the Churches

What happened after Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and told them to wash one another’s feet? Footwashing is not mentioned in the book of Acts, although it does come up in 1 Timothy 5, as we mentioned above. The Didache, our earliest record of early church practices, gives instructions for baptism and the Eucharist, but not footwashing.

Several ancient church teachers referred to footwashing as a practice of the church. This is not the place to discuss their teaching.

• Tertullian, To His Wife 2.4
• Origen, Genesis Homily 4.2
• Cyprian, the Synod of Elvira Canon 48
• Ambrose, Sacraments 3.4, 7
• Augustine, Letter 55.33
• John Chysostom, Genesis Homily 46

Although many denominations hold various kinds of footwashing services on Maundy Thursday or at other times, footwashing as an ordinance/sacrament is most prominent in the Anabaptist movement, those who trace their roots to Schwarzenau and Alexander Mack, along with other advocates of the so-called radical reformation in Europe. This would include the Amish, the Mennonites, and the various Brethren groups, incuding The Church of the Brethren, The Brethren Church, and the Charis Fellowship (formerly known as the Grace Brethren Church). Here’s how one such church describes threefold communion:

These groups practice “threefold communion,” a single service which begins with self examination. Then the congregation washes each other’s feet. Then comes a simple fellowship meal, the Lord’s Supper, sometimes called the Agape or Love Feast (John 13:2; 1 Corinthians 11:20-22; Jude 12). As the Agape meal concludes, the congregation partakes of the Eucharist, the communion of the bread and cup (Synoptic Gospels and 1 Cor 11:23-26)—this final stage being identical to what many evangelicals call the Lord’s Supper or communion. The threefold service is understood today to portray three key aspects of salvation in Christ: footwashing symbolizes sanctification, cleansing from ongoing sin; the Supper symbolizes glorification and the future marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19); the Eucharist symbolizes justification by faith based on the cross and the empty tomb.

Don’t Forget Footwashing

We’ll try to bring this post home with a multiple choice question: Which of the following best describes your understanding of footwashing?

• a. Jesus washing the disciples’ feet was an acted parable in which his actions foreshadowed his unspeakably gracious condescension in dying for lost sinners on the cross.
• b. Jesus washing the disciples’ feet was an exemplary act which shows us that we need to serve others humbly and sacrificially in Jesus’ name.
• c. Jesus washing the disciples’ feet was a mandatory ordinance/sacrament for the church to practice, one that symbolizes and seals biblical truth to our hearts.
• d. All of the above (You always need all the above in a multiple choice question, right?)
• e. None of the above (If this post missed you entirely, tell us what you think below.)

I think all three of these views are compatible. Jesus’ footwashing is a powerful picture, foreshadowing what Paul spells out in texts like 2 Corinthians 8:9 and Philippians 2:1-14. It’s also clear in the New Testament that Jesus is our example in humble service to those in need. Carrying out a footwashing service today in remembrance of the lessons of John 13 is a great idea, but I balk at accepting footwashing as a mandatory ordinance of the church, on the same level as baptism and the eucharist. I should admit I’ve never been to a footwashing service, although I wish I had. I tried once and was prevented because my baptism by single immersion backwards in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was not viewed as authentic in the threefold communion church I attended then, which practiced trine immersion forward three times in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Didache 7).

Whether you fellowship with believers who practice footwashing as an ordinance/sacrament or not, take some time this week to ponder how footwashing pictures the depths of Christ’s love for sinful people and the extent to which he humbled himself to secure our salvation. Also think of ways to mimic the Master by serving your fellow-servants. We’ll never get to the point in our Christian lives where we stop needing to be reminded of Christ’s sacrifice and our obligation to follow in his steps.

Please share your thoughts on footwashing below. How did you answer my multiple choice question?

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When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17 NIV)

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:5-13 NIV)

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For Further Reading:

Zachary D. Hess, A Comprehensive Ordinance: A Biblical, Theological, and Formational Case for Threefold Communion MDiv Thesis, SBTS, 2022.

John Christopher Thomas, The Theological Justification for the Practice of Footwashing

Mariannne Meye Thompson, His Own Received Him Not: Jesus Washes the Feet of His Disciples