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□ Michael Quang Nguyen, SVD
Washing of the Feet in Jesus' Time

 

     
    
 

Alice Springs, a town of being "almost" in the middle of nowhere, is located in Central Australia, which, due to its geographical location, is technically a desert, a vast one. The majority of the roads in Central Australia are not sealed, but dirt. The road that connects Alice Springs and Santa Teresa, for example, is sealed for about a couple kilometers after the airport. After that bitumen section, one will find oneself in the middle of the dusty road. By the time one arrives in Santa Teresa, more than an hour later, one can see oneself in the mirror that he or she has become a dusty person, for the dust of the road has covered him/her from head to toes.

Concerning the roads, Palestine in Jesus’ time was more or less very similar to Central Australia. The roads that connected the district of Galilee in the North and the district of Judea in the South were dirt ones. Even roads within a district were in very similar conditions. Also, people in Jesus’ time normally wore sandals. They did not have buses or cars like people in Central Australia, so the common means of transportation for the people during the first century in Palestine was on foot. People walked from town to town on dusty roads. Because of that, their feet quickly picked up dust and sometimes even animal waste on the road. Therefore, culturally speaking, human feet in Jesus’ time were considered dirty and inferior. After a journey, people usually went to the public pool in the town for a wash. Before entering a house, a person would clean their feet. Or to show hospitality to his guest, the master of the house would have his servants wash the feet of his guest. Thus, washing of the feet in Jewish culture is the task that is reserved only for the servants or slaves.

Also, in Jesus’ time, the master is the head of a religious group or school. The master gives orders, and the disciples take them without questioning. Jesus and his disciples are no doubt situated as the master and students. But according to John, while at the last supper, Jesus removes his outer garment, takes a towel, wraps it round his waist, and pours water into a basin. He then begins to wash his disciples’ feet. This is a shocking phenomenon for Jesus’ disciples, for they would never believe that their master was willing to touch and dare wash what was considered dirty and inferior. The jaws of the disciples must have dropped at the moment they saw Jesus begin washing their feet. That’s why Peter resisted the invitation of Jesus by saying, “Never.” He continued, “You shall never wash my feet.”

At the end, Jesus asked his students, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:12-14).

To be Christian means to be a follower of Jesus, which implies we all have to lower ourselves for washing the feet of one another, and do it in a genuine manner, and for the rest of our Christian lives. Not easy, but that’s what Jesus commanded us to do… As Christians, unfortunately, we have no other choice, but to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters, especially the pariah, the untouchable in our society. In doing so, we are truly Jesus’ disciples.

□ Michael Nguyen

Holy Thursday 2012
The OLSH Parish, Alice Springs  

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