Grace

Last week I realized that for all of my believing life I have been mistaken about one of the most important stories in the Bible. Trust me, I was not mistaken on purpose. No, quite the contrary. I believed my little incomplete truth with all of the passion that a man can have. For all of those years, at least in my mind, I was not wrong and I would have told you. Now, thankfully, I have been corrected, but the explanation for this little spiritual faux pas is a little bit complicated.

The story that was the source of this misunderstanding is simple. Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus gathers all of his disciples together. He is holding a basin of water and some towels. It soon becomes obvious that Jesus is about to wash their feet. The disciples are at the very least uncomfortable with this, but only Peter is able to voice what it seems to me many of them were feeling. "Jesus, you will not wash my feet. I will wash yours."

Now that seems like a reasonable statement. Hierarchy would dictate that the lesser serve the greater. It was unthinkable to Peter that this man, Jesus, would do this menial dirty job. The man that Peter followed was surely above such a humiliation, but Jesus did not see it that way. In fact, Jesus's response to Peter left no room for doubt. "Peter, if you don't allow me to do this you will have no part in me." Of course Peter repented of his resistance to Jesus's plan with great gusto, but Jesus's words, "Peter, if you don't allow me to..." have always been easy for me to understand.

It was simple really. Washing feet was like a ritual or something, kind of like baptism or the Lord's supper. Now I know that my church never claimed that it was, but to me it seemed like it was some sort of spiritual initiation that was required if you wanted to be in the "12." Of course my spiritual friends would always reserve foot washing for some pseudo religious ceremony with lit candles which did a great job of reinforcing my mistaken belief. Occasionally one of my spiritual leader friends would sit on the floor and one by one take off our shoes and socks, dip our reasonably clean feet in cold water and then dry them off with a white towel. Often the pseudo ceremony would be filled with sobs and tears, but it always appeared solemn, and I always felt that I had accumulated quite a few spiritual bonus points for my participation in the ceremony.

One disclaimer; My sarcastic tone is not meant to define the event in which I participated or those who practiced it with me, instead it is meant to define my attitude of self-righteousness that accompanied my participation in the event.

So, what is the big mistake in my belief. Well, just as simply I have come to realize that Jesus did not wash the disciples feet to start some church ordinance. He did not want us to start some candle lit ceremony with white towels. No, not any of that. Jesus wanted to wash the feet of his disciples. He wanted to submit to them. Please don't get worked up by my use of the word submit, but that is what he did. He blessed them by getting down on his knees to perform a humiliating task, one that was reserved for hired help. Jesus didn't say that Peter would have no part because it was an initiation that Peter must participate in, no. Instead, Jesus said that unless Peter allowed Jesus to wash his feet he would have not part because that is how grace works.

Hear me out for a minute. This summer I switched jobs. Not a big deal, except that it meant a large pay cut, which I was aware of, and a month without pay, that I was not aware of. Luckily we still had some little bit of emergency fund that might hold us through, but we weren't sure. Halfway to the first paycheck I broke my wife's foot in a lowspeed motorcycle accident which meant she could not work. In spite of moving to an incredibly rewarding, but challenging job, I took over her job in addition to mine. I was a little bit stretched.

Well, God happened in that stretched moment. I have been blessed like I could never describe. My incredible church family has responded in ways that can only be called miraculous. My own family has blessed me amazingly. Random people have blessed me. Like Peter, I have been reluctant to accept, but when I did the heavens opened up. I began looking at the people in my life in a whole new light. I began noticing small blessings as well as large ones. I began to be able to bless people with what I had been given. Why? because I let some very dear friends and family help me. I let them humble themselves to bless me.

No, foot washing is not about some initiation, unless...unless you want to call it an initiation into experiencing the kinship of the family of God, and if I had refused... I would have not had a chance to experience any part of it... at all. So... I am just wondering, should I break my wife's other leg?

Just kidding.