Freed For Service
Sermon
Conversations Over Bread And Wine
Meditations For The Lord's Supper
No scene in the Bible is more gripping, awe--inspiring, and compelling than the picture of Jesus, portrayed in the fourth Gospel, on his knees with a basin of water and a towel washing his disciples' feet.
I am gripped by the incongruity of it, the incredible irony of it! The one whom the disciples believed to be the Messiah, God's special emissary sent to establish God's reign upon the earth, whom they called "Master" and "Lord," was on his knees before them doing the work of a servant. They should have been at his feet in humble adoration, but instead Jesus washed their feet.
I am touched by the gentleness of it! According to the Gospel of Luke, there had been an argument that evening as the disciples arrived at the Upper Room about who of them would have ranking status in the Kingdom. After three years of intimate association with Jesus, they still did not understand that following him and being part of his Kingdom was not a matter of status. It involved selfless giving, loving, and serving. Our Lord's disappointment must have been terribly painful, but, like a loving, endlessly patient teacher, he would not chastise them with words. Instead, he would try once more to help them see the truth, this time with an object lesson so vivid that it could not help but reach them.
I am in awe of the strength of Jesus demonstrated in the story! The callousness of the disciples unquestionably hurt him. Probably it was a practice among them to take turns washing one another's feet - a practice made necessary by the unpaved, dusty roads of Palestine, and by the fact that the disciples had no servants to do that menial task. None of them objected, since sooner or later everyone would have his turn. Jesus, no doubt, by their own insistence was exempt. That he should ever have to wash their feet was unthinkable. But that night, the last night of Jesus' life, the disciples were so full of themselves that the unthinkable became the actual. Had we been in Jesus' place, there is no doubt what we would have done. Offended pride would have resulted, at the very least, in anger and a stern rebuke. But there was none of that in Jesus. No wounded ego, no vindictiveness, no anger - just love! Dirty feet needed washing and he would wash them. I am in awe of such strength!
But mostly I am compelled by the story - by the point that the gospel writer clearly makes: namely, that Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet is a symbol of what the Christian life is all about. According to the fourth Gospel, Jesus said to his disciples:
You have called me teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am. I, your Lord and teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another's feet. I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done.
That says it just about as clearly as it could possibly be said! What does it mean to follow Jesus Christ? Jesus said it means to be a servant people! It means putting one's rights and expectations in the background and one's opportunities to help others in the foreground. It means to quit asking what is due one and to focus instead on what one can do for others. It means freedom interpreted not as doing what one wants, but as doing what is needed. Nowhere in the New Testament does all of that get said more eloquently or pointedly than in the account of Jesus' washing his disciples' feet.
But even more compelling is John's description of what motivated Jesus' action that night in the Upper Room, and hence the power by which a life of servanthood is made possible. Here it is:
And during supper, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet....
How easy it is to miss the point the gospel writer is making, for it seems just a passing comment! "Knowing that he had come from God and was going to God," Jesus washed their feet. What John suggests is that our Lord's knowledge of his roots and his certainty of his destination enabled him, maybe even compelled him, but at the very least motivated him, to be a servant. Jesus was comfortable with a towel and later willing to shoulder a cross because of a strength made possible by his confident relationship with his Heavenly Father.
Could that be the problem with your life and mine? Could it be the fundamental problem of all humankind? Could it be the reason why our society is in trouble today? We don't have that confident relationship with God. We don't know who, or whose, we are. We have no clarity about where we're going, about life's purpose and destiny. Instead of living for others and a willingness to spend and be spent for causes outside ourselves, we are dominated by limited vision and narrow loyalties, lacking the strength that a vital relationship with God guarantees. I am convinced that it is so!
The undeniable fact about perhaps the majority of people today is that they live only fragmented, partially fulfilled and useful lives. Abraham Maslow once estimated that only one person in 100 can be called a self--actualized, fully--functioning human being. By common estimation, most people realize only about one tenth of their life--potential. They see only ten percent of the world's beauty and hear only ten percent of the music and poetry of the universe. They use only ten percent of their mental capacity and are alive to only a small fraction of their emotional capabilities. They stumble through life, managing to survive, but with only a shriveled capacity for giving and receiving. They live what Thoreau described as lives of "quiet desperation," with the greater part of their energies siphoned off by fears, anger, guilt, hatred, loneliness, and frustration. They survive but are not fully alive. And instead of life being focused outwardly, it is turned inward on their own needs, hurts, and problems.
