Jump Over the Hurdles
By Roger
Pryor, Heartland Community Church
Sometimes God calls on you to perform an act of compassion or
service that may make a huge impact on someone around you. Sometimes
God reaches a little deeper into your life and tells you, "It’s
time to do something. It’s time to think about somebody else for a
little while." And sometimes that act of service goes beyond
what is normal or proper.
Even Jesus often chose unusual ways
to serve people. Sometimes His actions weren’t proper or normal.
They subverted the order of things. They turned things upside down.
This very thing happened during a dinner party hosted by Jesus on
the night before His crucifixion, where the whole concept of power,
authority, and status got flip-flopped. The story is found in John
13.
There was a custom in Jesus’ day
that occurred at those dinner parties. Because most people walked
around in sandals on dusty or muddy streets, the host of the party
would arrange to have at the doorway of the house a servant-type guy
who would kneel down, help the guests take off their sandals, wash
the guests’ feet in a basin, and then dry off their feet with a
towel.
Foot washing was a common and
necessary custom of that day because people didn’t sit in chairs
when they ate. They reclined on pillows where their feet would be in
someone else’s face. Not a very appetizing way to spend a meal
with stinky, mud-encrusted feet in your plate.
Well, Jesus and His followers arrived
for the dinner party that night, but there was no foot-washer guy.
This created some very interesting tension among Jesus’ followers.
No one dared assume the role of a servant or carry out the menial
task of washing feet. It was too beneath them. Besides, they were
embroiled in an argument over who was going to receive the top spots
in the upcoming Kingdom that Jesus was about to establish. We pick
up the story in John 13:2–5, "The
evening meal was being served … Jesus knew that the Father had put
all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was
returning to God; so he 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."
Notice one detail in the story.
It says, "The evening meal was being
served," which indicates to me that
Jesus’ followers had dug their heals in and were not going to
lower themselves to wash the feet of their friends, let alone their
own. They said, "Just serve the food. I’d rather sit with
dirty feet in my face for the next hour than stoop to wash someone
else’s."
As Jesus watches this drama unfold,
He gets up from the reclined position after the food had been served
and takes His outer garment off, as servants would do, and He pours
water into a bowl. He gets on His hands and knees and He starts
washing the grimy feet of His followers.
Imagine how quiet it must have gotten
around the table. How embarrassing that moment must have been. Here
Jesus was demonstrating a willingness to do for them what they were
too proud to do for each other. Based on Jesus’ kingly status,
this action wasn’t normal or proper. It subverted the order of
things. It turned everything upside down. It was inappropriate.
Jesus, who had been given all authority to be the King of Kings by
His heavenly father, is washing the dirty feet of His followers.
Here’s a King whose scepter, His symbol of authority and power,
has become a towel. This shouldn’t be. It’s un-American. It’s
un-heavenly.
Let me share with you three towel
truths taught by Jesus’ use of the towel that night. First, the
towel is a symbol of the King’s career. What Jesus did that
night vividly portrayed the whole journey He made from heaven to
earth and eventually back to heaven. The towel is the story of His
life.
The Apostle Paul describes Jesus’
life or career in Philippians 2:6–11, "Though he was God,
he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself
nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and
appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled
himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Because
of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a
name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father."
In that room that night, the eternal
Son of God, the king of all creation, stripped off His garments and
got on His knees to wash the dirty feet of men who should have been
serving Him. That act with the towel was nothing new for Jesus, for
it symbolized His whole career and life.
Secondly, the towel is a symbol of
royalty. In this foot-washing scene, Jesus blows away our
concept of divine royalty. We have a picture that God is to be
exalted, sitting on a throne, surrounded by willing servants who
cater to His every need. That’s royalty. That’s the proper,
normal role of a king and our response to Him. But supreme God
climbs off the heavenly throne, grabs a towel and becomes a servant.
That’s troubling and certainly not normal or proper!
As Jesus was washing feet, John 13:6-7 tells
us, "He came to Simon Peter, who
said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus
replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you
will understand.’ ‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my
feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with
me.’"
The fact is, if Peter hadn’t been so wrapped
up in himself and climbing the kingdom ladder, he would have been
comfortable with washing Jesus’ feet. That would have been normal,
proper, expected in this situation. But for Jesus to wash Peter’s
dirty feet was not proper or normal. Jesus is the King. He’s
royalty. Yet, Jesus describes His own royal mission in Matthew
20:28, "’ For
even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve
others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.’"
