A Letter to my Muslim Friend at Lent

 

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13:5).

niptō: (Greek) to wash; to cleanse; to perform ablution.

 

Dear Fatima,

I can’t stop thinking about our conversation yesterday. The question you asked me. 

Why don’t you Christians have to make yourselves clean before you pray? 

We are women. We are told we cannot approach God unless we are clean. That He will not accept our prayers if we are dirty.

This has always bothered me about my own religion, Audrey. 

I see you working so hard to make yourself clean. Clean enough to approach God. Pure enough to bring your prayers before Him, hoping He will accept you. I have watched you over many Ramadans as you strived to make up the week of the holy fasting month, lost because of your monthly cycle. Lost because according to your religion, the unclean woman cannot approach God.

The ablution fountain at your mosque is exquisitely beautiful, its colorful mosaic tiles reflecting the light as water cascades over them, providing a place for the dirty to wash so they can come near to God.

It is now the season of Lent for Christians. During this time, we anticipate Resurrection Day, the day called Easter when we commemorate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Lent is a time of fasting, reflection, and repentance for followers and worshippers of Jesus.

This morning as I was reading my daily passage from the Al Kitab al Q’dous, or the Holy Bible, it was as if Jesus was speaking directly to you, my friend, in response to your question.

The story is found in John 13 of the Injil, or New Testament. Many Westerners miss the power in this scene, but I think you will find it astonishing.

Jesus is Teacher and Lord (see John 13:13). He is in Jerusalem. His death is only days away. He knows this, and He has begun to explain to his twelve disciples that He must die so all humanity can live. He will bear every man, woman, and child’s shame and sin on the cross, and with His life, He will redeem them to eternal life. 

In John 13: 1-20, Jesus gathers His disciples for a final supper. After the meal, He shocks them all by standing and removing his outer cloak (much like the thobe your father and brothers wear), taking a long towel, and tying it around his waist.

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13:5).

Can you imagine your family’s honored male guest rising from the elaborate supper you have prepared, removing his thobe, tying a towel around his waist, and beginning to wash your family’s feet?

Neither can I.

That’s really a servant’s job.

Americans like me often miss this part of the shock in the story because we don’t usually have servants and we don’t wash guest’s hands or feet when they visit. They do that for themselves in the privacy of a bathroom. But after living so long in your culture, I can see more clearly now how amazing and even embarrassing this must have been to the disciples. 

But today as I read this passage, your face was in my mind. Your troubled voice, trying to understand how a person could approach God without first doing everything possible to make herself clean enough to be accepted or heard by Him.

So I looked closer. You already know this about me: I love words and their meanings. Especially the words of God in the Bible.

And look what I found!

The word used here for wash means “to perform ablution.”

Jesus is unique. He is the Messiah. He once said about this Himself:

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

He was the first One to show us that God is a Father.

Jesus’ whole life on earth was about showing us the Father. Making it possible for us to come to God.

So when He took a servant’s towel and performed a servant’s duty for his followers, He was showing us what the Father is like.

The Father sent Jesus to make us spiritually clean. He knows we cannot clean ourselves. #John13 #Lent Share on X

We can’t ever scrub enough to get to all the hidden parts in our hearts that are unclean! It is an impossible task for a human. But not for God. Like a Father, He loves us and does for us what we cannot.

Jesus not only makes us clean, but He also performs ablution for us. He makes us spiritually clean, clean in every way. He approaches us first. While we are still dirty. And He performs the cleansing ceremony that allows us to draw near to God. He is our ablution fountain, and through Him, we can enter God’s house.

One of Jesus’ followers, named Simon Peter, was very upset to see His revered teacher doing this lowly task for him.

“Never shall you wash my feet!” Peter shouted (emphasis mine).

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!” (John 13: 8-9)

Simon Peter’s personality makes me laugh. He loves God and wants to honor Him. He wants to be a righteous follower. He says what he thinks. He reminds me of you, my dear sister-friend.

Jesus saw Simon Peter’s heart completely. He saw how sincere his devotion was to God and how much he wanted to please Him. To be clean and accepted by Him.

Jesus answered, He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean…” (v.10).

Completely clean!

I have to stop and think about that for a moment. It is such a beautiful, magnificent thought. It is a deep desire of my heart. Because being dirty, being ashamed is a heavy burden to bear.

When Jesus said these words to Simon Peter, He meant that by believing in Him, Simon Peter had been made spiritually clean already. But the practice of following Jesus daily means we come to Him in prayer and regularly repent of our sin and seek His forgiveness and guidance. This is much like how here in your country we bathe and prepare to visit a friend’s house, but our feet get dirty on the way as we walk the dusty roads. We’d never ask to take a bath when we arrive at our friend’s house. But we might ask to wash our feet, especially in the desert. A good host knows this and provides a basin and towel for guests to do just that.

My answer to you, dear friend of mine, is that Jesus has made me clean. I do not have to wash my hands, my ears, my nose, my mouth, to approach Him in prayer. He has cleaned the inside of me, the parts I cannot reach with my own hands. He has done what it is impossible for me to do. Through Jesus, I can draw near to God every day of the year, all the time.

You can be clean, too. You can rest from the constant work of trying to make yourself spiritually clean. Through Jesus, you can approach God every single day of every year. Jesus can make you completely clean.

I love you. Thank you for being my friend and sharing your thoughts and questions with me.

 

 

 

 

 

For my non-Muslim friends who may be reading this, the message of clean is for everyone. As a result of Covid19, we have been stripped of so many outward ablutions. The rituals once faithfully performed in our attempt to please God have been limited and in some cases completely paused. Church services on television screens, songs of worship sung through masks, small groups gathering six feet apart or not at all. Although important, none of these make us acceptable before God. Jesus has done that already. Think about this today and may our gatherings resume in His time.

Lord Jesus, thank You for making me completely clean, for making it possible for me to draw near to God without shame. Amen.

@audreycfrank