Henry David Thoreau graduated from Harvard in 1837 and became a schoolteacher. In 1845 he built a small hut on Walden Pond (near Concord, Mass.) and lived in it for two years. His reflections on this experience became the American classic, “Walden.” Thoreau said that he did not feel lonely, for he was surrounded by the company of nature: Every pine needle…befriended me.”
Thoreau was an abolitionist who said that he found it difficult to live in a country in which slavery was permitted. (Slavery was not abolished until after his death.)
”Most of his neighbors regarded [Thoreau] as a harmless crank, if not a social deviant. But by the end of the century his essay on civil disobedience had been discovered by the Russian novelist and moralist Leo Tolstoy. From Tolstoy it was discovered by the Indian Mahatma Gandhi. From Gandhi it was discovered by Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the non-violent freedom struggle in the United States. So, by this route, the spirit of Thoreau returned to his native land.”Robert Ellsberg, All Saints
The story of the washing of the feet is told only in John’s Gospel. It is the main action at the Last Supper. (John’s account of the Last Supper does not mention the bread and the wine. References to the body and blood of Jesus as food and drink are found earlier in John – in Chapter 6, the “Bread of Life” chapter.)
The foot-washing is a remarkable action on the part of Jesus. It was proper hospitality for the host to provide water for the guests to wash their feet. But actually to wash their feet is something not even a slave could be required to do by his master. When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, all better-than-thou distinctions were washed away. In case you have any doubt about that, John is clear that Judas was still at the supper table when this happened.
Jesus washed Judas’ feet.
There is no more to say. (Well, yes there is. The Lord and I need to have a serious conversation.)