The Feast Remembering the judgment and mercy of a God to a group of slave people in Africa was coming near. The feast commemorated a night where howls of grief echoed from household after household, from barn and stable, as the first born of each breathed their last. That is, if the doorpost did not have a red stain painted across it, a covering of blood from a freshly slaughtered animal. That household would be sparred. That night of murder (recorded as the night of being 'passed over' by half that received mercy instead of judgment) was the last straw for that African king, and amidst his anger and grief he sent the slave people away.
That yearly Feast of Passover was coming soon, and a young man, a decedent of this same slave group, knew his time on earth was almost over. He knew that his hour to depart out of the world back to his home and his dear Father was fast approaching. While on earth he loved his friends. And he never stopped.
That supper, he ate with his best friends. They ate the traditional Passover meal, where each dish was prepared in the purified manner according to tradition. Each plate's aroma was filled with symbols and memory. All through this celebration, the young man knew one of his best friends had indulged the greed of his heart, and had made plans to betray him. It was underway. He also knew His father had handed over all things into his carpenter hands, and he knew his roots and his future were securely in the Divine, so he rose.
On that hot night, after supper, the young man took off his outer garments, his every day clothes. Taking a towel, and tying it around his waist, he poured water into a bowel and began to was his friend's feet, and to wipe them with the towel he had wrapped around himself.
The bowel was cloudy and the towel was getting dark and damp, but no one said anything until it was Simon Peter's turn. "Respected teacher, lord, friend...you're going to wash my feet?"
The young man replied to him, "You don't understand now, but later you will understand what I'm doing."
Simon Peter shook his head and exclaimed, "You'll never wash my feet! It isn't right!"
The young man looked him in the eye. "If you wouldn't let me wash your feet, you are not my friend or follower."
"Well then," Simon Peter answered, "don't stop there, wash my hands and my head, too!"
The young man said to him, "Someone who has bathed doesn't need to wash. They are completely clean, except for their feet. And you are completely clean. But not all of you."
He said this because the one who was to betray him was still among them.
When he finished, he put back on his outer garments, his everyday clothes. He returned to his place at the table. He looked at his friends. "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me names-- Teacher, Lord. Those are true titles. But see this, if I, your Teacher and your Lord, wash your feet, you are supposed to wash each other's feet. I am giving you an example to follow, in order that you would do just as I have done to do.
paraphrase and interpretation of the writings of John in the Bible, thirteenth chapter.
