Monthly Archives: September 2022

God and Time Part 2

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LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Vol. 6, Part 2

GOD AND TIME

 

 

 

 

Time From a Personal Perspective

 

Several observations have been passed down to me by my parents and others who are no longer here.  First, the young do not seem to be very aware of time except that it passes extremely slowly.  The young are always looking forward hoping to get old enough to drive or to go to school or college or to get married.  As you get older, time seems to increase in speed.  At the later years of your life, you finally look back and reminisce especially at the better memories of your life and at how fast time has passed.

 

Another thing which happens is that things begin to disappear.  Moreover, they are not just things like your eyesight, your hair, your teeth and your looks.  As Shakespeare wrote in his play “As You Like It” regarding the sixth stage of man (Old age) man is “sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”  It seems that we deal with a limited supply of time and we should use it wisely.  “The night comes when no man works.”  (John 9:4),

 

I became acutely aware of time and the passing away of things of this world when I was a young married man and took my family to see a very small East Texas oil town here I spent the first years of my life.  When we got to the location, the buildings, homes, school, and community center and refinery were all gone.  Only the foundations were left.  My children teased me about growing up in a barren field.  It turns out the town had been moved when the oil played out to another location owned by the oil company.  Over time, I found other parts of my history disappearing almost before my very eyes.  Some examples follow:

 

  • The hospital where I was born was torn down.
  • The neighborhood where I grew up in Houston was torn down and replaced with high price condos.
  • My grade school disappeared.
  • My Junior High School in New Orleans became a warehouse.
  • My high school changed its name and moved to a different part of the city.
  • My home in New Orleans was wiped out by Katrina.
  • My childhood church shut down and disappeared.
  • The large church where I first served as a deacon and had so many friends has disappeared.  (Perhaps, they were raptured and I got left behind).
  • Whole areas of the city where I lived in Missouri disappeared in the Great Joplin Tornado.
  • All of my old automobiles have been totaled, rusted or consigned to scrap.

 

The disappearance of physical landmarks is bad but it even gets worse when it comes to people.  Over time they began to vanish too.  First it was grandparents, then parents, and others that I love.    Good friends began to disappear.  I lost a number of people who had been mentors and role models to me.  Good friends would suddenly no longer be there.  My friend in High School and my roommate in college passed away.  My best friend in law school died. Like the buildings that disappeared, they began to disappear.  People who have been in war and seen their friends die often have an even deeper understanding of the passing away of friends  than I.  Finally when we get to an advanced age we find that we may have more friends and family on the other side than we have here on this earth.

 

I hope you will not see my comments or experience as being negative.  I believe that God is eternal and will discuss this later.  Further, God has a place of “many mansions” and so I have hope (John 14:2).  However, all of us need to approach life with humility.  The passing of buildings, countries, empires and people is a fact of life.  World kingdoms such as the Persian Kingdom, Rome and Carolingian Empires have all passed into history.   Time marches on.  Just look at your family tree, there are people in it who lived long ago that you know nothing about despite their full and active lives other than the date of their births and deaths.  Alternatively, look at the old scrapbooks for your family (if you have them) and you will see smiling people who are probably members of your family but no one seems to know exactly who they are or anything about them.

 

One of the lessons in all of this to me is that finite man should not get into disputes with an infinite God.  It is like getting into a lawsuit with an opponent who has an infinite budget and you have a very limited legal budget.  The person with the infinite legal budget will probably prevail just by taking his or her time litigating.

 

The same is true when it comes to man and God.  Man can fight against God’s Word all he wants; however, God will win the battle.  He is Eternal and we are not.  An individual’s fight against God will not last more than 120 or so years and then there will be a judgment.  God is in no hurry.  We are in a hurry because we are running out of time; however, God is eternal and is not running out of time.  He can simply wait us out.  If we want to go to war as an individual or country or species, he has the time and resources just to wait us out and let history run its course.  We are in a losing game when we compete with God and the best course is to count our cost before we go to battle (Luke 14:28-33).

