Gospel of John, chapter 13:8

A little boy 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, “My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?” I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,” was the boy’s reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked the clerk if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel. By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she purchased a pair of shoes for him: She tied the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, “No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?” As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words: “Are you God’s Wife.

The woman who washed the feet of the child in this beautiful story was following the example of Jesus who washed the feet His disciples at the last supper (John 13:1-17). She was acting as a true ‘bride of Christ,’ and the child who benefited from her Christ-like behavior paid her the ultimate complement of asking her if she was married to God.

Washing the feet of another was a menial task generally done by the lowliest servant in the household during the days that Jesus walked the earth. Naturally, St. Peter was shocked that Jesus would attempt to wash his feet, and he protested:
“Never at any time you will wash my feet” (John 13:8).
When Jesus told Him he would no longer be His disciple if he refused to have his feet washed, Peter then responded:

“Lord, do not wash only my feet, then! wash my hands and head, too” (John 13:9).

By washing the feet of His disciples, Jesus is teaching us to learn humility by doing good for others, and by doing acts of service and kindness like the woman in today’s story. But, He is also showing us how to return to a clean relationship with God:

“Anyone who has taken a bath is completely clean, and does not have to wash himself, except for his feet.” (John 13:10)

Before we can do good for others, we need to be cleansed of iniquity. Jesus knew that grudges, hate, anger, lack of forgiveness, and pride only shackle us and prevent us from helping others. He came, not to be served but to serve; and He offered His life on the cross to cleanse us from our sins:

“Wash me thoroughly from iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2).

Jesus’ example of washing the feet of His disciples in the Gospel of John, chapter thirteen, is an important demonstration of the need to accept and serve one another; to come to the aid of all our brothers and sisters in need, no matter who they are or where they are. This ceremony of the washing of the feet is also inextricably linked to Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself on the cross to wash us clean of sin.

Fr. Hugh Duffy