Experts search today for explanations for this pervasive phenomenon, but, unfortunately, most are unwilling to consider an ancient one, sneering at it as overly simplistic and naive. But I find it remarkably profound and insightful. You remember it: The first man and woman have chosen to disobey God, do what they want, and they've eaten the forbidden fruit; now they seek to hide from God. Why? Does God no longer love them? Are they no longer children of God? Of course they are! But they can no longer accept themselves. Is God now to be feared? No, but they are filled with self--contempt and feel estranged from God. God does not set up barriers against them; the barriers are within them. They see themselves as alienated, alone, weak, contemptible, their self--esteem as children of God shattered. And that, according to the ancient writer of Genesis, is the beginning of the human problem, from which all other problems arise in quick succession: brother kills brother; strife develops between individuals, tribes, and nations. Each person lives for himself now because deep down people cannot live with themselves. Now people use others to try to prove their own value, demonstrate their superiority, and get their ego strokes.
It is an ancient description, but it is amazingly contemporary! Indeed, it is precisely what modern psychology affirms. Dr. Robert Schuller, the well--known television preacher, contends that the most fundamental need of humankind is self--esteem, the need to discover some sense of value. The absence of it, he suggests, is what leads to drug abuse, alcoholism, criminal behavior of all kinds, emotional breakdown - basically to all the ills of modern life. Detached from any ultimate source of meaning and doubting their own worth, people go to all sorts of extremes to try to find some sense of value. If my vision of myself is that nobody likes me and I don't matter much, then I am likely to be a loner, maybe even to make myself so repulsive that people will leave me alone. Or I may take the offensive and do the sorts of things that will get me attention and make people think me a winner, no matter what the price. But whichever of those courses is taken, they each originate from the same source - a lack of self--esteem.
Wasn't that really the story of the disciples in the Upper Room? They had been arguing about who would have first place in the Kingdom. It was status, how they looked to others and hence how they saw themselves, that mattered more than responsibility. And fighting the battle of self--esteem, each had to be certain not to be the one to wash the feet of his companions. But Jesus, secure in his sense of value, knowing that "he had come from God and was returning to God," took a basin and towel and started washing their feet. His relationship with his Heavenly Father made him secure enough to be a servant.
Well, you say, that was Jesus. He was the Christ! He had a special relationship with God! Maybe he could do that, but we can't because we're different!
Anyone who believes that has missed the message of the Gospel and has never heard the central affirmation of the Christian faith! For what Jesus Christ came to reveal was that every human being can know God as one's Heavenly Father - an intimate, caring, loving God! We can know God personally and live in close fellowship with God. We can have that relationship, not because we are good enough or do enough good things to earn God's favor - that will never be true of any human being. It can happen because the truth about us is this: We were made by God! Each of us comes from God unique, different, one--of--a--kind, no other person exactly like we are. And each of us is known to God and loved by God. A mother could more easily forget a child in her womb than God could forget one of his children. Our names are printed indelibly on God's heart! Sons and daughters of the Most High God! That is our derivation!
And where are we going? What is our destination, God's intention for us? Father John Powell, in his book Fully Human - Fully Alive, writes words that point to the answer:
God says: "I am covenanted, committed forever to love you, to do whatever is best for you. I will be kind, encouraging, and enabling, but I will also be challenging. Whatever I do, it will always be an act of love and an invitation to growth. I will be with you to illuminate your darkness, to strengthen your weakness, to fill your emptiness, to heal your brokenness, to cure your sickness, to straighten what may be bent in you, and to revive whatever good things may have died in you."
Those are promises God makes to you and me because our destiny is to become whole persons, healthy and useful persons, persons who can do great things because we are no longer small people. We are children of God, and brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we believe that, we are set free to be a servant people, able to be concerned about others because no longer do we have to be so concerned about ourselves!
I am gripped by the incongruity of it, the incredible irony of it! The one whom the disciples believed to be the Messiah, God's special emissary sent to establish God's reign upon the earth, whom they called "Master" and "Lord," was on his knees before them doing the work of a servant. They should have been at his feet in humble adoration, but instead Jesus washed their feet.
