Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading
“Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.”
Devotional
When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples he was setting an example for them and us to be servants. What kind of servants did he want us to become? He alluded to the deeper understanding of what he was doing when he said, “ you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” John 13:7 He was hinting to the cross & trying to prepare them for what was going to happen.
After Peter had denied him, Judas had betrayed him and the others had deserted him in his time of need, would they ever come to a place of understanding? Would they ever see why he really was serving?
It’s strange how he humbled himself at the feet of his friends knowing they would turn their backs on him. The picture we see here is Jesus washing their feet, taking their dirt and leaving them clean. It acts as a living metaphor. We act like his enemies yet he washes our feet. We receive his forgiveness and we are clean. He sees us dirty and comes down to our realm and serves us when in fact it’s us that should be serving him. He’s ready and willing to wash us clean for our upcoming failures even when we return to him defeated.
When others in their weakness cause us pain consider how we could serve them. Perhaps it’s for them and for yourself.
Jesus was God among us so he didn’t just call out from the throne, he came into our realm to sympathize with our weaknesses. We need to shed our images of Jesus who is far off and replace it with one of our father who comes close and washes our feet.
Question to Consider
Who in our lives has caused us pain and how can we serve them?
Prayer
Father, in our weakness, let us receive your grace. In your kindness, you served us when we didn’t deserve it. Show us the way to serve those around us in the same way. Give us the grace and the courage to follow you in serving especially to those that seem to be against us.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
The 40 days of decrease blogs have been inspired by the book “40 Days of Decrease” by Alicia Britt Chole.
Expressions from Summerside Community Church 