Final meals together are special, they are sacred times. But despite their sacredness, for most of our final meals we never know it will be the last one we will share together so they also tend to be ordinary, uneventful, and routine.
As Jesus and his disciples gathered together on this night to celebrate the Passover meal in Jerusalem it was like many others they had shared together and with friends and family through the years of their life, ordinary and routine. Still there was a charge of anticipation in the room. The disciples knew there was significance to this night, but not in a way they could ever imagine. For them, they gathered in Jerusalem. The heart of their nation. The city of kings. The soul of their faith. And as Jesus says to them, “I have eagerly desired to share this meal with you . . .” They could not have begun to understand what lay ahead in the hours to come.
So it was that they would spend the evening arguing over a topic of discussion and disagreement they had many times before. They were like so many of our families, weren’t they? We can get together and it seems like the same old topics of discussion, arguments and disagreement reappear, no matter how many times we vow to not talk about it. For the disciples, the topic they could never get away from was, “Which of them was the greatest?” It seemed to be a continuous burr in their side. And tonight the conversation was especially charged. After all, they were in Jerusalem. Surely this would be the moment when Jesus would declare his reign as king and bring his kingdom to earth.
The intensity of their argument grew white hot and they became so engrossed that no one noticed Jesus getting up from the table and moving to the side of the room to a small spot right next to the door. They paid no attention to the sound of water being poured into a basin. It was only as Jesus began to remove his outer garments did the disciples shouts begin to trail off as they sat in confusion trying to figure out what Jesus was up to.
One by one Jesus would call each of his disciples over. One by one, he would kneel before them and wash their feet. Becoming the lowest, the most despised of servants.
For the disciples, this night was really like any other night. For Jesus, this night was a final meal together and there was one more lesson these men needed to learn before darkness would surround them and they would find themselves tested beyond the breaking point. The lesson of service. It wasn’t that Jesus had not tried to teach this lesson to his disciples before. A few days earlier Jesus had cautioned them not follow the example of those who grabbed for power and position. Instead telling them:
“The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:12
And how could they have so quickly forgotten the day when people were bringing their children and babies to Jesus to bless and the disciples tried to drive these parents away. Jesus had rebuked them with the words:
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:16-17
It was a final meal together and there were some lessons about the Kingdom of God that still had to be learned and time was running out.
Jesus’ simple act of washing his disciple’s feet reminds us of the priorities of God. Life is not about the accumulation of greater wealth, gaining another title or accolade, squeezing just a little more profit margin, driving a new car, having a bigger house, growing a bigger and bigger kingdom.
Jesus would give us a different example of how to live. Jesus always lives with a grander vision for people. Especially broken people. Tax collectors, drunkards, and sinners. The poor, the blind, the lame, the deaf. These are the one’s Jesus came for. People like you and me. For we are all sinners and drunkards, poor and blind unable to rescue ourselves.
When Jesus called Peter it was at Peter’s moment of greatest career success that Jesus says to him. You think this is good. I invite you to leave behind that which is temporal and live for that which is eternal. You can spend your life catching fish or you can lay down your plans and pick up my plans and spend your life catching people.
Jesus had a grander vision for a woman beside a well. She came to satisfy her thirst for water. He offered water that would never run dry. He offered her living water and the chance for eternal life.
And so it was, on this night as his disciples and they argued about which of them was the greatest, Jesus would get up and become their servant to wash their feet. And He invites us to do the same.
“I have set for you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:15-17).
There comes a moment for each one of us when we will stand beside a basin and a towel. We will have a choice. Do we sit down and wait for someone to serve us? Will we say “I am the center of my world.” Or will we remove our outer garments, remove all the pretense and the masks. All of the striving to make something of ourselves. All those things which we have found our value in and instead pick up the basin and towel and choose to live for a grander vision.
It is possible for us to serve out of the inherent goodness of serving. We can serve our brother and sister because it makes us look good and we can become pillars in our community.
Oswald Chambers would say:
“As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.”
It is only with a heart broken by the conviction of your sin. Sin that reminds you that left to yourself, you will always choose yourself. You will serve, not for the sake of others, but will serve for your own sake.
Before we kneel before our brother and sister we must kneel before our God. We must confess our own pride our own failure, our own selfishness our sin.
Then, and only then, as a response to the new life given to us by God are we truly able to serve our brother and sister.
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen