People shower today.
Apparently not everyone...
Of course the story is not about dirty feet to begin with. It is about humility.
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People shower today.
Of course the story is not about dirty feet to begin with. It is about humility.
It is a gesture of humility at the surface. However there is more to it at a deeper level. Jesus focused the attention to the feet. If they are clean then you are clean every whit. In Revelation 1 John is seeing an angel that appears to be godlike. The clue of foot washing was a warning from Jesus to look to the feet. Perhaps black people will appreciate this more since they might be tired of hearing "white as snow" referred to as holy. The sound of many waters and a two edged tongue are clue references back to Pentecost, tongues, and the 42,000 ephraimites that lost their lives over a difference in tongue (shibboleth). Again, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, David, and Jesus all spoke to God directly. Why would God (after all his warnings about not stopping to talk to angels) not keep his pattern? His ways are patterned verily, verily.
Angel speak is very confusing. God speak is very clear. Listen to the beginning of Joshua to hear God speak. "Every where your foot touches is yours". Angel speak has multiple nations, battles, leaders, abstract concepts that all have to happen first. Then they have the ultimate defense bug...silence in heaven..."Oh great, God must be doing a great work in me I haven't heard from Him in a long time. This must be the silence spoken of."
Rev1:14His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Lets see in scripture!
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Uzziah is the form of a Christian who, starting out well, did well and prospered. However, in the old age the heart waxed haughty and was in need of chastening from the Lord. How arrogant was this man?
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Isaiah 6:1
King Uzziah was so arrogant that it took him dying away for Isaiah to see the Lord, high and lifted up. This is the way of arrogance, it inhibits the Lords true and good spiritual light from illuminating the darkened corners of mankind.
I know of no better way of killing the old King Uzziah than a good old fashion foot washing. I am a member of the Pentecostal Holiness church. Back a hundred years ago they use to have foot washings. You could see the difference in the character of the people. The people were very tender hearted. The older guys would sit there and weep while people were being laid out in the Spirit. One old gentlemen, when we would make eye contact, would only, with tears running down his cheek, would only point with finger and declare The Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost! while beholding the spectacle around him.
And furthermore, the Holy Spirit himself would speak in the sanctuary. Someone would give out a message in tongues, and then someone else by the selfsame Spirit would interpret that which was spoken. And there was a seven day a week joy about the people.
I wish I could put a good ending to this story. The Holy Spirit basically quit speaking in the sanctuary, there is no more weeping the service, there is political trouble in the church, and the church is became just like any other church on any other corner.
"The Lord seemed to sleep" - Pope Benedict XVI
What happened? It is the spirit of Uzziah! The Lord cannot speak as long as Uzziah is on the thrown! He must be cast out of the temple! God is not sleeping! He just doesnt care to share the thrown with the arrogant king Uzziah!
Thats where the foot washing comes in. It kills the Uzziah enough for us to see the Lord high and lifted up with his train filling the temple.
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Benedict XVI washed feet every year at the Mass on Thursday night before Easter Sunday.
Our Seventh Day Adventist brethren wash feet around four times a year.
As you observed, a number of Pentecostal denominations practice foot washing.
Are all of these 'cleansing away evil, pride, and arrogance from the heart'?
Benedict XVI washed feet every year at the Mass on Thursday night before Easter Sunday.
Our Seventh Day Adventist brethren wash feet around four times a year.
As you observed, a number of Pentecostal denominations practice foot washing.
Are all of these 'cleansing away evil, pride, and arrogance from the heart'?
The story is about dirty feet why else would they need washed?
And it's also about servant hood.
Not sure the objection by some to this practice. Are we so offended by Christ's display of humility and service that we just can't see ourselves following His example? Strange...
Is happiness? JN. 13:17 "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."People shower today.
It's not like Jesus day when they walked long distance and washed their feet in a basin.
Foot washing is obsolete.
It's like telling someone to hitch up the team then they drive off in their car.
There are other ways that we can serve our brothers that are more applicable to our day.
I'm sorry - having trouble understanding your post. I've posted things previously that I had to rephase so hope you're not put off.
This is a beautiful ordinance when observed correctly.
I agree there are many ways to serve the brethren. But this isn't about dirty feet.The ordinance does not apply today. Feet just don't get dirty like they did in bible times so there is no need to wash them.
There are other ways to serve the brethren.
But this isn't about dirty feet.
I attended a Free Will Baptist church while going to college. One evening we had a footwashing / communion service. Having never been to one my flesh fought me all the way to church that night. During the service there was such tears and shouting, wow! They would pray over you as they washed the feet and it was really a dramatic sight. It is really done decent and there is such a clean spiritual sensation afterwards as I cannot describe.
See the icon in the lower left of the above image? That is the basin and towel that symbolizes the ordinance of foot washing in the Freewill Baptist church.
I had a girl get on at my workplace with a Freewill Baptist church shirt on. I told her she was the first Freewill Baptist church member I have met since college. She said that she was looking for a good church. I told her there were no churches that observed the ordinance of foot washing here and that the people have became annoyingly arrogant. We both agreed that bringing the ordinance of foot washing to some of these modern day refrigerators would probably do a lot of people good. The humility would be a great asset!
So... Break out the basins and towels and lets get at it!
In bible times people's feet got dirty from walking long distances.
That is why they washed them.
Today, we live under different circumstances with Cars and showers.
So foot washing has become obsolete.
The real teaching of Jesus here is the importance of being a servant.
There are other ways to serve rather than washing clean feet.
I would have to say this... There is no ordiance of foot washing in the bible. IF people say there is, they have missed the point of what Jesus was doing.
This act that Jesus did is not some ordiance that all have to do, it is symbol. Back in the bible days you wore sandals or even bare feet. Your feet would become terribly dirty and foul. When you walked in to a house the lowest of servants would wash your feet. It was not a good thing. That servant was often mistreated or had to do the most foul of task.
That was Jesus's point. He had come to serve and save. Jesus was showing that kind of leader that we were to be. Servants. People seeking to serve because we want to and not because we have to. People who are willing to dive into the filth to serve others above out own comfort levels. It is not an ordiance, it is a model of behavior that we are to take with each other.
NOW That being all said, Foot washing services are awesome... Humbling and realigning ourselves to a humble heart and attitude towards one another is never a bad thing.