Washing the Feet by John August Swanson

Have you noticed that in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke we find the story of the Last Supper, but in John we find another way that Jesus teaches the same lesson?  In John He washes his disciples’ feet.  Yesterday a person I admire did an exceptional thing.  While she is not outwardly “religious” she did What Jesus Would Do.  When asked, she gave all she had and stepped aside in hope and trust.  The person who had asked her for help had become impatient and ugly.  She calmly stood in the face of it, gave the person what they had asked for, and calmly stepped aside.  The treatment she had received had hurt.  Shortly after the encounter the person called her, apologized for their impatience and rudeness, and remarked on her calm and helpful response.  They said that she was their hero.  The person got it.  They learned the wordless lesson.   They looked in the mirror and saw that they had some growing to do.

In both of these stories, the Last Supper and the Washing of the Feet, we can easily get into the theology of the act itself, the self-giving, the stepping down and being servant.  But in both stories, Jesus ends with the same essential point.  Do likewise.  It is as if he looked at them, fed and cooled of feet, and smiles, and said, “Get it?”  In the image above by John August Swanson, I am moved by the rendering of enlightenment.  May we be moved, in the wake of our activities and encounters, to reflect on the example we are given in calm service, and may the light go on in our heads!