Thursday, April 1, 2010

Maundy Thursday


In Jesus' day, road were dirt.    People walked those roads with bare feet or at the most open sandals.    When you arrived at someone's home, the first thing that would happen is the lowest servant would wash the dirt, mud and animal dung from your feet so that you could enter the home.    It was a low man on the totem pole type of job.

Imagine Peter's horror when Jesus announced that he would wash his disciple's feet.     He would become the "low man on the totem pole".       Despite Peter's objections Jesus simply stated, "If you don't let me then you will have no part of me."  

I don't know if any of you have ever been part of a foot washing ceremony.    I had never been part of one until I married my sweet hubs.   The church he was attending made this a traditional part of their Holy Week observations.    I remember my own Peter reaction when I read in the bulletin that this was going to be going on.     Someone was going to touch my feet?    You know how I feel about my feet.     Oh the horror.  Oh the humiliation.      It was quite a week between the Lord and myself as I fussed and He listened.      That foot washing night was beautiful.    Something I will never forget.        Women were in one room and men were in another.       It was a very holy experience.    I won't lie and tell you that I was completely comfortable having someone touch my feet, but I will say that sharing that moment in the same way that Jesus and His disciples did became a cherished tradition while we were at that church.

Every day we are Jesus' feet walking around in this earth.     I have been thinking about all the dirt, mud and animal dung that we potentially gather as we go through our daily lives.      We are bombarded with all types of "muck" in our daily lives.     

On this Maundy Thursday it is the perfect time to ask God to freshly wash our "feet" and experience Easter in a brand new way!

2 comments:

Shelby said...

Beautiful and that's one of the best explanations of the Maundy Thursday experience that I've ever run across.

I'm thankful that Jesus washed me clean and may I, as His feet, get filthy over and over again in His service.

Love you, Deanna!

Katherine said...

How neat! I hope you have a wonderful Resurrection Day!