What Jesus’ Washing the Disciples Feet tells us about Motherhood

Easter and Christmas are 2 times during the year where we, as Christians, are to stop and reflect on the in-breaking of God into creation. And as we approach Easter, we look forward to Holy Week, which begins not with celebration (and not with chocolate and Easter bunnies) but with reflection on Christ’s last day, on the day that he was betrayed and handed over to the authorities to be crucified.

This somber and sobering re-enacting of the last supper, complete with washing of feet (in some churches), allows us time to pause and reflect on our own mortality and on the fact that the sovereign Creator of all things entered into our human condition and redeemed even death itself.

But it also, for the mother of young kids who still has dirty laundry strewn across the house, and lunches that need to be packed day in and day out, gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect on dirty socks and used tissues, on Lego boxes shoved in corners and week-old toast discovered under couches.

And in reflecting on Jesus’ washing his disciples feet, we can reflect on how we may be the most like Christ when we are tidying toys and washing dishes and wiping bums.

Why Foot Washing? The Dirtiest Job There Is

Walking anywhere in 1^st century Israel was a dirty job.  Most of the roads were unpaved.  The primary mode of travel was to just walk places (it was not unusual to walk 20 miles in a day).  Horses, oxen, camels, and donkeys were everywhere (since they were used as both modes of travel and as pack animals).  And consequently, the roads were filthy.  Not just dust-and-mud filthy, but horse-and-donkey-poop-squished-and-spread-by-carts filthy.

That’s why foot washing was a necessary practice.  Whenever a visitor arrived at someone’s house, one of the servants was tasked with washing their feet.  And this wasn’t a job for just any servant.  It was the lowest servant who was in charge of foot washing, the one at the very bottom of the hierarchy.   And if the household did not have servants, then the residents typically provided water and the guests would wash their own feet.

This was one of the dirtiest jobs around.

And that is why is was so surprising at the last supper that Jesus took off his robe and washed his disciples feet.

Jesus’ behaviour was, in fact, in direct contrast with the disciples’ behaviour at the time.  As they were breaking bread on the night before Jesus’ death, a dispute broke out among the disciples over which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24).

Jesus reprimanded them, saying that “the greatest among you should be like the youngest” (i.e. the least) “and the one who rules like the one who serves” (Luke 22:26).

This was the perfect time to engage in one of the most shocking examples of servant leadership the we see in the Bible.  Jesus took off his robes and proceeded to wash the disciples’ feet.  Peter protested, saying “you shall never wash my feet” (John 13:8).  

We can kind of identify with Peter as this point, can’t we?  Would we want the Messiah, the Son of God, to wash our dusty, poop-caked feet?  

There being no servant at the last supper, there was no one to wash the disciples’ feet.  And the disciples certainly were not going to take it upon themselves to wash each others’ feet.  (Could you imagine such an unprovoked act of humility among men who were at the very same time arguing over which of them was the greatest?)  

Such a dirty job should be reserved for the lowest, should it not?  Not the highest?  And so Peter’s protest.

And yet, Jesus rebukes him, insisting on an example of servant leadership that tells us two things:

1. We must be cleansed of sin if we are to have a part in salvation, to have a relationship with Christ (In John 13:8, Jesus says “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”) – and that, while the primary cleansing happens only once, we need a continual renewal, a cleansing just of our feet and not our entire selves, as we go through life;

2. We are called to imitate Christ’s act of humility and to serve others, and to do so in ways that we may feel are ‘beneath us,’ in ways that might aggravate us, disappoint us, challenge us, and overwhelm us at times.

This call to service, in fact, reveals a deeper truth about what God values as well.  

In this episode at the last supper, God completely reverses the world’s standards.  

We might imagine what the disciples had been arguing about when they were trying to determine who was the greatest:

Who did Jesus spend the most time with?  Who performed the most miracles?  Who implemented his teaching best?  Who would be seated closest to Jesus in the Kingdom to come?  Who would be recognized as his most accomplished, smartest, and most talented disciple?  Who would people talk about?  Who would they whisper about, saying “I would love to meet Peter [or John, or Thomas…].  He’s so smart.  He’s performed the most miracles, you know.  Did you here about the time that he cured a lame man?  The time that he cast out those demons?”  We all want accolades, don’t we?  We want to be recognized.  We want people to see us as smart and talented, accomplished and important.

But God’s standards are not the world’s standards.  Jesus does not call us to write impressive books or to build empires.  He does not call us to be rich and important.  

