Lent: Day Thirty-Eight

I don't know too many people who think their feet are beautiful. Some, but not many. For most, feet are...personal. They are too fat or too smelly or too deformed to be touched by another. They have callouses and warts and yellow toe nails.

That's why I've always loved the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet at the Last Supper the night before He was crucified. To have someone--let alone the Son of God--kneel at your feet and use His bare hands to touch and cleanse them would be such a vulnerable, intimate, honoring moment. I would feel truly loved, especially as I looked back on that moment after witnessing the death and resurrection of Christ.

What's truly crazy about the story, though, is that it doesn't end with nice fuzzy feelings of being loved. In John 13:34, Jesus tells His disciples: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Yep, we are supposed to be loving people with a kneel-at-their-feet-and-wash-them kind of love.

Today is Maundy Thursday, a holy day set aside to commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus and His disciples before His crucifixion. Scholars believe there are a couple derivatives for the word "maundy." It could come from the Latin word "mandatum," or commandment, as in, "A new command I give to you." It could also come from the Latin word "mendicare," which means "to beg," and may refer to the medieval custom of giving alms to the poor on the Holy Thursday before Good Friday.

As I think about Living Water International on this Maundy Thursday, I appreciate the reminder to love as Christ loves and to give to the poor, in spite of any ugliness we encounter in the ones we are trying to love.

When Living Water goes into villages in Africa, India, Central America and South America, they see a lot of ugliness. They see disease and death caused by dirty water and unsanitary living conditions. They see houses made of rusty tin and surrounded by piles of waste. They see worn out women, starving children, and scars from war. They encounter people with very different religious beliefs.

What a picture of love it is, then, when teams from Living Water work in mud, sweat, scorching sun, and pouring rain to give water to the thirsty! Let's pray that each well will be a chance to "wash the feet" of those who need God's love in the world.