Question: Why Did the Foot Washing Happen During the Passover Meal?

I was reading your message about Jesus washing the disciples' feet (Washing the Disciples' Feet and I agree about being a servant......my question....why did he wait until after they were eating or maybe finished
eating??? maybe it was part of the lesson Jesus wanted to teach them??
I`m in a part of a Bible Study group and we are doing a foot washing and to teach same lesson being a good servant........I`m praying to show good lessons through this...thank-you!!
blessings form above!!!

Answer

That's a really interesting question. The verses say that the meal was "in progress," but you also need to remember that in this case "the meal" was actually a very ritual-laden meal, because it was the Passover celebration. If you've ever had an opportunity to participate in a "seder meal" (passover) you'll realize that there's a lot more than just eating in the "meal" - there is a great deal of teaching, question-and-answer about the history of the Jewish nation and the passover, etc.

So to say it was "in progress" probably means simply that they had begun the rituals. Washing of the hands is part of that ritual (there are at least two ritual hand-washings at the beginning of the meal), and it may have been at that point that Jesus took the extra step of washing the feet as well. In fact, if he did that at the time of the second hand-washing, that was right before the distribution of the matzo, which is in keeping with the description of events with Judas.

It's also in keeping with the fact that the second hand-washing includes a blessing, and Christ gave the following blessing: "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (The traditional blessing is giving thanks to God who brings forth bread from the earth)

This is all supposition on my part; there's nothing that says that's when he did it, but it certainly fits the chronology. So if that's what happened, I would say that the WHY is that it's where a foot-washing best fit the ceremony; it became an extension of an existing ritual, plus gave an additional blessing.

If you want to know more about the passover meal, you can find a summary online, on Wikipedia or many other websites.

Hope that's helpful!

Doug