 

That is why in Psalm 2, it speaks that the “heathens rage,” Kings and emperors hate to be defeated and challenge God, but God and time will defeat them.  The great stone mentioned in the Book of Daniel rolls downhill and smashes kingdom after kingdom to pieces (Dan. 2:34-35).  People need to make peace with Jesus Christ.  If you decide to ignore or oppose Christ, in time you will lose.  God can simply take the time and wait you out.  Read over Psalm 2 below.

 

 

 

Psm. 2:1-12

 

Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against his anointed saying, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them with In his sore displeasure.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou

art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Ask of  me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts

of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way,

when his wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed all they that put their trust in him.

 

In short, kings and kingdoms will all pass away and will not prevail over Jesus Christ, the Son, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  In Acts when the authorities in Jerusalem began to persecute the church, the church looked to Psalm 2.  (See Acts 4:24-31).  The early church knew that the authorities would not prevail and that God would bring the opponents of Christ into judgment.

 

God is in charge of time and his judgment will come at the proper time.  God’s exact timing is seen in the Old Testament.  For instance, God did not permit at one point for Israel to take over the Amorites because the iniquity of the Amorites was not complete but God said that that the Israelites would have to return for four generations to deal with the Amorites.  Gen. 15:16.

 

God was not late when he had Abraham and Sarah give birth to Isaac even though it looked like it was too late for them to have children.  God’s timing was perfect even though it looked like children for them would be an impossibility.

 

Scripture indicates that God had an absolute time for the captivity of the Jews in Babylon which was an exact 70 years. (Jer. 29:10-14)

 

God’s judgments do not happen haphazardly either.  We have already mentioned the Amorites, but other judgments came at the proper time including the judgment through the flood which came at just the right time (after the ark was built and the animals and family of Noah were on the inside) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

The Judgments of God came upon Egypt at just the proper time.  Likewise, the judgment of God upon sinful man and the earth comes at a ”set time.”  Psalms 73:2 says, “At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity.”  God is the God of time and timing is his expertise.  Isaiah 60:22 says, “When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen.”

 

The Judgment on this earth for its sin and the Return of Christ will come at just the right time.  The New Testament says that the day is set but the exact day of that Return is known only to the Father.  Matthew  24:36 says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”.  In fact Jesus said at Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority.”  Notwithstanding these clear statements by Jesus, men have made a great deal of money by telling you when that day will be and explaining every detail of the return of Christ.  (In my Library is a publication which I got from a church back in 1988 entitled 88 Reasons why Jesus will come in 1988).  Suffice it to say, God has a date for the return of Christ and a date when the guilty will be judged.

 

Further, God has a time for the Gentile Nations to be saved.  Romans 11:25 states, “A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”  I do not know when this “fullness” will occur but apparently at some point, the time for preaching to the Gentiles will come to an end.

 

In addition God has a set time or times in which a person can be saved.  That set period of time is thought by most theologians to end for each of us at our death.  There are also a number of Scriptures stating that it is “appointed for man to die and after that the judgment.”  God knows the day that each of us will die.  God knows when we are formed in the womb and when we will die.

 

 

The Search for Significance

 

Another issue is that we are a minute creation rebelling against a Magnificent Creator.  We are outmatched in our roles.  We are a small infinitesimal creature on a small planet crying out to the Creator of the universe.  We overestimate our size and the loudness of our voice and we underestimate the size of God   We are a people searching for significance.

 

We find ourselves in Job’s position when God asked Job:  “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats give birth or can you mark when the deer gives birth?”  (Job 39:1)  God knows these things.  Arguing and opposing God is like a pot complaining against the potter who forms it.  (Is. 45:9)

 

Thankfully, we are assured that God loves us and is mindful of us even though we are limited in size and power and also limited in time.  Nowhere is God’s love better expressed than in John 3:16.

 

 

 

God So Loved the World

 

John 3:16-“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.”

 

The promise to us is not only can we be saved from corruption (spiritual, moral and physical), but that we can join the Family of God and have the gift of eternal life.

 

 

God knows us. 

 

He knows the number of hairs on our head.  In Matthew 10:29-31 Jesus said:

 

 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?  And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.”

 

This is great news.  God cares for us despite our “insignificance”.  He knows when a sparrow falls.  We are worth more than many sparrows.  God is omniscient and He cares about you and me.

