Washing Your Feet

"Washing Your Feet" is a mini-story that takes place in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series.

Story
It is the afternoon of Easter Sunday, and the Smurfs are all gathered in the main dining hall, all wearing bathrobes and slippers as requested by Tapper Smurf.

"So where's Tapper?" one of the Smurfs asked, sounding impatient.

"He's sure smurfing a long time to prepare himself for this silly ritual of his," another Smurf said.

"I hate silly rituals," Grouchy said.

"This one does not understand the point of what Tapper is hoping to accomplish by having all the Smurfs participate in this ritual, Empath," Polaris Psyche said.

"You'll understand its purpose once he gets started, Polaris," Empath said. "It's what he does with his fellow Smurfs every year around this time."

"Every year, Tapper smurfs around the room and washes every Smurf's feet," Smurfette explained. "It's just his way of showing his love for his fellow Smurfs."

"This one also suspects that there is a religious aspect to this exercise, Smurfette," Polaris said.

"I'm sure Tapper can best explain that part to you, Polaris," Smurfette said.

Soon Tapper emerged from the kitchen, wearing an apron over his bathrobe, and carrying a bucket of soapy water with him. "I'm so glad that you're all here for the annual ritual that I'm about to undersmurf with all of my fellow Smurfs," he said with honest feeling.

"So let's get this ritual over and smurfed with already," Hefty said.

"Please be patient, my good fellow Hefty, for there is one among us who does not yet fully understand its purpose," Tapper said. "On the night that the Almighty's Son was to be betrayed and handed over to be smurfed to death on the cross, on the night that He would smurf His last supper with His friends in the upper room, He noticed that His disciples had not washed each other's feet. So He smurfed on a servant's clothes and went around the room to wash His disciples' feet."

"This one does not understand why the Almighty's Son would ever do such a thing if He is what your holy book calls the Anointed One, Tapper," Polaris said.

"As the good book smurfs, though He was the Almighty's only begotten Son and was in the form of God, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God," Tapper said. "So He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man. His servanthood was expressed not only in serving God, but also in serving man, so that they can best know God's love for us and how He wants us as followers to serve one another."

And then Tapper started to go around the room, gently removing the slippers from each Smurf's feet and soaking them in the soapy water before rinsing them off and drying them off with his apron.

"How did this ritual of washing one's feet come about, Empath?" Polaris asked.

"According to Tapper, in the area of the Holy Land, the people wore sandals that didn't completely protect their feet from all the dust and dirt wherever they walked about," Empath said. "Therefore, it was customary that there would be somebody who would wash the feet of visitors whenever they entered into another person's house, which would usually be a servant."

"But very few of us in the village even go about wearing clothes that do not protect our feet on a daily basis, Empath," Polaris said.

"That's very true, Polaris," Empath said. "But this smurf is certain that there is more to this ritual being practiced now than just something that was necessary in a place beyond our forest that required its practice."

As Tapper continued with his foot washing, he also continued to speak. "Then He comes to Simon Peter. And Peter says to Him, 'Lord, do You wash my feet?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will come to understand after this.' Peter said to Him, 'You shall certainly not ever wash my feet!' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.' Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!' Jesus said to him, 'He who is bathed has no other need than to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not everyone.' For He knew who was betraying Him; therefore He said, 'Not everyone of you is clean.'"

"That must be a reference to this Judas Iscariot, the person in the holy book who had betrayed this Jesus and handed Him over to His captors for thirty pieces of silver," Polaris said to Empath.

"Judas was a man who was only into following the Almighty for the sake of personal gain, and was upset over the fact that He couldn't get anything for His work in the land of the living but only the promise of an eternal reward, to sit on one of the twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel," Empath said. "He was particularly upset that a woman had used up expensive perfume from an alabaster box to anoint the Lord and complained that it should have been sold and its money used to feed the poor, when in reality he just wanted the money for himself because he was a thief and constantly stole from the money bag that he was in charge of."

"That would certainly seem to fit what this apostle Paul had said, that the love of money is a root of all evils, that some being greedy for it have fallen from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows," Polaris said.

"Judas was also like the character Esau, who sold off his promised future inheritance from his father for a bowl of stew, and later found out that he was denied the blessing," Empath said. "When he realized what he had done and tried to give the money back to the high priests who paid him, hoping that they would release the Almighty's Son, they refused to do so, so Judas threw the money on the ground at their feet and then went out to hang himself. The priests couldn't take the money back because it was used for the price of blood, so instead they used it to buy a potter's field for burying strangers."

"That is a very unfortunate end for this Judas, that although he sought repentance for what he had done, he was denied it and thus had nowhere he could turn to," Polaris said.

"Tapper said that Judas was fated to be the Lord's betrayer, that he was 'the son of perdition', a man doomed to destruction before he was even born," Empath said. "This one does not fully understand why this Almighty made certain men only for the purpose of being destroyed, but He still holds them accountable for their actions nonetheless. It is something that even Tapper will not fully understand until he is with the Almighty in eternity."

Soon Tapper had finished going through the entire room washing all his fellow Smurfs' feet. "So when the Almighty's Son had washed their feet, taken His garments, and reclined again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, A servant is not greater than his master; nor is the messenger greater than the one sending him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.'"