When’s the last time you washed someone’s feet for them?  Weird question, right?  And kind of gross…

To be fair, we don’t live in a culture or time where that kind of thing happens.  We have running water and wash our own feet in the shower.  But Jesus and his disciples lived in a different place and time.  Because of the dirt roads, hot climate, and sandaled footwear in the ancient Mediterranean world, it was common practice for a slave to wash the sweaty, dusty, filthy feet of the master and his guests as they entered a home.  What did not happen, however, was that someone other than a slave would do it— and certainly not the master or the guest of honor.

So what does that have to do with us?  Well, today is often called Maundy Thursday in the Christian calendar, which gets its name from the same Latin root as the word mandate, as in commandment.  On the night of the last supper, Jesus steps away from the dinner table and completely shocks his disciples by getting on his knees and washing their feet like a slave, even though he was their Teacher and their Lord.  And after washing their feet he said to them: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”  Ever since then, it has been a tradition in many Christian churches to wash the feet of one another—as I did growing up—on Maundy Thursday as an expression of obedience to that commandment.

This moment—the first Maundy Thursday—completely turned the world upside down.  Nobody important got on his knees and washed the feet of anyone, let alone of lesser men.  But Jesus did—and he said that this is how we must love one another.

So, I ask you again: When’s the last time you washed someone’s feet for them?  It may not be actual feet washing, but in whatever we do, maybe it is time we start imitating the master by becoming more like a slave.  And not just to our friends, and family, and the people we like.

Because you know who got his feet washed by Jesus?  That’s right—Judas.

Have a blessed Easter, enjoy your break, and have a wonderful last day.