 

Moreover, the Old Testament at Psalms 84:3 made it clear that even the sparrow could find safety at the altar of God:  “Even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young—even your altars, O Lord of Hosts.”  Even birds were allowed to have nests at the holy places of God.

 

All of this is reflected in a song made famous by Ethel Waters who used to sing His Eye is on the Sparrow at Billy Graham meetings.  The lyrics are worth noting:

 

Why should I feel discouraged,

Why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely,

And long for the heavens, heaven and home,

When, when Jesus is my portion,

My constant Friend is He;

Oh, oh-oh, his eye is on the sparrow,

And I know He watches, watches over me.

 

I sing because I’m happy

I sing because I am free

For His eye, his eye is on the sparrow,

And I know, I know He watches over me. 

 

 

Conclusion

History and time are relatively insignificant in the face of eternity.  God chose a set time in history for Christ to come and reveal the heart of God and save us by living without sin among us and dying as the sinless Passover Lamb.  Behold the Lamb of God!  In light of eternity and the universe, we seem at first insignificant.  However because of the death of Christ our status has moved from insignificant to significant, and all who are mortal have an opportunity to be embraced by immortality and join the Family of God.  God loves you and cares for you.  His eye is on the sparrow and I know He is watching you.

God and Time Part 1

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GOD AND TIME

 

God and Time-An Introduction

 

In this newsletter, I will be discussing God and time.  This is Part 1 of 2.  Discussion of this topic is challenging because God cannot be captured or bound by a definition.  I believe that one of the reasons that Jesus came to us and was incarnated was that even though we have limited understanding, we can understand the nature of God and his love for us through experiencing Jesus who is “Immanuel” meaning “God is with us”.

Likewise, we do not fully understand time.  Time only has meaning to the extent that it is related to something material.  It must be measured against a standard and by an instrument of measurement.  For instance, we might measure time as a day or as a year by celestial measurement.   Other measurements could involve measuring the rate that an organic element loses its radioactivity or the time in which the earth makes one revolution of the sun or the passing of 12 new moons and the like.  Unless there is something material and an instrument of measure, time appears to be incapable of being measured or of existing as we know it.

In my office, I keep an hour glass and through it sands run marking the passage of time.  Life seems to be like the sands in my hour glass.  The sands of life quickly run out.  Another analogy might be that life is like a candle steadily and inexorably burning down.

An ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said that time is like a river.  “No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he’s not the same man.”  How true that is.  In Part 2 of this piece, I will discuss  some examples of how I have seen the passage of time.

As a general rule, the sands in our hourglass are limited.  Genesis 6:3 says :”My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh; his days shall be 120 years.”  Psalm 90:10 says, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty, yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”

According to my reading of Scripture about years of life, my supply of sand is quickly running out.  Locusts do not have long life spans.  In the context of history our mortal lifetimes appear to be almost tragically short.

Age brings perspective as does suffering to how we see and experience time.  It is for this reason I want to discuss God and Time and the value of serving a God who both loves me (and you) and who is above and beyond time.

 God is above Time

 

Scripture makes it clear that God is outside and above time.  One of the primary names of God makes it clear that God is not bound by time the way we are.  When Moses asks God about what to call him, God responded in Exodus 3:4 that Moses was to say that God’s name was “I AM WHO I AM.”  This has been translated as YHWH or Jehovah and is also known as the Tetragrammaton ( in Hebrew, yodh, he, waw and he or YHWH).  This name appears about six thousand times in the Scriptures.  Because of Hebrew Grammar and the fact that the name is in the Hebrew imperfect form it can mean “I am or I was or I will be.”  There is a sense that actions relating to God have not been completed yet.  As one writer described the translation of the name:  “He IS in the past; He IS in the present; He IS in the future.  He has always BEEN in the past.  He is BEING in the present.  He will BE in the future.”  Jesus identified with this name when he said in John 8:58:  “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  The Jews knew exactly who Jesus was saying he was and immediately picked up stones to try and stone Jesus for blasphemy for claiming that He was equivalent to God (John 8:58-59).  Jesus was identifying himself with the eternal God who stands outside of history.

