People hate having other people wash their feet. Women who get manicures probably wash their feet before they go to their appointment and make sure they have clean shoes to put on. At least that is me! This act of servanthood is a very humbling act of servanthood to one another. Let’s read John 13:1-17 together,
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “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. Very truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Now read Philippians 2:1-11 –
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What was the washing of the disciples’ feet an expression of based on John 13? Yes! Servanthood! As we grow more in Christ, we will become servants. In the Jewish culture, washing feet was a demeaning task that Jewish servants weren’t required to do. It was only the non-Jewish servants that were required to do stoop down to this level of humiliation.
Here in John 13, Jesus stooped to this level. It showed His infinite love. God of the universe took a towel, and the basin and washed the world’s filth from His disciples’ feet. He commands us to do the same thing. If we are truly following after Jesus, then we are not above the master. We also will need to stoop to this level of humiliation. There is no act of service you could ever perform to surpass the humiliating act of Jesus being mocked, beaten, forced to carry a cross, and publicly executed. True blessing and fellowship are found when we embrace humility and serve one another in love.
Do you shy away from any act of service because it is someone else’s responsibility? Are they acts of service you consider to be beneath you? Whose feet might God be calling you to wash by performing a sacrificial act of timely service?
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for having Jesus be our example. I pray that we will follow in his footsteps and be a humble servant to others, even in the areas we think are beneath us. Father God, help us to be more like Jesus. Help us to be servants to others in love.
In Jesus Name
Amen
