Pastor's Column“That’s the Point”
Something very curious happens in a lot of Christian churches on the Thursday of Holy Week. They reenact the foot-washing. I mean that 12 men are chosen (to represent the Apostles) and they sit on chairs up front while the pastor (to represent Christ) washes their feet. In fact, many churches refer to that day as Maundy Thursday, after Christ’s mandate to be foot-washers.
But ask yourselves: when it comes to the Gospel, are we called to reenact it or are we called to live it? There’s a big difference. Huge. For one thing, reenactments tend to be accurate just on the visible level. Take, for instance, the men who are Civil War reenactors. Everything is visibly accurate. They don’t even wear wrist watches. But they’re not actually taking up arms to fire live rounds at men from the South. That’s what I mean. Reenactments are accurate on the visible level. But what if those 12 men then had to wash the feet of others, right then and there? It would have a totally different feel, wouldn’t it?
For another thing, what if everyone in church came forward to wash feet and have their feet be washed as well? It wouldn’t be a reenactment anymore. It would become a religious ritual, and religious rituals will always be more powerful than reenactments for one simple reason: reenactments have an audience, but religious rituals only have participants. If it was understood that everyone present would have their feet washed and in turn would wash feet also, the entire experience on Thursday of Holy Week would be transformed.
To let someone else see our feet close up is not something we’re comfortable with. How many people at our church even know what our feet look like? The fact is, to put our bare feet into someone else’s hands makes us vulnerable. At that moment, it would be impossible to feel superior to others. It would be impossible to nurse a grudge. It should come as no surprise that the people most willing to get their feet washed are children. The older we get, the less comfortable we are having people see our feet close up. But that’s the point: to willingly embrace being vulnerable as disciples of the Lord, and to willingly become servants to others.
I look forward to the day when Christians around the world embrace the foot-washing, not as a reenactment, but as a religious ritual. I look forward to the day when we embrace being vulnerable for the sake of the Gospel. To the day when we stand out in the world because of our servanthood as much as the Amish stand out because of their horse and buggy. More and more churches are doing the foot-washing on the Thursday of Holy Week. The real challenge is to make it a way of life.
147455
|
