PassOver Remembrance
Love is expressed in Servitude
to our Most Precious!
Foot Washing Ceremony?
by KMYoung;
On Occasion of the Last Supper
Matthew 2: Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the disciples did as Joshua had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover, and Messias sat down with the 12...;
(26) And as they were eating, Joshua took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat, this is my body”;
(27) and took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink, ye, all of it.
(28) For this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
Mark 14:12; And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover (lamb), his disciples said unto him: Where wilt thou that we go & prepare, that thou mayest eat the Passover?
(16) And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover... and they sat and did eat...
(22) And as they did eat, Yahshua took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave it to them, saying: Take, eat, this is my body. And He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them: This is my (innocent) blood of the new testament which is shed for many... etc.
Luke 22:8: Go prepare us the Passover that we may eat...
(13) and they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover.
(19) And he took bread and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying: This is my body which is given for you, this, do in remembrance of me.
(20) Likewise, also, the cup, after supper, saying: this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you...;
(24) Strife, as to which one was greatest...;
(25) And he said to them, “the kings of the gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors;
(26) But ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest amongst you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that serves.
(27) For whichever is greater, he that sits at meat, but I am among you as he that serves. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me...;
(30) That ye may eat and drink at my table, in my Kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve Tribes of Israel.”
John 13:2; And the supper being ended...;
(5) After that he poured water into a basin, and began to was the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
(6) Then he came to Peter: Peter said, “Master, why do you wash my feet?” Joshua answered and said to him: What I do thou knowest not, now, but you shall know hereafter. Peter said “Never!” Joshua said, “If I wash thee not, thou has no part with me.”
(9) Simon Peter said, “Not my feet only, but also my hands and head!”
(10) Joshua said to him, he that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and ye are all clean, but not all (Judas).
(15), Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you.) (Ept. 5:26/That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the Word.)
John 13:12; So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, “Know ye what I have done to you?”
(13) Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am.
(14) If I, then, your Lord & Master (Rabonni), have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet (about custom of the time, they had no convenient showers/running water).
(15) For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
(16) Verily I say to you (their servants, lowliest, only, washed feet): the servant is not greater than his master, neither is he that is sent, greater than he who sent him.
(17) If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
(20) Verily I say unto you, he that receives whoever I send, receives me, and he that receives me, receives Him who sent me. (then, betrayal by Judas, etc.);
Matthew 25:40; And the king shall answer and say to them, “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Luke 10; He that heareth you heareth me, he that despiseth you despiseth me, and him that sent me).
1 Corinthians 12:3; Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of Yah, calleth Yahshua accursed:
and that no man can say that Joshua is Master, but by the Holy Spirit.
Phil.12:11; And that every tongue should confess that Joshua Messias is Master, to the glory of Yahweh the Father. (note, prophetic utterance).
Foot Washing in the First Covenant
(Genesis 18:4; 19:12; 24:32; 43:24; etc.);
These scriptures show the customary attention, in depth, to foot washing, as exhibited by Messias’ example, at the ‘Last Supper’ Passover. Such a ceremony may have been of practical origin in the Semitic culture of Israel, being performed as a commonplace civility to guests (by servants only), besides being a natural order of personal hygiene, relating to social contact and cleanliness, etc. This customary civility for guests was often performed by a lowly servant or slave. The symbolism Joshua exhibited must not be missed, or ritualized without understanding what he was saying in his example. I am not offended that another should wash my feet, after the manner of Yahshua’s example, but am, if not after the manner of his example, being pursued as a vain ritual, such as Seventh Day Adventism has rendered it.
I would expect Joshua’s statement to us is not that we should ritualize the washing of the feet (as he intended us to do in the partaking of bread and wine), but that we should all take the position of the lowly servant, in regards to each other, attending to each other unselfishly, without prejudice, as any situation requires, whether it be washing dirty feet, or dirty diapers; whether it be helping in any multitude of ways with time and energy and funds, howsoever. I cannot find any reference at all to a foot washing ceremony by the converted believers, but I do find a multitude of references to the partaking, most frequently, of bread and wine, in the New Testament. Thus I do not feel required to pursue such, to gain whatever, but we have gained immensely, if we see the fullness of the meaning of his example, and do it. My love proves my faith and my faith proves my love, for both are as one: i.e. if I have no faith, likewise what love I think to have, can only be insubstantial.
We are washed by the Word, but if we have no love, how shall such a ceremony have any significance? But if we do have love, the ceremony should seem redundant, perhaps, I daresay even boastful, even as if our love is in question? I cannot object to the washing of feet, but only to the ceremony of doing such, which ceremony is an outward appearance of piousness and thus Religiosity. That ceremony seems to be a carry-over from the Seventh Day Adventist trinitarian church. Servitude is the prevalent attitude of Yah’s Heavenly Kingdom, and is born of CHARITY.
I also believe that this particular civility, though an ancient Semitic custom, cannot realistically apply and thus continue on in any modern society which has technologically convenient mechanical means and methods of achieving personal hygiene, without the assistance of servants, but in ceremonial form must be a vain tradition/repetition, and relic of ancient and obsolete customs (such as the ancient Semitic tradition of women wearing head coverings, which relic Semite tradition persists to this day in Islam).
There was a purpose and a reason for the custom of footwashing, and that purpose and reason no longer apply in this part of the world. To forget the purpose and reason, and to continue mimicking such a relic custom without regard for the reality, even in our daily lives, is like having the Passover Seder, without the Passover Lamb. If another is pleased to wash my feet, because my feet really are quite dusty and dirty, there being a necessity, go for it! But I am not inclined to perform a ritual where no ritual was intended in the first place, but only Light was intended, the Light of Charity and Servitude even in all aspects of our lives and relationships. We see the Light of the Example, and cannot dispute it, and our secret works will not condemn us, here. But I have nothing to prove, by letting anyone wash my clean feet, as a vain ritual, as if that makes us pious, where it is only our humble servitude to our Nazarene fellows that exhibits our piety. I am under command by Messias, to break the bread and drink the grape-wine with Nazarenes, of course. But I am not convinced any foot washing ceremony is part of that requirement, but is a holdover from Adventism. I also believe that we are under command to break the bread and drink the wine, whensoever we assemble, in the name of Messias, for the purpose of learning about and sharing this Word, and not just once a year: thus we may serve each other as humble servants, unselfishly, whensoever we meet and not just once a year. I am not convinced a footwashing CEREMONY was required of us by Messias, to be an integral part of that particular additional command for Passover Festivals, and I must refuse to partake in vain rituals of Much Religiosity.
I am convinced the common and modern ceremony of Footwashing, at the Passover Time, by Adventists, is somewhat regressed to an Outward Appearance of piety, lacking the inward true servitude Elohim would like to eventually see manifesting in Nazarenes. It is always Time for Renewal from the Spirit Within, that is what PassOver is all about, after all, of course.