Dear Friends,
Yesterday, I shared a message on servanthood and the 'Taylor
Towel' my daughter, Rachel, received upon her college graduation from Taylor
University. It was meant to be a reminder to her and all other graduating
Taylor University students that they were being sent into the world to be
servants of the Master Teacher of Servanthood, our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
In the message I shared how humbling it was to bow down before
someone and wash their feet. And yet that is just what Jesus calls us to do. We
are to be humble foot washers, serving all we can with the same spirit He
showed His disciples.
I received a response to my message from a former member of a
church I served in New Jersey. He reminded me of a time when I took the leaders
of our church into the sanctuary after a particularly heated meeting and led
them in a foot washing service.
I didn't recall much about the service, except for remembering how
humbling and difficult it was for me to have my feet washed by another
brother.
It is generally easier for most of us 'minister types' to wash
others' feet than to have our own feet washed. Most of us are much more
comfortable giving ministry then receiving it, which is unfortunate for some of
the greatest blessings we can bestow on others is graciously and thankfully
receiving their gifts.
And by the way, my friend reminded me that it was his “stinken”
feet that I had washed, and how he would never forget this foot washing
experience.
Only hours from the cross, Jesus gives his disciples a foot
washing lesson they too would never forget.
He doesn’t teach them to be more zealous or dedicated or more
committed. No, he gives them one of the greatest examples of love the world has
ever seen by simply bowing down before each of them and washing their feet.
Jesus didn’t make a big deal of what He was about to do. He
didn’t stand up and draw attention to Himself. He didn’t say now watch me and
take notes for you are going to learn a significant lesson about love in
action. No, he simply and quietly knelt down before each of those
disciples and began washing their feet.
Jon Courson says it far better than I could when he shares the
following application to this event.
“In our culture, not everyone wears sandals or goes barefoot. And
even if they did, the roads aren’t dusty or muddy-so this passage might not
mean (literally) washing feet.”
“You’re washing your car in the front yard. Maybe it’s old and
cruddy and doesn’t run very well. Instead of complaining about it-. why not
extend your hose a bit and wash your neighbor’s car?”
“Or maybe it means washing your neighbor’s windows while he’s on
vacation.”
“It might mean washing diapers in the nursery- or washing the
dishes without being asked.”
“’That sounds good’, you say’. ‘But I’m going through such
hard times right now that I’m not in a position to wash anything.’”
“Really? At any given point, at every single point in our lives,
we live by ‘Basin Theology.’ That is, we either call for the basin, like
Pontius Pilot did, (Matthew 27: 24) and wash our hands of everything we know to
be true of ministry and service- or we take up the basin and wash
someone’s feet in humility and love.”
“At a time when Jesus was going through a time of intensity we
will never understand this side of eternity, He didn’t wash His hands of those
who would deny and betray him. He washed their feet.” Jon Courson
Application Bible Commentary of the New Testament, p 554
And then He said to those disciples, even as He also says to us:
“I have given you an example, Go and do likewise.”
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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