The names and titles of Jesus indicate the fact that he was outside of our normal concepts of time in that he is the Alpha and Omega.  He is the A and Z, the first and the last (See Rev. 1:8; Rev. 1:17-18; Rev. 21:6-7).  Likewise, Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Is. 48:12-13 says,” …I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.  Yes, my hand has laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens….”  God was present before creation and time began and God is not dependent upon time.  He will also be there after time ceases.

There are numerous verses indicating that both the Father and the Son existed apart from time.  We deal with a few of those Scriptures below.

Is. 57:15-“For thus says the High and Lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy….”

Psm. 90:1-2-“O Lord, you have been our protector through all generations!  Even before the mountains came into existence, or you brought the world into being, you were the eternal God.”

2 Tim. 1:9-“Lord…who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

1 Pet. 1:20-“He (Jesus) indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world….”

Eph. 1:4-“Just as He (God) chose us in Him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love….”

As you can see from the above verses, God is eternal and outside of time.  Further God’s plan for Christ to save us and for us to be included as part of the family of God was conceived before the world was created.  It was a plan in the heart of God before time existed that you would have the opportunity to be a part of God’s family and to have fellowship with the people of God.

Death and time can not affect God’s plan (Rev. 20:40).  Death will come to its own end.  The resurrection of Christ and our own resurrection mean that we will no longer be in bondage to death and time.  Further, God does not see time as we see it.  2 Peter 3:8 says, “But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  To us it may seem that Christ died 2000 years ago but to God that may be like two days ago.  Time in the context of eternity may be like the blink of an eye.  Time passes at different speeds even to us.  Time when I am in a dentist’s chair moves more slowly than when I am sitting at the beach where time passes all too quickly.

God’s Timing is Perfect Timing

God has a perfect sense of timing.  His timing is always the correct timing.  During the first part of my life I did not have good timing.  In the investment area, I would sometimes buy stocks when they were high and sell when they were low.  In the second part of my life, I asked God to help me with my timing.  I wanted, for instance, to buy when stocks were low and sell when they were high.  The difference between riches and poverty often revolves around timing.   God does everything with impeccable timing.  Seasons come at their appointed time.  Sunlight comes during the day and stars at night.  Plants bloom in their due season. 

Women who are pregnant understand the passage of time and the birth of children.  They also watch carefully as their child grows and matures.  Sometimes, it seems like they will never grow up.  At other times, it seems that they are unable to stop the passage of time as their child grows, becomes independent and leaves home.  Prophecies also like children have a time and develop.  Prophecies come to pass at an “appointed time” (Habakkuk 2:3).

It is important for us to know the times and seasons of our life.  Solomon said there is a time or season for everything at Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

We need to have the wisdom to take advantage of the seasons in our life.  We should not dance at funerals or mourn at weddings.

A Time for Battle

 

All students of military history know that there is a time to fight and a time not to fight.  Timing is everything.  One of the greatest of the Roman Generals was known as Fabius the Cunctator, meaning Fabius the Delayer.  Fabius saved Rome from falling to Hannibal by delaying and withdrawing, forcing Hannibal to chase him instead of attacking the City of Rome.  He won the war by his tactics of delay and guerilla warfare.  In Texas history, Sam Houston spent much of his time avoiding Santa Anna until Houston’s troops were ready and prepared and then by committing them at the right time he won a decisive victory ensuring the independence of Texas.

The same is true of a number of battles in the Bible.  We all know the story of the Fall of Jericho where on the final day of marching around it seven times, the horns were blown and the walls fell down.  Joshua was giving commands based upon God’s plan and God’s timing.  Had Joshua decided to disobey God and commit his troops prior to carrying out the instructions of God he would have not won the victory at Jericho.

In 2 Samuel 5:22-26, King David was given precise instructions regarding timing to attack the Philistines.  He was told to attack from the rear instead of head on and to “wait for the sound of marching in the tops of the Balsam trees.”  He waited and attacked according to God’s plan and God’s timing with the result that he won a great victory.

In our efforts to achieve victories in the spirit and in life, we need to learn to move according to God’s plan and according to God’s timing.  Timing is everything in battle and in life.

