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Do you understand what I have done for you?
John 13:12 (NIV)
The Washer of Our Souls
Picture yourself in the upper room on the night of the Passover feast where Jesus and his disciples had gathered. The feast has been prepared and is being served but before he and his disciples settled down to eat, Jesus did something that not only set an example for all his followers but gives a powerful, vivid picture of what his sacrificial, servant- hearted love looks like and the work of that love in all who would receive the Saviour King into their hearts.
“Jesus got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel round 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.”
John 13:4-5 (NIV)
This task would have been performed by servants before a communal meal. The guests who had traveled from far and wide would have their dusty and dirty feet washed by servants before the meal would begin. Here we have such a lowly task being performed by Jesus, the son of God at whose command legions of angels could be summoned and through whom all things were made (Colossians 1:16 (NIV)) who stoops down to his knees to take hold of his disciples dirty exposed feet and washes and dries them.
When Jesus approaches Peter to wash his feet, Peter is indignant with Jesus for taking such a servant’s role and refuses at first to let Jesus wash his feet. ““No” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet” John 13:8 (NIV).
Peter’s reaction was most likely a mixture of pride and self-conscious unworthiness, perhaps an echo of his sense of unworthiness when Jesus first called him to follow him by the shores of lake Galilee (In Luke 5:8 Peter falls to his knees after he sees the miracle of the catch of fish that Jesus initiates and says “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”).
For answer Jesus rebukes Peter, by making it clear that “unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8b (NIV)). In other words, unless you allow me to serve you, you cannot understand what my love is like in order that you can follow such an example of love as my disciple and friend and give it away to others around you.
I do not know about you, but knowing myself, there are times when I raise similar objections to Jesus’ servant heart and servanthood in my life as Peter did. Why? I do not feel deserving which may be true, but a sense of pride and crenelated self-righteousness at not being deserving can take over. We can say no to the service of the very one we need to serve us in our broken state, for we are not perfect vessels.
Love’s Humble Service
As the washer of our souls, it takes humility to allow Christ as our mighty saviour to wash our feet every day and to receive from him. We simply give our consent! Christ is Lord, he is the Beginning and the End, exalted in glory at the right hand of Father God in heaven, but this is the heart of love of our saviour that he stoops down to become a servant and serve. No better place can this servant hearted love be witnessed than through Jesus’ becoming the suffering servant spoken of by Isaiah in his path to the cross for your sake and mine. The question Jesus asks His disciples after washing their feet is poignant for us too. Do we understand what he has done for us? Do we know our Lord’s heart for us and that we express and share that divine heart with those around us?
This is the heart of love of our saviour and allowing Christ with whom we are joined to serve in our lives is a necessary ingredient for us to serve effectively, following his example, as his disciples by being servants to others who know the compassionate, generous heart of their master and saviour. We see this same love working through us as we walk in the footsteps of the one who first loved us…with perfect love. “We Love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 (NIV))
The chorus lyrics of the 1983 worship song by Graham Kendrick offer a fitting way to close in simple worship to our Jesus the Servant King.
“This is our God, The Servant King
The Servant King. Copyright © 1983 Thankyou Music
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to The Servant King”
Copyright © B. Trowbridge 2021
Abba's Dearly Beloved 