Summer camp is going great. Kids are safe, having a great time and many are making commitments to Jesus. I am grateful that many of you are praying for camp and equally grateful for the financial support of the church so that kids who needed help could go. God is working. Keep praying.
Now to the passage this morning; because Jesus was fully aware that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father, he devoted his last hours to instructing and encouraging his disciples. Jesus continued his devotion to his disciples until the very end of his life, showing them in this last night the full extent of his love. Before he left them, he wanted to express his love to them, one by one—and this he would do in a way that would surprise them.
Jesus had already called Judas “a devil” because Jesus knew that Judas would cooperate with the Devil in perpetrating Jesus’ death. Thus, the Devil and Judas corroborated in Jesus’ betrayal. Indeed, Satan entered Judas to carry out the actual betrayal.
Being assured of His own destiny, Jesus focused his attention on the disciples and showed them what it meant for him to become their Servant and for them to serve one another. At the time so near to the revelation of Jesus’ true identity and glory, he set aside what was rightfully his and expressed his character through an act of humility. He got up, took off his robe, and wrapped a towel around his waist like an apron. He then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet.
Jesus was the model servant, and he showed his servant attitude to his disciples. Foot washing was a common act in Bible times. People traveled mostly on foot in sandals across the dusty roads of Judea. When entering a home, it was customary to wash one’s feet. Washing guests’ feet was a job for a household servant to carry out when guests arrived. It was a subservient task. What was unusual about this act was that Jesus, the Master and Teacher, was doing it for his disciples, as the lowliest slave would do.
Jesus’ act of washing the disciples’ feet demonstrated love in action. Jesus was their Teacher and Lord, meaning he was on a higher level than they; yet he assumed a position of humility and service because he loved those he served. Jesus commanded his disciples to wash each other’s feet—to serve one another in love according to the example he set. To refuse to serve others, to refuse to humble yourself, no matter how high your position, is to place yourself above Jesus. Such arrogant pride is not what Jesus taught.
These disciples would soon be sent out as the messengers for the Christian church. They would be leaders in many places—indeed, James, John, and Peter became the leaders of the Christian church in Jerusalem. Jesus taught these soon-to-be leaders that as they labored to spread the gospel, they first and foremost had to be servants to those whom they taught.
The disciples must have remembered this lesson often as they labored with the problems, struggles, and joys of the early believers. How many times they must have remembered that they were called to serve. And what a difference it made! Imagine how difficult the growth (even existence) of the early church would have been if these disciples had continued vying for spots of greatness and importance! Fortunately for us, they took Jesus’ lesson to heart.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
I am so grateful for the example that Jesus set. He was truly the greatest servant. This week at camp has been great for me. To see how God is at work. To see the hope Christ lived out in the lives of many of these students. Pretty awesome stuff. I wish all of you could experience what I have this week. God has reminded me of the privilege it is to serve and to do so with a willing heart.
Lord, make me more and more like you every day. It is an honor to serve you and others. Lord, raise up more and more servants at COV each and every week.
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