God and Time and History

There are numerous verses regarding the timing of God in history.  Jesus came at a specific time of God’s choosing in history.  Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son.”  The timing was not accidental.  It was not haphazard.  Some theologians and historians have noted that at the time Jesus came to earth it was a time of peace facilitating the spread of the Gospel.  This time of peace was known as the Pax Romana or the Roman Peace.  It was a time in which transportation was effective with Roman roads having  been built throughout the Empire.  In addition, sea lanes were relatively safe from piracy.  Also, the Greek language had spread all over the Empire.  The Greek language was very descriptive and much of the New Testament was written in it.  The Greek words give more shades of meaning than most languages.  In short it was not an accident of time when Jesus came to earth.  Even the birth of Jesus was coordinated with the star which showed the wisemen the way.  It is no accident that Jesus died at the time that he died which was at the time of the Passover for He indeed was the Lamb of God.  There was even a sense of appropriate timing in the miracles of Jesus such as when Jesus instructed Peter to pay the Roman tax for Peter and himself by getting a coin out of the mouth of a fish.  (Matt. 17:24-27)  A study of Scripture evidences that the timing of the birth of Jesus, his ministry and death were all at the proper time.

Getting in Step with God’s Timing

We need a sense of timing in our lives.  Our steps need to be according to God’s time.  Often we move on our own and get out of step and out of line.  We get anxious and move before God tells us to.  Abraham did this and ended up with an Ishmael instead of waiting for God to move through the birth of Isaac.  However, his age was increasing.  He felt like he was getting old and could not wait.  The inability to wait was also a problem that Saul had.  He was unable to wait for Samuel and ended up making his own sacrifices to God instead of waiting for Samuel.  Saul saw his troops beginning to leave and so took matters into his own hand.   Moses at one point was unable to wait and killed an Egyptian and ended up spending 40 years herding sheep in Midian before God was ready to use him.  Some of us have been eager to move on God’s behalf in our witnessing or in taking our own steps to carry out God’s purposes on this earth.  We fear that we will miss an opportunity and it will be too late for us if we do not move instead of waiting for God even if those things may look impossible.

There is a Time to Find God

 

God has appointed a time or season for people to be saved.  The writer of Hebrews in the third and fourth chapters makes a plea that his readers would enter into the seventh day rest of God.  He encourages us not to be like the Hebrews who left Egypt and wandered for 40 years in the wilderness and who hardened their hearts making God angry.  We are encouraged to rest from our works and enter into God’s rest while there is time to do so.  None of us know exactly how much time we have to turn to God.  Some assume it may be a lifetime and are surprised to find that their life is short.  At Hebrews 4:7 it says:

…again He designates a certain day, saying in David (Psm. 95:7), …

“Today, if you will hear his voice

Do not harden your heart.

There are some things which need to be done today instead of waiting.  We need to find God today.  We need to have faith today.  We need to forgive today.  That “today” may be a long period for some and it may be a very short period for others.  You do not need to wait to draw near to God, to repent and to obey His commands.

That thing which God tells you in your heart needs to be done today, please do it today and do not wait for a tomorrow which may or may not come.

Next week, our study of time continues.  However, now it is time for this grasshopper to rest.

 

Locust & Honey, Vol. 4

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LOCUSTS AND HONEY

Vol 4

Humility the Forgotten Virtue-Part 3

 

 

We are continuing our study of humility and foot washing.  In Part 3 of this study I am covering the history of foot washing and my own experiences relating to this topic.  Foot washing can help remind us of humility and our rightful position in the church (a position of loving and serving).  On the other hand, foot washing  can also become a “ritual” of the church and not serve the spiritual purpose for which it was intended.  Rest assured, the purpose of foot washing was not so that we could have clean feet.  It is instead so that we can have clean and humble hearts. 

 

Christian Ladies, wash those feet!

 

Seriously, it is not just the ladies who should be washing the feet.  However, to be honest, in the time of Jesus, women were in many instances treated almost like servants or slaves.   Jesus, however,  treated women with dignity and the church did much to improve the role of women. Many women not only financed the ministry of Jesus but also played a significant role in the early church and even in its leadership and expansion.  In fact, women were instrumental in the early growth of the Christian church.

