We’ve been studying John 13 in Bible study this past week where Jesus and the disciples gathered for one last supper, one last meal before His crucifixion. Jesus has less than 24 hours left to live. The disciples don’t realize this, of course, but Jesus does, and He chooses to spend these last precious hours with His beloved disciples, fellowshipping around a table... and, incredibly, washing their filthy feet. This was a necessary job in their day as their sandal-shod feet got dirty as they walked about all day on dusty roads. But this was a job reserved for the most menial of servants. And yet the King of Glory, got down on His knees, took up a towel, and washed and served others hours before He knew He was about to tortured and killed. Incredible. What act of service and love could ever possibly be beneath any of us if this is what the Sovereign Lord would do?
But, I thought I might share a few things that we talked about yesterday in Bible study, for they have certainly been on my heart and mind. So if you were at Bible study yesterday, my apologies for repeating myself!
Can we all for just a moment imagine we are gathered around that table--that table of fellowship at the Last Supper? Seriously, really try to picture JC there, His outer garment hung on a nearby chair, a long towel about His waist. He’s washed the other dis’s feet, and now He slides over on His knees to you and looks up with an ever so slight smile, an inviting, loving smile.
But you look down at your filthy feet. Caked with the dirt of those harsh words you spoke to your child this morning. Toenails encrusted with the mud of that little “white” lie you told. The grime and muck of your pride in trying to climb ahead of someone else by putting them down and puffing up yourself. Not only are your feet filthy looking, they smell horrible from all that greed and envy harbored in your heart.
“Not my feet, Lord,” you say. “Maybe let me clean them up a bit. Let me wash them off with a few good deeds or a few achievements and accolades.”
Or perhaps you think your feet are just too far gone. No way--not even JC could clean up this long-encrusted filth.
Or maybe you’re tempted to just stand up and walk away. “I don’t have time for this,” you mutter. “I’ve got too much to do, and I’ll just cover up my feet in these shoes of busyness and achievement and striving.”
Or maybe you look around and figure, “Well, my feet look a whale of a lot better than Ashlie’s or Liz’s, so I’m good. Jesus, why don’t You go work on her filthy feet rather than mine!”
All the while, JC kneels in front of u, waiting, longing to gently and lovingly wash, dry, and restore your feet and your heart. Because you see, the Kingdom of God is not just about serving and giving--it’s also about receiving... and before we can go out and serve God, we must always first receive from God. We have to receive His salvation first and foremost. But then we daily have to receive His cleansing, receive His Word, receive His grace, receive His love, receive His power. We can’t do this on our own. If we try to go out there and serve and love in our own strength, we’ll just burn out. We always first have to receive from Him and then we can serve.
So Jesus is kneeling before you. Waiting. Will you turn away from the kneeling Sovereign and go your own way into the darkness? Like Judas--who chose to leave the warmth and light of fellowship with the other disciples and chose to leave forever the Light of the World when he abruptly left the supper that night to betray the Lord?
Will you say, “Nope. Too busy today, Lord,” and head out on your own, figuring you can handle this all by yourself today?
Or will you receive His grace and His love? Will you say, “Yes, Lord” and enjoy the cleansing and freedom from sin and shame that only He can give. If you’ve never said “Yes” to Him and asked Him to cleanse you from sin and be your Savior, might today be the day! Might the sight of the kneeling Sovereign Savior break your heart and cause you to say, “Yes, Lord.”
And if He is our Savior, might we continually say yes to Him by daily coming for cleansing of that day’s dirt of our harsh tongue or impatience or jealousy or selfishness. Daily coming to Him for strength, wisdom, grace, and love for that day’s needs.
And when we are cleansed, fortified, and filled by Him, might we choose to serve as He served and love as He loved. The world says we are blessed if we get ahead or our children succeed or we have a perfect body or we enjoy unlimited finances. But that’s not the path to happiness--never has been, never will be. If we need proof of that, just look around and witness the misery of so many folks who seem to have it all... like Hollywood, often a picture of restlessness and emptiness--so many possessions but so little peace. So much fame and so little joy.
Because joy comes not from having it all but from having all of Him--of the kneeling, sovereign Savior. Jesus says that the path to true happiness and blessedness consists not in stuff but in servanthood. And not in wildly doing whatever we feel like but in obeying and doing what we know is True. And finally, not in having others idolize us but in us loving others.
So today, might we receive Him, receive all of Him--His cleansing, His grace, His power, His love for this day’s needs and challenges, and then go out there and serve and love in the power of our kneeling Sovereign.
Yes, Lord... my feet too. Thank You, Jesus.
To God, the kneeling Sovereign Savior, be all the glory.
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