Nowadays when you visit someone’s home, you don’t expect anyone to wash your feet. Frankly, it would be rather awkward if someone offered, and might be cause for a 911 call. In the time of Jesus, however, foot washing was an expected part of hospitality. The reason for this may not be instantly recognizable to those of us living in developed countries. But it was a real necessity back then.
Here is a modern day glimpse into why foot washing was such a big deal in Jesus’ day:
The town I live in used to be rural, with lots of farmland and fruit orchards. Some of that land is still cultivated, and you can enjoy fresh fruit and produce from town. We also have a few horse farms and our residents like riding. Once the weather turns pleasant, horseback riders are a common sight in the country roads. They often leave a steamy, rather pungent gift behind them, and you have to be careful where you step.
In the glaring absence of Fords, Subarus, and Toyotas during Jesus’s day, what they had a lot of was oxen, horses, donkeys, camels, and asses. In addition, flocks of sheep were moved from country paddocks into the city for sale. Not to put too fine a point on it, there was a lot of poop on the road. Carts would unintentionally spread the goods around to make sure the walking citizenry didn’t miss their chance at stepping on some aromatic treasure.
Even if you had just left one of the roman baths, all clean and shining with perfumed oils, by the time you arrived home, your sandaled feet would be already filthy. Because your feet weren’t merely dirty with the dust of the road, cleaning them was considered a truly nasty job, relegated to slaves.
You can imagine how incredible it was when Jesus wrapped a towel around His waist and knelt down to wash His disciples’ feet. He was choosing to wash the dirtiest part of them, the most disgusting, off putting, smelly part of them. The astonishing thing is that He hasn’t stopped doing that. He is still looking for our smelliest, dirtiest bits; He is still kneeling down before you and me and washing away, until He calls us clean.
awesome viewpoint! I would have never thought of it that way
Trust me, Marsha, to think of the poop angle!
good blog! i was just reading about Jesus washing the disciples feet yesterday and you brought a new perspective to the story for me. so grateful for the love of God.
blessings to you.
Good timing, then! I agree, Corey. The love of God is an anchor for our soul.
I have partaken in a foot-washing ceremony. It is a very humbling and uplifting experience! Uncomfortable at first be can be a time of confession and bringing souls together as well.
Thank you for sharing your post as I learn something new or had never considered before. Ever knowing that they had to walk everywhere they went, most likely, I never truly thought about all the animal waste on the road!
Thanks for all your historical lessons. They are wonderful!
In Christ, Karen
How fun, Karen. I’m so glad to know that these posts are helpful to the readers.
Tessa
It is so amazing; The Lord’s love for us is so deep. Washing the feet was putting yourself as a servant and He does that for us. In turn He asks us to be servants and though we may not be physically washing others feet, by acts of serving, God thinks of it as such. I think that is so neat! Thanks for this post Miss Afshar!
Raechel, you are right on with your servant imagery, and our responsibility to one another.
Thank you for the clarity you brought to this. I especially like how you pointed out that He cleaned the dirtiest part of them. He tells us to do that do for each other. So, we are supposed to clean our brother’s feet, not spread it around.
All the way to Victorian times oils were mainly used to cleanse any part of the body and sand or rocky stuff to exfoliate. Soap use or invention started as early as 1500 BC and up until the 12th century soap wasn’t commonly used or known of in all parts of the world. In biblical times oils and sand and water of course were the methods of washing. 1600 In America was the begining of soap and detergents. You can actually find good cleaning oils on the market in todays world.
Hi does anybody know what they washed the feet with?
Thank you for bringing out this important viewpoint in washing each other’s feet. I agree that it is a symbol of humbling oneself. It is also an opportunity to fix things between people. I believe that as Christians we have a responsibility to continue to be the light of this world by cleaning each others’ fault.
Wonderful post indeed.
Keep on the wonderful work you are doing. May God richly bless you.
Thanks you so much for sharing this. It has opened my eyes to service in humilityinspired by the love of God!
This is a wonderful post and very nicely stated with some witty truths that make this post both intelligible and interesting as well as informative. I am preparing to speak about foot washing tomorrow and as I was researching, I found your post and I appreciate your authenticity of being able to describe how things where in biblical times so that one in today’s time can truly understand the level of humility that our Lord demonstrated for us to follow today. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks for your encouraging words, Lawrence. the Bible is a very down-to-earth book. Sometimes we take the sense out of it by sanitizing it too much! Blessings on your talk.
Tessa
Bless you, Tessa, for this great historical information that I didn’t know before reading what you wrote. Since it’s Maunday Thursday again, I’ll probably take part in the foot washing at our worship service later today. But this morning, while reading the gospel, I realized I didn’t know why a person’s feet were being washed by another person when we don’t do this today at all. So, in this digital age I went on the internet to find information, and was very grateful and appreciative to find your very clear and understandable explanation. Thank you and Happy Easter when it comes.
Thanks for the insightful thoughts on the historicity of foot washing.
What an eye opener, God bless you richly for this. “The love of Christ! How much He love us”
Thank you, Tessa, for this enlightenment. This is a subject that has been bugging me for some time. Thanks for the historical backdrop. I do understand the humility of foot washing and of being servants to each other. However, considering the historical facts, was the instruction from Our Lord only to the disciples of that time?
Yes, this is significant! Also, Jesus commanded His disciples to wash each other’s feet. Do you suppose He intended for us to confess our sins to each other as well? 🙂 God is good, and experiencing His working is exciting and inspiring. God bless you.
Wow this blew me away. Thank u for giving me an insight of the example in humility that Jesus showed, so that we can be His servants by serving others.
Tessa—my wife and I will be giving the Good Friday communion message for our church, so I decided to explore some history of the practice of foot-washing in Jesus’ day. This is heartily informative; colorfully written, too! My name’s Doug; appreciate your work.
Thanks for your note, Doug. May God anoint your message.
To The Writer of this article,
Jesus informed His disciples (and the same applies to believers) “You also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). He instructed / commanded to do the same. Jesus is kneeling down before anyone, as writer mentioned above. But is going to come as King of Kings.
Thank you Tessa for explaining this important aspect of foot washing. A beautiful example of our Lord’s sacrifice for us and the admonition to us to be willing to help one another deal with our dirtiest, smelliest issues, realizing Christ has cleansed us from all unrighteousness!