 

Women ran their households and were in charge of the hospitality and caring of the saints.  Their role in caring for their husbands, their children and their extended families often placed them in roles of caregivers and the humble tasks involved in care giving.  It is hard to be in a position of pride when you are cleaning a baby’s bottom.  In today’s society there is an attempt to eradicate many of the differences between men and women by viewing and treating women as men.  We have women superheroes who can outdo men even in feats of strength.  At the same time, men are encouraged to demonstrate their softer side and to act like women.  We therefore, according to the world,  achieve “equality” by having men acting like women and women acting like men.

 

It is my belief that Jesus sees the soul of each of us without respect to race, gender or wealth.  He broke barriers by dealing with the woman at the well and by allowing his feet to be washed by Mary, the sister of Martha.  Jesus desired that we all be humble.  Whatever our standing in life, our gender, our wealth or our education we are called to humility.   Someone once said:  “The ground at the cross is level.” 

 

One of the few verses regarding foot washing after the Lord’s supper is found at 1 Timothy 5: 9-10 where Paul writes:  “Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number and not unless she has been the wife of one man.  Well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet.”  In this instance, foot washing is spoken of like it was part of the normal hospitality that a woman, her husband and family would have extended to visitors and to other believers in the church.  The foot washing might have been done by the woman herself or one of the servants of her household if she were well off.  Another observation is that contrary to denominations today there apparently were no taboos against a woman washing a man’s feet and it does not carry the erotic overtones that it might in various denominations today where men only wash men’s feet and women wash women’s feet and “never shall the twain meet.”

 

Another interesting point, is that many  Christian ladies not only washed the feet of guests to their homes but in the first century are believed to have sought other opportunities to wash the feet of the poor including the feet of prisoners in jails.

 

Foot washing and the Patristic Fathers

 

Humility and foot washing have never been popular virtues in the church.  It quickly became increasingly infrequent in church history.

 

Some of the early church fathers spoke of foot washing but in effect said little about it although it existed.  Some examples of early church fathers mentioning it are Irenaeus (around 180 A.D.), Cement (around 195 A.D.), Tertullian (160-230 A.D.), Athanasius (296-373 A.D.),  and St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.)  We also know that it was practiced by the church at Milan around 380 A.D.

 

In 529 A.D. St. Benedict included this statement in the Rule for the Benedictine Order of monks (Chapter 53):  “Let the Abbot give the guests water for their hands and let both Abbot and community wash the feet of all guests.”  In addition,  all of the monks regularly engaged in foot washing of the entire congregation on a regular basis.  The Rule of St. Benedict was the standard for most of the monasteries in the  Catholic Church in the  West.

 

By 694 A.D., the Council of Toledo had associated foot washing with the celebration of Maundy Thursday which was the Thursday before the Crucifixion of Jesus and the time in which the Last Supper was believed to have taken place.

 

A Couple of “Fun” Words

 

 

We who are Protestants, often fail to understand some of the words utilized by our Catholic friends.  One is the words is “Maundy.” “ Maundy” simply refers to the ceremony of foot washing.   “Maundy Thursday” is the Thursday before Easter and is the time in which the Lord conducted the  “Last Supper” and washed the feet of the disciples.  The word “Maundy”  (Middle English maunde; Old French mande) is another form of the Latin word “mandatum” meaning command and referring to the Command by Christ given at the Last Supper that we are “to love one another.”  On Maundy Thursday various church prelates would wash the feet of those below them or of the poor and sometimes give money to the poor as well.  This giving of money was  called “Maundy Money”.

Interesting to me, is that sometimes secular rulers would do the same thing and kings would wash the feet of the poor.  Although this practice died out after the Middle Ages it apparently was continued in Spain up until the Twentieth Century. 

 

One of the many virtues of foot washing is that it brings you a new perspective into life.  For a king to wash the feet of the poor had to remind the king of his mortality and the fact that God loves the poor as much as the rich.

 

Another fun word is “pedelavium.”  In Latin, pedelavium means a footbath but in reality it comes from two Latin words-  pes meaning feet and from levare which is Latin meaning to wash. 

