Photo by Shawn Pang on Unsplash

“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’” (John 13: 6-9).

The other day, I had a humbling realization…I have smelly feet!

And while I may sometimes literally have smelly feet, I think in our spiritual lives we all experience smelly feet.

Our sins are smelly. Our past is smelly. Our disappointments, failures and shortcomings—they are smelly! 

And how often do we react like Peter on the night of the Last Supper and say to Jesus, “You will never wash my feet!” (John 13:8).

I know for myself that much of my life is spent protecting, hiding and covering up real things from others, but also from our loving God. We layer and layer AND LAYER ourselves in the wrapping of self-protection.

It is this same wrap of self-protection that leads to self-isolation.

This fear of vulnerability that we have, this desire to push away and distance ourselves from our shortcomings, weaknesses, and faults, only leads to greater harm. While we think we are helping ourselves, we are only hurting ourselves.

Instead of inviting the Lord into my failure, I push Him away. Instead of turning to the Lord when I need Him most, I hide away in shame and sadness over what I have done or failed to do. 

I fear that the smell of my stinky feet would be too much for the love of Jesus! I resist sticking out my feet to be washed in the cleansing love of Jesus. 

The reality is that my stinky feet are exactly where Jesus wants to meet me to bring about His cleansing power! 

So today, the invitation is to roll down the sock and allow our stinky feet to be washed by Jesus! Bring to Him those areas of shame and sadness, darkness and destruction in our lives.

Perhaps even take advantage of the opportunity this week to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. The mercy of Jesus is always new, washes away our sin and makes us clean!

Only by surrendering to Jesus can we receive the life-giving water that only He can give. 

On my own, I can’t do anything about my smelly feet! But with Him—all things are possible!

Even perhaps heavenly-smelling feet! 

Patrick is a beloved son of the Father who desires to use his gifts to build up the Kingdom of God. You can read more of his writing on his blog.