There is something scandalously intimate about foot-washing. Perhaps this is why Peter protests so vehemently! (Good old Peter – never one to self-censor). Peter may speak for many of us who can accept the incarnation of the God-man on a theological level, and even welcome the powerful Christ of John’s gospel who raises Lazarus from the dead, heals the man born blind, changes water into wine, feeds the 5,000, etc. But this half-dressed Jesus who washes feet like a 1st-century Galilean house servant? And then tells Peter, his disciples, and the rest of us to go and do likewise? Hmmm. Not an easy ask.

Yet when I look back on beautiful moments in my own Christian journey, foot-washing stands out. I think of a university community in Madison, Wisconsin that set up a dozen Holy Thursday foot washing stations, calling all of us to take turns bathing each other’s feet. I recall a memorable Holy Thursday in Uganda when a priest called me out of the congregation to join my Ugandan brothers and sisters before the altar, symbolizing (as he told the crowd) the universal nature of the church. I look back on an intentional Catholic community in West Virginia who closed service weeks by washing the feet of all volunteers, reminding us that our week was about just that – receiving gifts in service. I remember Pope Francis in March 2013, setting the tone for his entire papacy by going to a Roman youth jail to wash the feet of all prisoners, male and female, Christian and Muslim. Perhaps most of all, I recall washing my own young children’s feet in the old Jesuit Gardens here at Creighton, knowing they were too little to get the Holy Thursday liturgy—yet could really embrace the sensory experience and symbolism of Mom and Dad washing their feet.   

Perhaps there is something to this foot-washing! On this holy night, may we soak in this ritual practice that Jesus handed down to us. And then go and do likewise.