John 13:1-17, Luke 22:14-20
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" Jesus answered, "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one of you was clean.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that I know you love me, I will show you my love."
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
The sight of their Teacher, their Lord, kneeling at their feet with a towel and basin undid something in me. Peter’s protest,“You shall never wash my feet!”, echoes my own resistance to letting Jesus serve me in the ways I find most humiliating. Yet his answer cuts to the heart: unless he washes me, I have no part with him. My pride must yield to his humble service.
In that upper room, Jesus redefined greatness. Not by power or position, but by the towel and basin. The King of kings stooped to the lowest task, showing that love in his kingdom looks like service, not status.
When he broke the bread and poured the wine, he wasn’t instituting a mere ritual; he was giving us a tangible way to remember his broken body and poured-out blood. “Do this in remembrance of me” becomes a weekly return to the foot of the cross, a chance to let him wash us again and again.
"Unless I wash you, you have no part with me"
He still kneels to wash our feet today, not with literal water, but with the grace that cleanses us from the dust of our journeys. To let him serve us is to accept the very essence of discipleship: we are first recipients of his love before we are givers of it.
With the image of his towel still in my mind and a renewed willingness to let him serve me, Claire