Sept.14 – “Wash your what???”

September 14, 2009

I remember one summer on a missions trip working on a bathroom toilet in Mexico.  I had taken it upon myself to replace it totally, since the bowl base was cracked and it would never stop leaking.  As I disposed of the old one and cleaned up the area for the next new toilet, of course I dropped my screwdriver RIGHT down the pipe.  The hole where, you know, all the nasty stuff went.  So, mentally holding my nose I stuck my arm as far as I could I fished my screwdriver out of that Mexican sewer pipe, laughing and at the same time wincing at what had preceded me down that pipe.

I finally got that new toilet on.  Even used it the first time!  But I digress….

In Jn.13:1-20 we read about the night before Jesus was betrayed.  He does something a little strange.  He takes a towel, and washes their feet.  Now, there are a number of things about this that are noteworthy, but for blog’s sake we’ll just pick out a couple.  First, Jesus humbled himself to serve, doing the lowest job.  He washed feet, which usually only servants did.  In that particular culture, they wore sandals and walked everywhere, so their feet were probably pretty dirty, pretty nasty!  So, we can assume it wasn’t a nice job.  Notice the reaction the disciples had to Jesus washing them.

Which disciple would YOU have been?  Not which one would you like to have been…

Maybe the most telling verse here is Jesus’ response to Peter, who said impulsively – “You will never wash my feet!”.  Jesus said, ‘unless I wash , you have no part in me’.

Now, why do you think that was so important?  Why is that important for you and me today, still?

Jesus evidently still needs to wash our feet, and we still have need.  Jesus still does what needs to be done, as unglamorous as it may sound or look like.

He wouldn’t think twice about rummaging around in someone’s sewer pipes, if that’s what was needed to fix it.   A great question here is..

How is your heart when it comes to serving in whatever needs to be done?  Or are some things just not quite good enough?  To tell the answer, when was the last time you refused a task because you thought someone else ‘ought’ to do it, like a younger sibling or anyone else, because you were too busy or whatever?

Today, don’t miss the blessing of Jn.13:17….BE BLESSED BECAUSE YOU DO THEM!!!

coram deo

rob