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.
