The Lord Washes Your Feet: How to Love and Forgive Your Friends and Enemies—A Bible Study with Pictures. by Jessica Claire Bond (Bethany House Publishers, 2026).
I don’t remember how I got there in the first place Golden Salt An Instagram account. Maybe someone suggested it, or maybe an algorithm just brought it to my feed one day, as algorithms do. What I remember was how impressed I was by the powerful digital images displayed there. They were simple images, but much of their power was that simple.
The images were created by New Zealand-born speaker, singer and author Jessica Claire Bond for what she calls her. A series of foot washes. The name is self-explanatory: Most of the images show Jesus washing someone’s feet, as in the New Testament passages about the Last Supper. There are variations—such as Jesus holding someone who is too scared or shy to come to the throne, and Jesus sitting on the throne when Mary of Bethany anoints His feet—but the theme of the fish’s feet continues throughout the series. And now it’s the focus of the new Bond novel, The Lord washes the Feet, where he provides 40 short devotional pictures to accompany his pictures.
The figures on the footstool vary widely, both in the web series and in the book, and this has sparked both popularity and controversy. For every picture in his series that appeals to the general public, there are probably five or six that one finds offensive. There are prisoners and police, witches and nuns, pro-life and pro-choice, Israelis and Palestinians, people of all backgrounds and faiths. This type is seen more in the web series than in the book, but the book has a two-page spread showing Jesus washing the feet of the main presidents in the 2024 US election – Bond made the parallels vague but still recognizable.
So, although they can be deeply emotional, Bond’s paintings do not fall into the category of sentimental and soothing religious art. They are comforting, but also disturbing. The expert tells us that, exactly as it should be.
At the center of these images, as the title of the book indicates, are feelings of love and forgiveness everyoneas powerful as that idea sounded when it first came from the lips of Jesus and still sounds 20 centuries later. It’s a hard thought to come to terms with – nothing comforting – and Bond agrees, sharing many examples from his life and ministry to show that he finds it difficult. Like his paintings, his central theme is simple yet complex at first glance.
It helps that Bond reminds us that the idea of washing feet is not about ignoring or justifying wrongdoing, but rather about giving a sign of mercy to someone whether they deserve it or not. The key, he suggests, is to focus and try to imitate the ultimate source of love and forgiveness: “It’s not who sits on the chair, but who washes the feet.”
“This phrase,” Bond explains, “came to mind afterwards Foot Washing Series it was launched and I was criticized a lot for drawing blasphemous pictures because of those I showed washing their feet.” If Jesus could wash Judas’ feet even though he knew about his betrayal, he later adds, then we need to expand our views on who should be allowed to wash feet. The person sitting in the chair who pushes us the most is the person God calls us to love.
Of course it’s important to talk about abuse and trauma in this story, and when Bond talks about these issues, I wish he’d gone into them more fully. However, he manages to bring out the appealing side of a very difficult subject through his poignant images and words. His book is a great read for Easter, or really for any time of the year when you feel the need to tackle these most difficult of topics.
(Cover cover copyright Bethany House Publishers.)
Book Links:
The Lord Washes His Feet on Amazon
The Lord Washes His Feet by Bookshop
Goodreads Links:
Spellbound Flight by Claire Trella Hill
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson
Other links:
My interview with Dorothy L. Sayers and CS Lewis is included in Gabriel Connor Salter’s new book of interviews, Other comments. Available at Amazon and Bookshop.
And if you missed my last message and Amy Mantravadi skating and you would like to watch it, you can find it Here!
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