Foot Washing

There is a lot of foot washing in the Bible; e.g., Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and Mary washed Jesus' feet with her hair (Jn 12:3). In Costa Rica, everybody wears sandals and nobody has carpet (the floors are tile, concret or just dirt). It's really opened my eyes to the culture of the New Testament. Here are two spiritually profound thoughts:

1) When you don't have carpet, your feet get really dirty.

2) Sandles make your feet stink.

Here's a picture of Willy's feet--dirty and stinky. We wash these ten little toes multiple times per day; nontheless, when Willy climbs up on the couch with us to read a book or watch a little TV, the smell is strong enough to knock over a moose. At the last supper, the disciples were lying on the floor, eating dinner. That means that someone's feet were really close to someone else's nose. But, nobody would lower themselves to do the dirty work--until Jesus did it (Jn 13:5-9). I love Peter's response:

Jn 13:5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Jn 13:6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jn 13:7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
Jn 13:8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Jn 13:9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”