Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to be in the room with Jesus during this moment. What would it be like to have Jesus Christ kneel in front of me, take my embarrassingly sweaty foot in his hand, and start washing it like a servant? I imagine the sniffles and suppressed sobs from others in the room, who like me have spent weeks arguing about who is the greatest and jockeying for positions of honor. I imagine the feeling of surrender when Jesus says, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me,” and the feeling of conviction when Jesus says, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” I imagine the roller-coaster of emotions these guys felt in that Upper Room.
This morning, as I sit to write this devotion, my mind goes back to that scene again, but this time I realize, that scene is not so distant in my life. Jesus is present with me, just as surely as He was present with those Disciples. And Jesus has lavished Grace on me that that washes even cleaner than that water-basin. In the greatest act of love imaginable, He laid down His life and cleansed me from all unrighteousness. Me – a sinner who deserves no such kindness. Me – covered in enough dirt and grime to gag the cleaning rag. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, laid down His life for me.
That’s not all. Jesus also asks me to wash His feet. How? Well, Jesus once said, “If you do it for the least of these, you do it for me.” In this case, that means I am to take the grace I have been given and pass it along to others. I do that every time I forgive someone who has wronged me. I do it every time I serve someone in His name. I do it every time I take on the nature of a servant, just like Jesus did for me.
Father, help me today to have the mindset of Christ Jesus, and to serve in Your name.