Serving One Another in Community: Do you wash feet? (Part 1)

I will venture to say that we all love a good pedicure, we enjoy climbing up in that massage chair and have the manicurist tend to our feet needs. If you’ve had a professional pedicure once or a frequent recipient of this luxurious  service; we can all attest to the refreshing and restorative pleasure and mood it aides. JOHN 13, specifically vs. 1-4 we see Jesus assuming the role of a lowly servant, this is certainly a far cry from our luxurious experience at our favorite spa .

Your manicurist cares nothing for your soul, and the aim there is payment in exchange of a service. He/she is not interested in talk or what you’ll do after you leave; instead they guide you to next color of polish, fancy designs and the cash register.   In stark contrast, let’s take a deeper look at what’s happening in John 13:1-20.  By the time we arrive at chapter 13, it’s “Maundy Thursday”, that is, the eve of Good Friday, Jesus’s execution!  We’ve come to also call this gathering of Jesus and his disciples, the last supper. Anyhow, We join up with them , and by vs 3, something so shocking and upside down happens. Jesus rose from supper, laid his garment aside, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then pored water into a basin and began washing the disciples’ feet, and wiped them dry.  You must imagine the shock on the disciples’ faces, this is such a preposterous unfolding being carried out by the Messiah, their Lord – taking on this role of feet washer.

So why is JESUS washing FEET?

1. He is setting an example, in fact, this is continuation of the new upside down kingdom order. Matthew 20:28 and mark 10:45 affirms the thinking that Jesus is demonstrating here, “ For even the son of man did not come to be served , but serve, and give his life for the ransom of many.”
2. In Jesus’ upside down kingdom, that is, his counter-cultural philosophy which said, “true greatness in God’s kingdom is a way of humility and service. In a nutshell the Christ is saying my followers are not MVPs (Most valuable players) or VIPs (Very important people), they ARE SVPs (servants, visionaries and Partners)
3. Verses 3-4 sets up this radical idea, Vs.3 is support to Jesus’ deity and his high rank (Son of God), he lays a foundation for his persuasive argument that the great becomes must become the least- a servant.

Being a SERVANT
By his example, Jesus is calls us to serve with an attitude that does not crave or demand only the important and most visible roles. He has modeled for us what it means to be a servant. He calls us to self-abandonment; choosing to be others minded; service in the obscure places of ministry, where there is no spotlight or weekly accolades…but we work and Trust, confident that he sees and will reward.
There are no “most valuable players or very important people” in his new kingdom order. Christ at the last supper gives us optics that read “the least is greatest." Looking closely at verses 13-16 :

“13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”

 Jesus is saying, see what I who is Lord and teacher have done, copy me! Our attitudes should be the same as Christ. Philippians 2:5-8 reads "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a]6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

... COME BACK TOMORROW for PT 2 of this Post.


Prayer,

Dear Lord, please give me a servant's heart just like Jesus. Father , let your Holy Spirit fill my heart with a desire that longs to serve rather than being served. Lord, I want to abandon my desires for the spotlight and accolades, and instead have a passionate heart that seeks to work and trust that you will reward and promote in due season. Til then, Lord teach me to humbly serve wherever my hands and heart are needed the most.  Lord, help me have a keen sense of meeting the needs of others, and a readiness to serve in peculiar and obscure places. In Jesus Name, Amen.