He calls us to take up the lowliest jobs in service of one another.  He calls us to love, service, and humility.  He tells us to put aside our egos, to stop arguing over who is the greatest, and to get to the work of washing feet (i.e. of wiping poop).  

(It is also worth noting that he calls us to stop arguing over who is implementing his teaching the best, over who is following him the most closely.  If you are proud of how humble you are and how well you are doing, then perhaps you are not humble at all.)

What Jesus’ Washing the Disciples Feet Tells Us about Motherhood

Most days, I literally follow my family around, cleaning up after them: putting dishes in the sink (and washing the drying them), tidying up toys, throwing used Kleenex in the garbage, folding laundry, and (the closest job to the one Jesus had at the last supper) wiping poop.  

It’s not that my kids are spoiled and careless.  It’s that they need a dozen reminders to get one thing done.  It’s that there isn’t always time to tidy all the toys while also trying to get homework done, attend extracurriulars after school, cook (me) and eat (everyone) supper, spend quality time with the kids, read enough books before bedtime, brush teeth, take baths, get pajamas on…. You know, those 18,000 things that you need to do in the 4 hours or so between school ending the the kids going to sleep.  

It’s also that my husband works long hours to pay for all the stuff that we need, like heat and hydro, food, water, a vehicle,  schooling (so much student debt!), along with all those extracurriculars that the kids do and books that we read – and so he’s (probably) got just enough energy left to get the dirty dishes to the counter (and not washed and in the dish rack).  

And finally, it’s that my kids (and my husband) have some kind of genetic blindness to used tissues on the table and Lego boxes shoved in the corner.  They actually can’t see them.

And so, in comes mom, the cleaner of things.

At times, it can be downright exhausting and demoralizing.  (Will this dirty laundry EVER end?  Does anybody even notice that we have clean spoons in the house only because of my constant – and I do mean constant – dish-cleaning efforts?)

But the really remarkable thing about motherhood, or ‘housewifery’ (the cleaning of the house and the running of all things inside the house, like parties and meals and extracurriculars) and the Bible is this: On the day before he was taken to be crucified, Jesus speaks directly into the lives of exhausted mothers who are knee-deep in unmatched socks.

Before we look at foot washing and motherhood, however, it will be worthwhile to pause for a moment to consider the Proverbs 31 woman.

The Proverbs 31 Woman is a Super Hero

I am firmly convinced that the Proverbs 31 woman is not as checklist for finding the perfect wife.  It is an ode to motherhood that sings the praises of the single biggest super hero in the Bible, after Jesus of course: mom.  

• She runs the household.  
• She gets up early to bake bread (and pack lunches).  
• She sews her families linens and clothing.  
• She stays up late after the kids are tucked in to wash the dishes and put the Lego pieces away.  
• She buys the groceries.  
• She manages the finances.  

And it’s funny, isn’t it, that in the middle of Proverbs 31, amidst all the praise for what the ‘wife of noble character’ gets done in a day, we learn that “her husband is respected at the city gate”.   

Is she more valuable because her husband is a big deal?  Why would we care that her husband is respected at the city gate?  And then….oh….a light bulb comes on, for any woman who has done the dirty work of running a household while her husband goes to work to earn the money: Her husband is “well respected at the city gate” because he has the time to devote all his energies to his job.  After all, he is not packing lunches and washing dishes and putting all the used tissue in the garbage.

Reading Proverbs 31 Together with the Washing of Feet

When we read Proverbs 31 in light of Maundy Thursday (i.e. Jesus washing his disciples feet), I think what we get is this: we see an Old Testament picture of the servant leadership that Jesus calls us to.  We see a picture of foot washing that many of us can relate to.  And we see a validation and a recognition of the role of the “housewife” (how I loathe that word) from the sovereign Creator of all things.

God gets it.  

He gets dirty diapers and used tissues and Lego scattered all over the floor.  He gets dirty dishes and grocery shopping and the unending treadmill that is meal planning and preparation.  

In a world where the cleaning up  is typically done by the lowest servant, where we try to outsource the dishes and the vacuuming if we earn enough money to hire someone else to do it…. In a world that doesn’t even see all the used tissue and the Lego boxes shoved in the corner…. In a world that values money, success, and public accomplishment over tidying up and planning playdates, God sees us.  

He sees the bread-bakers and the dish washers and the toy tidiers.  

And he tells us that we are no more like God than when we are tidying and washing and cooking and planning, and when we are following our families around with a trash bag, cleaning up the used tissues.

“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15). We are no more like Christ than we are taking up the dirtiest jobs that no one else wants.