When Jesus washed the disciples' feet before the meal in the Upper Room, this highlights one of those tough realities in life as we are not so much spiritual beings as we are spiritual beings trapped in messy, faulted, earthy bodies (the Bible says bluntly, we hold these treasures in clay pots). Jesus tended to their stinky feet as though even their feet was a blessed part of our humanity. So, when they arrived for dinner, he took a bowl and wrapped himself in a towel and went to each one, sat them down, slipped their sandals off their feet, and washed their feet. As he did this, he looked up into their surprised faces and told them to “do as I have done to you.” It’s as if Jesus didn’t seem to mind this simple service. He embraced his own humanity so he accepted theirs too.
Be assured we are welcomed body and soul by God who created us and blessed us in our earthiness. This is where the mystical and the visceral come together, merging together mysteriously, unexpectedly. This is not the only moment we see this, there are other examples of this awkward proximity of divine and earthy. Think of the 2-way instruction of the washing of feet (viz., washing another’s feet and having your feet washed by another) as a sequence for our gathering together and re-enacting Jesus’ example and the commandment he gave us to do the same as an example of “grace given, grace received.”
