The Vision of the Feet 

by Kenneth R. Wade

I wrote this piece while living in Singapore in the early 1990s.

I don't have visions like Daniel or John, but the following picture impressed itself so deeply upon me the last time I took Communion at church that I couldn't get it out of my mind. When I awoke at 3 o'clock this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, I decided to write out my vision so I could and share it with others.

I had entered a small church where everything was white. The smooth, white floor tiles, the white marble walls, and the white ceiling gave an impression of cleanliness and brightness, perhaps spotless perfection, just like you might expect to see in heaven.

The church had no furniture, and I was alone at first. I had no shoes on, so I assume I was somewhere in Asia, where it is our custom to take off our shoes before entering a house.

I stood at the front of the church, awaiting the arrival of the congregation. It seemed as though I was the new pastor of the church, and was expecting to become acquainted with the members on this Sabbath morning. Soon a beautiful young woman entered. Her clean and radiant face was offset by garments of white--maybe it was a robe of righteousness. She approached me, shook hands and smiled, then moved off to the left-hand side of the sanctuary.

A short while later people began arriving in numbers. Several would come in together, and all would come up and wordlessly greet me, then move off and join the group on one side or the other the sanctuary.

It didn't seem odd that no one spoke to me. I could see and feel the warmth of their welcome without need of words.

For some reason the last group to come in did not come forward to greet me. They stood near the back of the church, talking and laughing among themselves. They too were all dressed in white, except for one lady who had on a turquoise blue dress, ear rings in her ears, and makeup on her face. She seemed to be the leader of that group.

As I watched the three groups in the church, I noticed that each kept to itself. There was no intermingling, but I didn't detect any hostility either. Standing at the front of the church, I felt separated from all of them, but I stayed there for a while, observing their behavior.

The two groups that had settled at the front of the church each seemed quite involved in some important discussion, but I couldn't hear anything that was being said. Once in a while the group leader would point to the group on the other side, and then his group would look across the aisle (without pews there was no literal aisle, but the groups clearly had established an aisle between themselves) and look down at the feet of the members of the other group.

This was going on on both sides of the aisle, but the folk at the rear didn't seem particularly interested in looking at either of the other groups. They were having too much fun on their own.

I couldn't figure out what was so interesting about looking at others' feet, so finally I walked over and joined the group on my right.

"Oh, welcome, Pastor," the group leader said. "We're glad you've decided to join our group." The other members smiled their welcome.

"We kind of expected that you would join us--we didn't think you were the kind to join the others."

"Oh?" I queried. "I didn't realize there was a difference. What kind of people are they?"

The poor man seemed totally flustered by my question. Keen disappointment flooded his face as he took a half step backwards. "Pastor, surely you can see it. They have dirty feet!" On saying this, he looked down at my feet, and it seemed I could hear his thoughts--Don't tell me the conference has sent us one of those!

The other members of his group simply stared at me in shocked silence. Their eyes followed me as I backed away and moved over to join the other group.

Here the people watched my approach with mild apprehension, but once I had been enclosed within their circle, they made me feel a part of them. A member spoke up. "We were worried for a minute, when we saw you join the other group. We're glad to see you've decided to come over with us."

"Wait a minute," I said. What is it about the other group that made you worried when I joined them?"

"You mean you don't see it?" the man asked.

"Don't see what?" I asked.

"They have dirty feet! And the worst part of it is that they don't think their feet are dirty. But the fact of the matter is that every Sabbath they track enough sand in here to . . . to fill a sandbox!

"Now, we know it's them that's tracking the sand in. Our group never walks in sand. They accuse us of having dirty feet, but they can't see the sand on their own feet!"

"Well," I responded, nonplussed. "Don't you suppose that we all have some dirt on our feet? It's hard to walk in the world without getting your feet a bit dirty."

"I'll grant you that," the man said. "But" (and at this point he spoke loud enough for everyone in the church to hear) "we don't have sand on our feet!" As he said the word sand, he and his whole group glared across the aisle. Their glares bounced off the equally haughty looks of the other group.

The warm circle that had encapsulated me as soon as I entered this group now seemed to open up, and I felt myself drifting away toward the rear of the church. The woman leading the group back there came and clasped my arm. "Oh, pastor, come on and join us!" she exclaimed, then burst into laughter. "I see you got a typical welcome from the 'pharisees and sadducees!' Well, we've learned to just let them have their fine little disputes. We don't worry so much about dirty feet. We believe in love."

