Prison Diary: Washing Feet Is Still Hard to Do

Over the last few months out at the prison we've been working our way through the gospel of John. Last week we hit John 13 and the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet.

If you've read Reviving Old Scratch, or have heard me speak about this, you know the story from my early days out at the prison, how we hit rocky patches when we got to the Beatitudes and John 13. "Blessed are the meek" and washing feet are hard messages in the prison.

Last week, when we were back in John 13, I was reminded that it remains a hard message. Most of the time, the men love to talk and discuss the text we are studying. But when we hit texts like John 13 the room grows quiet and I find I'm the only one willing to talk about the story. You can feel the tension in the room.

The Men in White are like us. We like to intellectualize our Christianity, treating it like it's a theological chess game we're trying to win. We talk so damn much.

But washing feet?

That's a part we'd rather pass over in silence.

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