I really think i would have been very uncomfortable if Jesus was washing my feet. i would smile, look around, see how others are reacting. i don't think i would know what to do. i mean, i would like to have my feet washed. i imagine it would be: soothing, cleansing, relaxing, a little ticklish!, very pleasurable and enjoyable. so why would i wriggle and try and get out of it? intimacy. to have someone wash my feet would mean that there would be touch, and contact, and intimacy ... and i would have to stop wriggling to allow this to happen. meditating on this passage i realized that i wriggle so much during the day, even during my quiet times, that i don't allow Jesus to wash my feet, soothe my soul, touch my heart. maybe i don't want Jesus that close to me?
And i can't serve others with this kind of love unless i allow Jesus to serve me with His kind of love.
Finally, i was struck by how in control of everything Jesus was. He had so much power, and total knowledge of everything - including the evil that was happening in Judas' heart, and the evil that would happen the next day - and this all flowed out in an act of incredible love. Power + knowledge = love in acts of service. what would it look like if the power/influence i had, plus the knowledge God has given me, would flow into loving acts of service? Do i use my power and knowledge to kneel at the feet of those 'lower' than me in society, or do i use it to try and impress and influence those 'higher' than me to try and get something from them?
we are following a Foot-Washing-God ... how totally stupendous and cool is that!?
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4 comments:
I think the hardest thing for me is letting God wash my feet. I want to "...wash one another's feet." And then when I have free time, God can wash my feet. But that is not the case. In order to serve and love effectivly, we must let God love and serve us.
Lord, help me to let you love me so that I can love others. Thanks for being a God who washes my feet. Your son, Josh.
Feet are gross. My feet are really gross. The idea of Jesus, the SON OF GOD washing my feet... I just do not know... that is basically incredible. Obvisouly, there is more to it than washing feet.
And the silliest thing about it is that Jesus is willing to do this for me, be intimate with me as Bruce put it, and I do not let Him. Am I nuts?
I think it might be an issue of being proud. I think a lot like Josh, where I go around wanting to 'wash others feet' but I never pause to let God wash my own... letting God wash my feet is humbling myself. It seems like it should be so easy, but I do not do it. What Josh said rings so true, "In order to serve and love effectivly, we must let God love and serve us."
I am reading this crazy good book right now called Blue Like Jazz, and there is a chapter in it about accepting God's grace. 'Washing feet' might not be the same as grace, but it is along the same lines. Plus, Jesus washing feet is a prime example of how He loves us more than we know and serves us even when we do not deserve it... I will end on this, and it comes from the book:
"... I will love God because he first loved me. I will obey God because I love God. But if I cannot accept God's love, I cannot love Him in return, and I cannot obey Him. ... accepting God's unconditional grace and ferocious love is all the fuel we need to obey Him in return."
I have to admit. The foot-washing idea has been a little difficult for me. I don't think I've ever fully accepted it. There are times in my life where I just feel that I'm not worthy of God at all; much less him washing feet.
What's so cool about this bit of scripture though is that Jesus really shows one of the defining characteristics of a true Christian, humility. I mean back in those days, washing someone else's feet was the lowest of the low. Can you imagine what the Disciples thought? I guess they shouldn't have been too surprised considering they had witnessed years of his ministry to prositutes, lepers, and tax collectors.
Nevertheless, Jesus illustrated his compassion and made it an example for others to follow. I hope to follow that example...
These verses became a brilliant movie in my head as I read them.... and I was struck by "he now showed them the full extent of his love." We're all talking about how weird and uncomfortable it is to think about someone washing our own feet because it's intimate and we are being served ourselves. In addition to that, I was thinking about what Jesus must have been thinking. I don't think it was awkward or weird or repulsive or uncomfortable at all. I can picture him there, the room in complete silence except for Jesus humming a soothing tune as he slowly, deliberately pours all of his attention, love, energy, and humility into the care and... more than upkeep, the literal spa treatment of our feet. I bet you could have heard a pin drop.
Whenever I get a pedicure, I am most struck by the body language involved in someone pampering my feet. The person literally has to be down on his/her knees with you sitting in a chair so that you are significantly elevated above them. It's striking.
But I don't think that Jesus noticed that much. I'm sure he knew and planned ahead that that would be mind-blowing-ly uncomfortable for them, because he wanted a radical way to show us his mind-blowing love for us. I think he was smiling to himself as he did it, thinking about his individual relationships with each disciple in turn, laughing about "the good times," feeling a lump of pride swell up in his chest when he thought about the leaps and bounds of faith he had witnessed them taking, and savoring the seconds as they ticked by, because he knew that the time of separation they faced would be so hard to endure because of his love for each of them. I bet he kept washing for a few minutes after each foot was clean just to prolong the experience.
What would my life and ministry(ies) look like if I showed all of my brothers and sisters in Christ the "full extent of my love" for them? What would it look like if I showed my brothers and sisters in flesh the "full extent" of Christ's love for them (as best I can express it)?
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