Rev. Dr. Craig L. Nessan
What makes for a sacrament? Ever since confirmation class, I have been taught a sacrament has three characteristics: 1) a material sign, 2) a spiritual gift, and 3) the command of Jesus. Although there have been times in church history when foot washing was listed as a sacrament, this status has not persisted to the present among the ecumenical churches. In Anabaptist traditions, however, this practice has persevered. The Mennonite Church USA affirms: “We believe that Jesus Christ calls us to serve one another in love as he did. Rather than seeking to lord it over others, we are called to follow the example of our Lord, who chose the role of a servant by washing his disciples’ feet.”
On Maundy Thursday with the Gospel reading from John 13 (“maundy” from mandatum, the Latin word for command, specifically the love command of Jesus), some congregations may include at worship a ritual that symbolizes the practice of foot washing. When I introduced such a ritual, the level of nervousness was palatable, although also the comments from participants about its meaningfulness. Beyond the awkwardness of baring feet at worship, there is power in the act of washing and being washed as a sign of love.
The three marks of a sacrament are each fulfilled in the practice inaugurated by Jesus on Holy Thursday. Our feet cleansed by water is the material sign. The love of Jesus is pure spiritual gift. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (13:34). And we have the clear command of Jesus to do as he has done for his disciples: “to wash one another’s feet.”
While it is improbable the ecumenical churches might redefine the number of sacraments, how would our church be transformed by regularizing foot washing as a sacramental practice? How would we be transformed, above all, by the humility and deep love of Jesus for us, who bends down to touch and wash our feet, the “least honorable” members of the body (cf. 1 Cor 12:23)? How would we be transformed by the mind of Christ who sends us into the avenues of daily life—beyond the church building—to touch and wash the feet of the “least respectable” members of our society?
Foot washing—as the sacrament of neighbor love in your family, neighborhood, local community, workplace, school, and among the crucified people of our world—could transform our church from its consumer mentality toward discovering anew that Jesus still meets us in the least of these (Matt 25:40). As we enter the liminal space of Maundy Thursday, let us receive as our own the love of Jesus mediated through washing the feet of disciples. And let us be enveloped by that selfsame love as we turn in humility to wash the feet of the neighbors Christ gives us to serve each new day.
