Chad and Jeremy, "You Need Feet"

During the dull days of winter, we could all use something to laugh at. Check out this song which British pop singers, Chad and Jeremy, sang. Listen to it here:

Scripture is filled with metaphors and similes about feet. For example, they made conquest possible. Like God promised  in Joshua 1:3 (Bible in Basic English), "Every place on which you put your foot I have given to you, as I said to Moses."

In ancient times, falling down at a person's feet meant surrendering to that one's authority. We see an example of that done in 1 Samuel 25:23 and 24 (BBE) when Nabal refused to reward David's men for protecting his sheep. "And when Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her ass, falling down on her face before him. And falling at his feet she said, 'May the wrong be on me, my lord, on me: let your servant say a word to you, and give ear to the words of your servant.'"

Furthermore, God used feet to dry up the Jordan river in Joshua 3:15 and 16 (BBE). "And when those who took up the ark came to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who took up the ark were touching the edge of the water (for the waters of Jordan are overflowing all through the time of the grain-cutting), Then the waters flowing down from higher up were stopped and came together in a mass a long way back at Adam, a town near Zarethan; and the waters flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were cut off: and the people went across opposite Jericho."

Washing people's feet was also a way to show hospitality in the Middle East. Jesus used it to show how we ought to serve others instead of boasting and thinking we deserve to be served. John 13:12-14 (BBE) reads, "Then, after washing their feet and putting on his robe again, he took his seat and said to them, 'Do you see what I have done to you? You give me the name of Master and Lord: and you are right; that is what I am. If then I, the Lord and the Master, have made your feet clean, it is right for you to make one another's feet clean."

Some churches figure that foot-washing is an ordinance but the context shows that Jesus used it to shame the disciples for their arrogance. May we all do acts of service to one another in the love of Christ.

If our Master doesn't return by Saturday, I hope to post about how this world isn't so beautiful to certain folks.

To Make Something Clean, Make Something Else Dirty

I sure wish I knew who came up with this witty and profound statement. The more I think of it, the more I realize this applies in spiritual terms as well. We need to know the person who offers us cleansing from sin.

Jesus is the only one who can cleanse people from wickedness and change their lives for the better. Paul gave the reason for this exchange of spiritual filthiness in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (BBE). "For him who had no knowledge of sin God made to be sin for us; so that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

We all know the story of when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Those slow-witted men were arguing about which of them would be the greatest. In reference to baptism, Christ said in John 13:10 (BBE), "Jesus said to him, 'He who is bathed has need only to have his feet washed and then he is clean all over: and you, my disciples, are clean, but not all of you." Those last five words refer to Judas Iscariot.

But baptism doesn't make a person holy, as Peter explained with the example of Noah and his family being saved through the flood. We read in 2 Peter 3:21 (BBE), "And baptism, of which this is an image, now gives you salvation, not by washing clean the flesh, but by making you free from the sense of sin before God, through the coming again of Jesus Christ from the dead;"

As for foot washing, we need a spiritual sort since we walk through a filthy world and become soiled with sin. But Paul admonished in 2 Corinthians 7:1 (BBE), "Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.

So we can see that foot washing was not only the lowest job a first-century person could do but it's a spiritual image of asking for forgiveness from our inevitable lapses of love for Christ. I hope to add this to my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? God took sin so seriously that he sent Christ to pay for it on the cross. Shame on us if we don't take rebellion against the Lord seriously.

On Thursday, I'll explain about the ironic naming of a school for the blind and its namesake.