Mitch Lewis has a Maundy Thursday reflection about Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet, and the message he was sending to his disciples when he did so. From his post:

Peter says, “You shall never wash my feet.” When Jesus insists, Peter want to turn it into a symbolic religious ritual: “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” But Jesus wasn’t washing Peter’s feet just for show; he was washing feet because they were dirty and needed to be washed. Peter was willing to receive a symbolic washing; it made him uncomfortable to receive a real washing.

The ability to receive gracious acts offered on one’s behalf calls for as much humility as the ability to offer gracious acts to another. Receiving such a gift – and it is a gift when it freely given and not the work of a slave or hired servant – exposes our need and our vulnerability. It puts us in debt to another, and our pride would prefer to be on the other end of that exchange.

I imagine that some of you have attended church services or retreats in which you’ve washed others’ feet as a way of physically reflecting on this story. It can be awkward and uncomfortable to have somebody do something as humble as washing your feet (and doubly awkward if, like me, you freak out about ‘personal space’), but it’s a useful way to consider the very personal, very humbling act of service that Jesus was performing, even as his crucifixion was looming in the very near future.