John.. dirty feet

‘Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only gut also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet but is completely clean…..
‘You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am, if I then, you Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things blessed are you if you do them.

Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet but is completely clean…..

This statement was not actually deeply theological, it was a blatant fact about living in a dirty, sandy world. Africa like Egypt is full of sand. It seems impossible to keep the floors of my house clean as I have to sweep them at least once a day. When I take my bucket shower, no running water, if I forget to wear flip flops I will inevitably have dirty feet within the next 20 minutes.
I love Peter’s enthusiasm and the way he stumbles over his words. I relate to him so much; I forget that God has a plan when he is doing something that he knows the end of the story; but he does not tell us. If he told us everything where would be the lessons in which we learn how to trust him? Jesus tells him if “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” I think this has two parts. It is first a message to everyone, if God does not cleanse our spirits and wash us, if we do not let him humble himself, take off his outer garments, humiliate himself to the point of death; if we don’t let him wash us through his innumerous acts of service and excepting our inability to do nothing to be able to wash our selves than ‘we can have no share with him’. In another light, Jesus knew Peter’s spirit, his pride, his need to be in control and in the spotlight, Jesus’ go to man. By Jesus acting like the house servant, washing his feet He was lowering himself below Peter and this was hard for him to grasp. “You will never wash my feet”, you have to give it to Peter he thinks he is saying the right thing, God; you are greater I am less, how can you humble yourself below me? But again, Jesus knows the purpose and the end of the story. The bowl and the basin; the wine and the bread, they are all predecessors to the hill and the cross. He knows the story, he wrote it all so we could be in communion with him through his acts of service.
He then goes on to tell us, that we should also wash one another’s feet. I have never seen the practice of foot washing in this part of Africa, but in a sense I hope that I am practicing foot washing everyday. Through talking with children and women in local language, through helping women take care of their children and fight malnutrition, through teaching business people to better manage their money so they can hopefully find more of a monetary benefit… all in the name of foot washing. Just like Simon Peter I struggle with one statement, ‘a servant is not greater than his master nor is a master nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him’. In Benin, cultural differences are pretty strong. Every day children and adults point out that, indeed I have white skin. It is very difficult to get people to attend meetings on time if at all. My cynicism and frustration has always been a stumbling block for myself. I pray that I will keep my mind in check, so that my thoughts would be positive and would seek to love people despite our cultural differences.