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“Lord, why are you washing my feet?” asked Simon Peter to Jesus Christ, on the last day before the Passover Celebration. Jesus took off his robe and wrapped a towel around his waist to wash the feet of his tired and dusty disciples. Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now why I am doing it; some day you will.”
Jesus was the teacher to those twelve apostles and as a teacher he knew more than them. In fact all our teachers know more than us, don’t they? Hence, some leave their footprints behind by influencing us and there are some whom we ignore. As they say, “One should be lucky to get a good teacher, and the teacher should also be lucky to get a good student.”
At times you chance upon a student-teacher relationship that even becomes of academic interest and reference to many. Like the book that I read very recently ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’. There was something so heartwarming about the story that I just didn’t want to put the book down. Let me recount a few excerpts from the book for you folks.
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“No grades were given, but there were oral exams each week. You were expected to respond to questions and to pose questions of your own. You were also expected to perform some physical tasks now and then, such as lifting the professor’s head in a comfortable spot on the pillow or placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Kissing him goodbye earned you extra credits.No books were required, yet many topics were covered, including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness and finally, DEATH. The last lecture was brief…only a few words.
A funeral was held in lieu of graduation. Although no final exam was given, you were to produce one long paper on what you had learnt (the paper is the book that I am talking about). The last class of my old professor’s life had only one student.
I was the student.”
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‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ turned out to be of academic interest to many. Teachers read out pages to their students in class. If we explore this further, we discover that at every point in life there is always someone who guides, instructs, mentors or corrects us at every step of the way or at crucial junctures in our life path. The student-teacher relationship thereby doesn’t get confined to the four walls of the classroom but well beyond its boundaries. Our life itself becomes one huge classroom and session after session is taken by various teachers and mentors. Over a period of time these teachings make us wiser. But WISDOM is not a blessing that can be taken for granted…it must translate into taking better decisions and leading a better life. This blessing is what the 12 apostles of Jesus attained. They taught in the same way that their teacher did.
Before the Passover Celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and to return to his Father. He showed his disciples the full extent of his love.* 2 It was the time for supper, and the Devil had already enticed Judas, to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. While he was washing and wiping the feet of his apostles, Simon Peter protested and said, "Lord, why are you going to wash my feet? No, you will never wash my feet!" |
Jesus replied, "But if I don't wash your feet, you won't belong to me."
Simon Peter exclaimed, "Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!"
After washing their feet, Jesus put on his robe again, sat down and asked, "Do you understand what I was doing? You call me'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because it is true. And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.How true it is that a servant is not greater than the master. Nor are messengers more important than the one who sends them. You know these things? Now do them"
That is the path of blessing. |
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