In John 13:1-17, Jesus does something that both startles his disciples and exemplifies the virtue of humility:
“Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
The very act of washing feet is an expression of humility by Jesus, of lowering himself for the sake of others. Jesus physically lowers himself to wash their feet, but there is a social lowering that is exemplified here as well. Roles are reversed, as the teacher takes on the role of a slave and serves his own disciples. By removing his outer garment, Jesus is now dressed as a servant. In this culture, disciples would generally do for their teachers whatever a slave would do, except anything having to do with feet. This was considered to be too demeaning for someone who was not a slave. Jesus models humility, including an inversion of rank and power, by this act.
It is also striking that Jesus not only washes the feet of his disciples, but also the feet of the disciple whom he knew to be his betrayer. In a discussion of this, Augustine says “the greatness of His humility should be still further enhanced by the fact that He did not esteem it beneath His dignity to wash also the feet of one whose hands He already foresaw to be steeped in wickedness” (Homilies on the Gospel of John. Tractate LV). If Jesus knowingly served his betrayer in humility, it is clear that those who seek to follow in his steps should also do radical acts of humility in service to others.
How might we apply this? For those seeking to cultivate humility, there are opportunities to do so in small, everyday situations. Christian ethics commends self-denial, and the exemplification of humility in Philippians 2 points to the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus as a paradigm case of this trait. For the cultivation of humility, this paradigm is important to keep in mind. However, it is also important to keep in mind that there are many small ways we can show humility in daily life with family, friends, co-workers, and others. The washing of the disciples’ feet is both a radical example of reversing social roles via humble service of others, as well as an example of humility in the context of the mundane. For most of us, this is where our character is usually formed and expressed. The person seeking to cultivate Christian humility can draw inspiration from this passage in John’s gospel, and look for small ways to humbly love and serve others in his daily life.
Jesus taught and exemplified a way of life where humility is at the core of one’s character and expresses itself in service of others. Those who seek to follow in his steps must take the way of humility, as the pages of the New Testament tell us he did.