So saying, she turned back to the group and took up her banter just where she had left it when she came to greet me. I was left standing just outside the group, listening but not participating.

After a few moments I wandered back to the front of the church, and just stood watching. As I looked around, I suddenly noticed how dirty the floor had become. It seemed odd, because try as I might, I hadn't been able to notice visible dirt on anyone's feet. They all appeared clean to me. But there was dirt all over the floor, around every group.

Then Jesus came in. He didn't look just like any of the paintings I'd ever seen, but I recognized Him immediately. Because He carried a bucket of water with one hand, and a basin in the other. Around His waist He had tied a towel, and He had another thirty or forty towels slung over His shoulder.

I watched Him go from group to group, person to person. Some seemed to resist, arguing that their feet weren't dirty, and pointing to others' feet. But Jesus persisted, looking each one in the eye until he or she either submitted, and allowed Jesus to wash his or her feet, or else stalked out the back door.

When He had finished washing the people's feet, Jesus went and got a mop and thoroughly cleansed the floor. The people were, of course, compelled to leave their comfortable niches and intermingle while He did His cleansing work.

When He finished, He stood in front of the church and said, "What I have done for you, you must now learn to do for each other. Next Sabbath when you come to church, don't just look at each others' feet. Wash them."

With that He left.

I was alone at the front now. My congregation was a bit smaller in numbers, but they all stood together. And they all, even the leader of the back group, were dressed in white.

How to Wash Your Brother's Feet

You won't find a stack of old tin (or plastic) basins in most churches today. But you'll find one in almost every Seventh-day Adventist church. That's because we take literally the words of Jesus found in John 13:14 "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."* The basins are there for what we affectionately call the "Quarterly Service" or the "Ordinance of Humility."

Perhaps once a quarter is enough for literal foot washing, but in washing the disciples' feet Jesus taught more than the need for humility. We can see it in His verbal exchange with Peter, who at first refused the Lord's service. "'If I do not wash you, you have no part in me,'" Jesus replied (verse 8).

At that point Peter was ready for a complete bath: "'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!'" he pled (verse 9).

But Jesus made it clear that because Peter had been baptized he did not need his whole body washed again. The foot washing had a special purpose: not to replace or repeat baptism, but to renew it. "'He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet,'" Jesus said.

This exchange between Peter and his Lord brought the real meaning of the foot washing service into focus. After a person has had a bath, the feet soon become dirty again through contact with the world. All the person needs to be clean again is a foot washing.

After baptism, we soon become soiled again by contact with the world. Sin creeps in on us, and we need to be cleansed. The foot washing service symbolically provides that cleansing.

But once a quarter is not enough for us to provide the service of cleansing to our brothers and sisters. It may be often enough for the physical act, but the spiritual act of cleansing and removing the dirt from one another's lives must go on continually, without interruption. Day by day we need to be dealing with sin and removing it through forgiveness. Three texts can teach us how to make this spiritual foot washing a continual part of our interaction in the church.

"Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:15).

"'Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times a day returns to you, saying "I repent," you shall forgive him'" (Luke 17:3, 4).

"'Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift'" (Matthew 5:23, 24).

It takes a great deal of courage to follow the injunctions in these three texts. It is much easier to try to sweep our sins (and the sins of our brothers and sisters) under the carpet and pretend that they don't exist than to confess them openly and ask for prayer. We find it easier to tell others about our brother's sin than to go to him, rebuke him, pray with him, forgive him, and be reconciled.

But the teaching of Jesus and His half-brother James is clear. The way to deal with dirt on our sister's feet is not to talk to others about it, but to go to her, lovingly point out her sin, and pray for her to be able to repent and gain the victory.

The way to deal with dirt on our own feet is not to put on white shoes and hope no one will see what's inside. We should be able to go to the church, admit our failing and weakness, and ask our brothers and sisters to pray that we won't get our feet dirty that way again.

The way to deal with hard feelings between myself and my brother or sister is not to simply sit on the other side of the church and hope we don't meet in the hallway. Rather, I must go to him or her, give and receive forgiveness, and seek reconciliation.

This spiritual foot washing requires more courage, and more humility, than physical foot washing. But it is Jesus' prescription for unity in the church. And it is just what we need.

*All texts are from the New King James Version.

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