Wash One Another’s Feet

Wash One Another’s Feet

I have read this passage so many times, but little did I realise the intent of Christ until today when I read it again.

What does it mean to wash one another’s feet? It was a cultural and social act in those days but it is not applicable today. Because our feet don’t literally get dirty and dusty (depending on where you live). Our hosts in homes do not have the culture of washing the feet of the guests either.

However, there was a biblical principle that Christ was teaching His disciples.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. - John 13:14

The context of washing one another’s feet must be studied within the context of the passage in John 13. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, but Peter told Jesus not to wash his feet. Jesus answered, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with Me.”

Jesus continued, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” - John 13:10

Since all the 11 disciples were already clean (except for Judas), washing the disciples’ feet does not refer to humility or being made righteous in Him. It refers to fellowship (Read: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with Me”). The word “no share” in Greek refers to “no fellowship.”

Why did Jesus have to wash the feet of His disciples and regard that as fellowship? Because we are IN the world but not of the world, we can be contaminated / entangled with the issues of the world. Being in fellowship with Him keeps us free from sin.

If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. - 1 John 1:6

Jesus told His disciples to do likewise and wash one another’s feet (aka fellowship with one another). Why?

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. - 1 John 1:7

As believers, we need to be in fellowship with one another and that includes correcting one another in their sin. That’s washing one another’s feet aka keeping one another free from sin and the world’s entanglement. It’s accountability. It’s love. It’s the true meaning of washing one another’s feet instead of thinking that it’s a literal act of humility.

P.S: Yes we are also commanded to walk in humility but it’s not what this passage is talking about.