Most of us have witnessed an event like this… an act of worship SO extravagant, SO extreme that it seems not just ostentatious, not just embarrassing for all, but wasteful and inappropriate. Often, we think unkindly that the worshipper is simply trying to draw attention to themselves and their “special” relationship to God, discounting the possibility that this act of worship is done out of that person’s genuine gratitude at having been freed from a place of bondage and brokenness.

Often, like the Pharisee… Simon… or Judas…. Depending on which account you read… we think that this act of worship is a waste… if not of money…. of time… of energy … of our own appreciation and union with the act of worship. We withdraw from the event emotionally and sometimes physically at our discomfort and attitude of superiority, thinking “Have a little respect… if not for yourselves at least for Jesus!”

And then of course, in all versions of the story, Jesus defends the woman for the act of gratitude that is being displayed. 

And in three of the four versions, that is the end of it.  But not in the Gospel of John.

John goes on to tell us how Jesus further drove home appropriate nature of the woman’s act by actually washing the feet of the disciples... but it was different.



You see, the woman (Mary, the woman caught in adultery, some otherwise unknown woman???) acted out of gratitude, appreciation, and adoration. A powerful type of love to be sure, but for her it was in response to Jesus’ having acted first. It was transactional – Jesus showed love to her and she responded with an act of love and adoration in return.

But Jesus’ act towards the disciples was not transactional.

Jesus’ washing of the disciple's feet was paternal.. that of one who SO loves their own progeny that they will do whatever is necessary to meet their needs. It is human parenting at its best multiplied by several factors. You see, the disciples, while following Him, had never completely grasped the depth of who He was. Some followed out of hope for a place in the kingdom, some followed out of curiosity and interest and some, like Judas, followed for opportunistic reasons. 

Even more, Jesus knew that all would flee that coming night, that they would be unable to face the possibility and prospect of arrest, judgment, and imminent death.

And yet Jesus still washed their feet.

No, not in the extravagant way of the woman who had anointed Him, but in the way that was necessary at that moment.

Jesus washed the feet of the disciples because they needed to be clean to sit at the table. In the face of His own death and mortality, He did what was necessary not as a transaction, but to share the meal with them.



No matter how extravagant the love of the woman for Jesus was, Jesus’ love for the disciples… for all of us who choose to follow Him… is abundantly and unimaginably greater. And so, He washed their feet.

And then He told us to do as He had done. To serve people not because of what they have done for us, but because of His love for them… to serve them out of our own love for God’s created ones and not for what they have done or can do for us.

And that is an ideal of serving that it is difficult to achieve. Sometimes the best we can to do is to serve because we have been commanded to do so by Jesus.

But now and then, we get it right… instead of just showing our love for Jesus through our worship, instead of just serving others because of the commands He has given us or our desire to gain something for ourselves from the serving of others, occasionally we actually fall in love with the people that God created and serve them because we fully recognize who they are… God’s beloved children.

And when we do, not only are we blessed, but our God in Heaven rejoices at what is being done.

My hope, my prayer is that I might learn to recognize… love … and serve…all of God’s beloved children in the same way He has loved me.

Amen.

Prayer

Oh God, as you literally washed the feet of the Disciples, You have washed my feet time and time again so that I might sit in fellowship with You.  Let me not take that for granted and let me learn from your actions to wash the feet of others that we might be in fellowship together but that they would also be in fellowship with You. 

Amen.