And He rose from supper,
Poured water in a basin,
And washed the disciples' feet.

Those hands, hardened by the heat
Of a desert sun, comfortable with cutting trees
And turning them to tables in Joseph's shop –

Those hands that with a wave could stop
The troubled sea, could touch a leper clean,
Or triumphantly turn death away
From the loved daughter on Jairus' couch –
Those hands, that could gesture
The heavens open –
Poured water in a basin,
And washed the disciples' feet.

The lesson lay unlearned,
But to a few,
Who trust the paradox
And hear the call:

"He who would be chief among you,
Let him be the servant of all."

Carol Lynn Pearson
(The New Era, April 1975, p. 12.)