 


Popes Wash Feet Too

 

On Maundy Thursday, the Pope washes feet.  In fact, Pope Francis departed from normal practice in 2013 and washed the feet of two women and the feet of some Muslim men.  In 2016, Catholic practice was revised allowing Catholic priests to wash the feet of females as well as males.  In 2022, Pope Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a prison near Rome.  The ceremony which was private and  involved the washing, drying and kissing of the feet of each of the inmates.

 

Orthodox and Eastern Christians Wash Feet Too

 

Churches in the East also believe in foot washing.  Generally they do it on Maundy Thursday.  Bishops often wash the feet of twelve priests (who rank lower than the bishops).  Abbots who run monasteries wash the feet of twelve of their monks.  In the Coptic Church in Egypt the priest of the church washes the feet of every member of his congregation.

 

Protestants Wash Feet Too

 

Protestants are not to be left out when it comes to the washing of feet.  In many cases this is in connection with Maundy Thursday celebrations but it also occurs at other times as well.  Some of the Protestant groups which on occasion wash feet include the  Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist Churches. 

 

Many churches seeking to return to the First Century patterns include foot washing.  Groups like the Moravian, Anabaptist, Brethren, Amish and Mennonites engage in regular foot washing services.  In addition various Baptist churches are involved in foot washing including many Free-Will , Primitive, Separate and General Baptist Churches.  It is relatively unusual to see foot washing in Southern Baptist Churches;  however, one cannot generalize because each individual Baptist Church may take its own position on foot washing.  Southern Baptists however, believe that there are only two ordinances:  Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

 

My Experiences in Foot Washing

 

Let me preface my account by saying that I came from a family which was loving but not very touching.  We treated each member formally and to some extent with a high degree of modesty.  Things like hugging and kissing were done but only sporadically.  We were a loving family but not a “touchy- feely” family.  Dad and Mom were committed Christians and Dad was a deacon in the church and often the Chairman of the Deacons.  I recount this because some charismatic practices such as Hugging or a Kiss of Greeting was at first unnerving to me.  We were also uncomfortable doing things like holding the hands (especially of another male) while singing “Sweet, Sweet Spirit.”  It simply was not our cup of tea and was not a part of our normal church experience.  In time, I became more acclimated to some of these things.

 

The background is important because I cannot say that I was excited about washing the feet of another guy, regardless of whether I had met the person before or not.

 

At the time I experienced foot washing,  I was an elder of a church and felt that I needed to understand more about foot washing and the humility associated with it.  After a period of time, I located a foot washing ceremony at a Brethren Church and went.  First there was a sermon involving the Lord’s Supper and foot washing.  Next men and women were divided into two groups of men and women.  Men would wash the feet of men and women would wash the feet of women.  You went down the line and the person in front of you washed and dried your feet and then you washed and dried the feet of the person behind you.  In my case, I did not know the person in front of me or the person behind me.  It was both humbling and strange to have your feet washed by someone you did not know and then to wash the feet of someone you did not know.  I suspect that had I known either the person washing my feet or the person whose feet I washed that I would not have been comforted at all.  Of the two experiences, perhaps having my own feet washed was more uncomfortable to me than washing someone else’s feet.  I think it works that way in giving as well.  Receiving is more uncomfortable than giving.  The whole process was somewhat uncomfortable for me.

 

However, Jesus did not call me to be comfortable.  Sometimes he wants us to be uncomfortable.  Sometimes, he wants barriers to come down.  I certainly had barriers against foot washing and had some of those barriers torn down that day.  It is said that St. Francis of Assisi washed the feet of lepers and bandaged their sores.  At any rate, my experience in foot washing for me personally helped to knock down some of the barriers around my life that I had constructed to protect myself.

 

Finally, having your own feet washed or washing someone else’s feet does give you a new perspective in life.  By writing about  humility and foot washing, I am not trying to push you into trying this practice.  If God wants you to try it, he can let you know.  Most of us have a series of events in our lives which can teach us humility.  Just as I don’t look for events to teach me patience, I don’t go out and actively seek events to teach me humility.  Believe there are enough events in our lives, which can teach us both patience and humility if we choose to learn these virtues. 

 

In the next newsletter, I won’t be talking so much.  Instead I will share with you some Scriptures on humility.  The Grasshopper rests until next time.