Why I Washed My Husband's Feet

The above photo from my wedding has a lot of people confused. Posted to my facebook page by a wedding attendee, I was met with the questions like "did he wash yours too" and commentary on how people were surprised to see me on the floor like that. When I first announced my intentions to include feet washing as a part of my wedding, people closest to me tried to be supportive, but it did not go unnoticed their looks of concern or even horror at the thought of including this act in my wedding. My mother, as purchaser of my beautiful gown, suggested that I wash his feet while seated in my chair, so as not to have my rather expensive dress lying all over the floor. I gave her suggestion thought, and up until that moment in the wedding I had not fully committed to the idea of assuming that lowly (and possibly dirty) position.

Those who have heard me preach in the last year possibly know why this act was so important to me. I have been stuck on the 13th chapter of John in which Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. Jesus assumed the physical position in which He was lower than they were, washed them, and then implored us to "follow this example". As I planned my wedding and considered washing one another's feet (yes, he washed mine first), I saw this as symbolic in two important ways. Lowering ourselves for one another was an outward showing of our intentions to follow Ephesians 5:21-26 (a passage I have referenced before on this blog) when it says, "...you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of His body, the church; He gave His life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything. And you husband must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up His life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's Word." (NLT) We were submitting to one another out of reverence to God, "preferring one another" as it says to in Romans 12:10. Secondly, as the water washed our feet, it was symbolic of a fresh start. It was our desire to be new creatures in our marriage, not bringing into it any of the old man and woman we were before we even met. We were choosing not to bring into this life the sins of our pasts. To us, it is as if those things had never happened.

As the musician began to sing "Your Presence is Heaven to Me" and we took communion, my mood switched. As I heard the lyrics "Treasure of my heart and of my soul/In my weakness you are merciful/Redeemer of my past and present wrongs/Holder of my future days to come."  The nerves that had kept me up for weeks gave way to the realization that this moment was a testament to the sovereignty of God. This was a moment of decision to submit fully to the will and Word of God. In this time of worship, I felt that to remain in my seat as had been suggested and halfway wash Andy's feet was no longer an option in the presence of the sovereign God. If my God knew enough to bring me to this place in spite of my many sins and errors, I needed to trust that full submission and servanthood that He calls for is what is best in my life.

At this point, the Presence of God had overtaken the sanctuary. I began weeping openly and could no longer remain still. I stood up, raised my hands, and began to worship the God who knew better than I did all along. I don't know what anybody else in that church was feeling or doing, because I became utterly enthralled in the goodness of God. To some I may have looked foolish, and that's okay, because as one of my favorite songs says, "they don't know the cost of my praise". Unless you know the heartache that preceded August 31, 2013, you don't understand how worthy of praise He is in my life.

Since the wedding, I have actively sought out new ways to show servanthood to my husband, and he has done likewise. It is my prayer that we never forget the vows we made not only to each other, but unto God, to submit to Him first and one another next.