Read John 13:4-17
Humility + Servanthood = Being Cleaned.
So Jesus wanted to teach his disciples one last lesson before parting from Earth to Heaven.
Vs 4-5: “So Jesus 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.”
All was going well until Jesus began to wash Peter’s feet. Peter could not make sense of the fact that his Lord and teacher was washing his feet. In his mind, he should be washing Jesus’s feet. Peter refused to have his feet washed by his master. Jesus responded, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
After washing their feet, Jesus explained what he was really doing.
1. You call me teacher and Lord, which I am. But as your teacher and Lord, I washed your feet like a servant would. What Jesus did was backwards from cultural practice or expectations, but Jesus was establishing a new thought process, a new expectation. Even if you are a person of higher power or status, you are called to humble yourself and serve others, including those of lower status. We can’t let pride predict who we serve because when we humble ourselves and reach out to those less fortunate we open the door of a person’s heart to experience a love that they perhaps haven’t experienced for a long time. The message you give them is: You are valuable. You are significant. You are beautiful. You have a purpose.
2. Ultimately we want people to find the cleansing power of Christ for the Forgiveness of sins and experience a transformation in their lives where they become a new person in Christ with a new heart and new purpose.
Are you ready to be washed clean? Are you ready to help others experience the same cleansing power of Christ that you have? Then are you ready to humbly serve others without any expectation of receiving any Glory? “GO!”