In this one statement, Jesus turned everything upside down. The
eternal king who is above all kings serves you and me, and we will
never be able to out-serve Him.
I don’t know about you, but I have
some mixed reactions to this story. On one hand, I’m touched by
such a king who wants to serve me. On the other hand, like Peter, I
am disturbed by Jesus’ actions. But mostly I’m blown away. A God
of royalty on His knees before me humbles me and strangely enough
makes me more God-centered than self-centered.
When I find God kneeling before me, I
cannot help but be preoccupied with Him. Such love and humility
knocks me off my throne and puts God there instead. Jesus was
helping Peter and the others understand that royalty is found in
being a foot-washing guy or gal.
Thirdly, the towel is a symbol for
you (and me). Jesus said in John 13:14-17, "’Now that
I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should
wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should
do as I have done for you… Now that you know these things, you
will be blessed if you do them.’"
We would have expected Jesus to say,
"Since I’ve washed your feet, you should now wash mine."
If Jesus had said that, then His followers would have been falling
all over each other to be first with the towel and basin to wash
Jesus’ feet. Instead Jesus clearly calls all of His followers to
acts of kindness and servanthood toward others.
Jesus is saying, "I want acts of service
to be a distinctive characteristic of my people. I want you to stand
out from others as those who are willing to do what self-centered
people are always unwilling to do. I want you to live beyond
yourself. If foot washing is not beneath me, it certainly shouldn’t
be beneath you. I want you to jump over the hurdles of selfishness
and take up the towel."
On that day, Jesus, whose scepter was a towel,
was inaugurating a kingdom of foot washers. It’s what
distinguishes a fallen world that clamors for power by climbing
over each other to get to the top. Instead it’s about climbing
under each other to use the towel as a way to do practical,
servant-oriented things for one another even when it doesn’t seem
normal or proper. It’s your mission to walk into a room wondering
if there is a simple act of kindness you can do.
An easy-to-miss observation from the story is
the phrase Jesus used, "you will be blessed if you do
them." If you take up the towel, you’ll be blessed. Here’s
a blanket, across-the-board, no-exception benefit or promise. Towel
bearers who serve people in practical ways, who jump the selfish
hurdle, who live beyond themselves, will become the recipients of
God’s blessing and favor. Something supernatural will be released
in and around your life. Something good will come your way. God’s
favor will fall on those who take up the towel and model the example
of Jesus.
A husband writes:
For the first 15 years of my marriage, I
was a terrible husband. My wife waited on me without ever
demanding that I lift a finger to help. I loved my wife very
much, but I hadn't yet learned how to show my love. I had a
lesson to learn; and God used a vacuum cleaner to teach it.
First, I learned that our cat was
terrified of vacuum cleaners. That kept me entertained for about
an hour. As I vacuumed in one direction, a stripe would appear.
Going the opposite direction would create a stripe of a
different shade. Entranced, I striped the whole room. Then I
went crossways, creating a checkerboard pattern. I got so
carried away that I dusted the furniture and straightened the
entire house.
When my wife came home from the store, she
struggled through the door with a bag of groceries under each
arm. Slowly the bags slipped from her grasp and dropped to the
floor when she noticed the clean house. "Who did
this?" she asked.
"I did," I said. Without
warning, she attacked. Diving on me before I could get out of
the chair, she smothered me with kisses and hugs, showering
gratitude on me for helping her. The kisses grew more
passionate. We broke the chair. It was wonderful! The vacuum
cleaner taught me an important lesson that day. Love is
expressed with more than just words.
And he got a blessing!
You have a serious choice to make that will
significantly impact your future. It really comes down to either the
towel and modeling the life and example of Jesus … or serving your
own self-interests.
As we close, let me offer you a twofold towel
challenge. First, before you leave the property today, commit a
simple act of kindness, so you can get a taste of God’s blessing
associated with it. Greet someone. Offer a word of encouragement to
someone. Pick up what someone may have dropped. Say thank you to
someone. Hold the door for someone. I can see it now, after an hour
no one has left because everyone is trying to hold the door. (You
know what I mean.)
My second challenge is to do the same thing
today at your home before you sleep the night away. Take up your
towel and serve someone. Because if you get two tastes of God’s
blessing from two acts of service today, you may be on the way to
developing a pattern of serving.
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