He Came to Serve

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:15-16

One of the things that I enjoy most when I travel is attending mass in the different towns. Even though the mass itself is the same, each place has its own costumes and traditions. 

We are currently in Long Island and last night we went to Holy Thursday mass at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. The mass was bilingual in English and Spanish. I was surprised to find a huge Hispanic community in this area. 

The one thing that differed this parish from all Holy Thursday services that I have attended was the Washing of the Feet. Most churches call twelve parishioners to sit at the altar and the priest washes their feet. Here, they only called four to the altar. The other eight were spread out around the church and the priest walked up to them to wash their feet. One of them sat right in front of us. The priest came up to him, with four young helpers, and washed his feet right there. It was very humbling. So humbling in fact, that the next guy to get his feet washed, knelt and broke down crying afterwards. 

As I watched him cry, I closed my eyes and placed myself at the Upper Room. How humbling and difficult it must have been for the disciples to allow Jesus to wash their feet. In those times, only slaves performed that service. Their feet must have been very dirty from walking all day through dirt roads and in sandals. Yet, Jesus knelt down and humbly washed their smelly feet. No wonder Peter complained, and didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet. 

The washing of the feet always reminds me that our job here on earth is not to be served but to serve. There are a lot of feet that need to be washed, and I can hear Jesus telling me: “As I have done, so must you do. What you do for them, you do for Me.”

I hope that the next time that I encounter someone with dirty feet, I wash their feet with the same love that Jesus did it to his disciples, not because He had to but because He wanted to. 

Copyright © 2022 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.