You have 24 hours left to live. What would you do?
You’re enjoying your final meal with those who have followed you for the last three and a half years. They don’t know it, but you know it. You know how this story ends and you know how it will impact those who have followed you. What would you say and do in that final meal?
I would perfectly understand the thought of chilling out and letting those who have followed you express their love for you by serving you. I would think it’s reasonable to want to relax and just enjoy the most of what your followers have to share with you.
This makes what Jesus chooses to do all the more remarkable.
In this chapter we get the prelude of what Jesus sees as the most important thing to invest His time in. He chooses to serve and He chooses to empty Himself again into His disciples by sharing who He is and what matters most to Him.
“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. (John 13:13-15)
This statement from Jesus continues to challenge me. What does it mean to wash the feet of the fellow followers of Christ?
In this day and age washing people’s feet isn’t always that act of servitude it was in Jesus’ time. The way we have made it a ritualise – some going to the extent of ensuring their feet don’t stink before they’re about to be washed – kinda takes away from the ethos of the example.
Not only is this a challenge for us to consider applying today, it is inextricably attached to what Jesus states as the compelling testimony that lets the world know who we are.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34, 35)
Intimate acts of servitude contribute to this witness to the world. A humbling and levelling activity. For here is love seen from the Master that says we love as we serve and submit to each other.
These communal and relational expressions of love display Kingdom principles to the watching world far more evocatively than words spoken and written can accomplish. God bless you in your efforts to express that today.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 