First, lets go over the scripture starting from preseding and finishing with the scripture following the subject in question. Here's the NKJV (New King James Version) of the scripture:
Mark 14:12-18
12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”
13 And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. 14 Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 15 Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.”
16 So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.
17 In the evening He came with the twelve. 18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me.”
Luke 22:7-13
7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”
9 So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?”
10 And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11 Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.”
13 So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve[a] apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you,[b] I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. 21 But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. 22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
23 Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. 24 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25 And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 26 But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. 27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. 28 “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
John 13:1-17
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
2 And supper being ended,[a] the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Here's is my thought process:
The root of this practice is found in the hospitality customs of ancient civilizations, especially where sandals were the main footwear. A host would provide water for guests to wash their feet, serve the guests by washing their feet, or even provide a servant to wash the feet of the guests. This is mentioned in several places in the Old Testament for example: Genesis 18:4; 19:2; 24:32; 43:24; I Samuel 25:41;
Jesus' thoughts are very clear here: "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean." John 13:10 Obviously, the disciples had bathed before coming to eat the Passover meal. Having to walk along dusty roads in sandals or maybe even barefoot, (Luke 22:35-38) they collected dirt on their feet. Now in this situation it's either the master (host) of the house, each person to himself, or a servant would wash the feet. As you know Jesus, a Teacher and Lord, (John 13:14) took the place of a servant and washed everybody's feet. As you read further on in Luke 22:24-27 what He had just done, was an example for what He had to say right after for the quarrel between the disciples of "who is greatest", which he also expands on in (John 13:15-17). Now as you look at it as a whole rather than just two verses from (John 13:14-15) you'll see that Jesus' message here was not to specifically single out washing feet as a rite but as an example for (Luke 22:26) who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. Furthermore, the only reason Jesus washed their feet and nothing else was because they literally were dirty and He took the opportunity of the customs of that time to show them the ultimate example of those who are greater to serve. Now the other thing is (John 13:10-11) implies that they were clean, but not all of them. In this part of the sentence Jesus seems to have used a double meaning. It could mean that most are holy, but one. Or I could mean that you're all physically clean, but one is spiritually dirty. Jesus often used parables and spoke in metaphors, as he seems to in this case. Therefore, the ending of that sentence does not imply that most of their feet were clean, but rather most were spiritually clean but Judas. Which further supports the fact that their feet were dirty due to wearing sandals on the dusty roads and needed to be washed before eating the Passover, rather than as a rite to wash them even if they're already clean or not.
Another reason some might consider it as a rite is due to (John 13:8) Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” There are a few reasons why Peter would have no part of Jesus if He didn't wash Peter's feet. First of all, Peter was disobeying Jesus Christ or in other words God which directly means separation from God what we call sin. Jesus had to wash every single one of their feet in order to be able to use that as an example as He did shortly afterwards. Second of all, it is of great disrespect to perform passover rite while being dirty especially since Jesus was planning to introduce the first communion rite in remembrance of his sacrifice. Otherwise, He would have probably had Peter thrown out for disrespect as He did the vendors from the synagogue. So that sentence does not say those who don't wash each others feet have no part of Jesus Christ, but those who disobey God have no part of Him. Even now it's disrespectful to turn down someones help. It's demeaning to those who offer. Imagine you try to be humble and serve but your services are rejected. Lets say you with a sincere heart offer your brother to clean his room, but he tells you to leave, he does not want your help. How would you feel? You offer to help in Sunday school but they tell you they don't want your services you're over qualified. Last thing Jesus wanted was his friends that he so dearly loved, especially Peter, to reject him.
Now, as another pointer to support my understanding lets take a look at what we all agree as what is meant to be a rite: The communion. So that we could clearly see the difference between a rite and an example. (Luke 22:14-20) As you probably know Passover was initiated after the exodus from Egypt as a remembrance of God and how He saved them from the physical slavery in Egypt. It helped people keep God as their top priority. You see to Jesus, this is really important. His innocent crucifixion and resurrection saved us from spiritual slavery from Satan. He wants us to continue the communion as a rite in remembrance of Him and His innocent suffering for us. As He says in Luke 22:19-20. Note how He says "do this in remembrance of Me". The keyword here is "remembrance" not "example" as it says regarding the feet washing in John 13:15.
What good is it if you wash feet as a rite but will avoid a brother because of some differences. So in plain English, what does the example of the washing of the feet really mean to us in today's world? Well, in any situation when we could serve we should, and in any situation when we lead we should like we serve. Just like the United States preamble says: "We the people" as Abraham Lincoln later expanded into "government of the people, by the people, for the people" what was later summarized into "Government for the people, by the people" It's a great example of a ruling body that serves the people made up of those same people. Or how about something more everyday life such as you see someone in need of some help you stop and help. It could be paper work that fell and scattered on the floor and you help them, or something classic as helping someone with a flat tire. It could be helping someone with school. Just think Mother Teresa.
Hopefully, after reading all this including all the links and references to the scripture you could understand my thought process here. It'll probably help if you go back to the top and reread the scripture again with these ideas. Let me know what you think.
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