I am touched by the gentleness of it! According to the Gospel of Luke, there had been an argument that evening as the disciples arrived at the Upper Room about who of them would have ranking status in the Kingdom. After three years of intimate association with Jesus, they still did not understand that following him and being part of his Kingdom was not a matter of status. It involved selfless giving, loving, and serving. Our Lord's disappointment must have been terribly painful, but, like a loving, endlessly patient teacher, he would not chastise them with words. Instead, he would try once more to help them see the truth, this time with an object lesson so vivid that it could not help but reach them.
I am in awe of the strength of Jesus demonstrated in the story! The callousness of the disciples unquestionably hurt him. Probably it was a practice among them to take turns washing one another's feet - a practice made necessary by the unpaved, dusty roads of Palestine, and by the fact that the disciples had no servants to do that menial task. None of them objected, since sooner or later everyone would have his turn. Jesus, no doubt, by their own insistence was exempt. That he should ever have to wash their feet was unthinkable. But that night, the last night of Jesus' life, the disciples were so full of themselves that the unthinkable became the actual. Had we been in Jesus' place, there is no doubt what we would have done. Offended pride would have resulted, at the very least, in anger and a stern rebuke. But there was none of that in Jesus. No wounded ego, no vindictiveness, no anger - just love! Dirty feet needed washing and he would wash them. I am in awe of such strength!
But mostly I am compelled by the story - by the point that the gospel writer clearly makes: namely, that Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet is a symbol of what the Christian life is all about. According to the fourth Gospel, Jesus said to his disciples:
You have called me teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am. I, your Lord and teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another's feet. I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done.
That says it just about as clearly as it could possibly be said! What does it mean to follow Jesus Christ? Jesus said it means to be a servant people! It means putting one's rights and expectations in the background and one's opportunities to help others in the foreground. It means to quit asking what is due one and to focus instead on what one can do for others. It means freedom interpreted not as doing what one wants, but as doing what is needed. Nowhere in the New Testament does all of that get said more eloquently or pointedly than in the account of Jesus' washing his disciples' feet.
But even more compelling is John's description of what motivated Jesus' action that night in the Upper Room, and hence the power by which a life of servanthood is made possible. Here it is:
And during supper, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet....
How easy it is to miss the point the gospel writer is making, for it seems just a passing comment! "Knowing that he had come from God and was going to God," Jesus washed their feet. What John suggests is that our Lord's knowledge of his roots and his certainty of his destination enabled him, maybe even compelled him, but at the very least motivated him, to be a servant. Jesus was comfortable with a towel and later willing to shoulder a cross because of a strength made possible by his confident relationship with his Heavenly Father.
Could that be the problem with your life and mine? Could it be the fundamental problem of all humankind? Could it be the reason why our society is in trouble today? We don't have that confident relationship with God. We don't know who, or whose, we are. We have no clarity about where we're going, about life's purpose and destiny. Instead of living for others and a willingness to spend and be spent for causes outside ourselves, we are dominated by limited vision and narrow loyalties, lacking the strength that a vital relationship with God guarantees. I am convinced that it is so!
The undeniable fact about perhaps the majority of people today is that they live only fragmented, partially fulfilled and useful lives. Abraham Maslow once estimated that only one person in 100 can be called a self--actualized, fully--functioning human being. By common estimation, most people realize only about one tenth of their life--potential. They see only ten percent of the world's beauty and hear only ten percent of the music and poetry of the universe. They use only ten percent of their mental capacity and are alive to only a small fraction of their emotional capabilities. They stumble through life, managing to survive, but with only a shriveled capacity for giving and receiving. They live what Thoreau described as lives of "quiet desperation," with the greater part of their energies siphoned off by fears, anger, guilt, hatred, loneliness, and frustration. They survive but are not fully alive. And instead of life being focused outwardly, it is turned inward on their own needs, hurts, and problems.
Experts search today for explanations for this pervasive phenomenon, but, unfortunately, most are unwilling to consider an ancient one, sneering at it as overly simplistic and naive. But I find it remarkably profound and insightful. You remember it: The first man and woman have chosen to disobey God, do what they want, and they've eaten the forbidden fruit; now they seek to hide from God. Why? Does God no longer love them? Are they no longer children of God? Of course they are! But they can no longer accept themselves. Is God now to be feared? No, but they are filled with self--contempt and feel estranged from God. God does not set up barriers against them; the barriers are within them. They see themselves as alienated, alone, weak, contemptible, their self--esteem as children of God shattered. And that, according to the ancient writer of Genesis, is the beginning of the human problem, from which all other problems arise in quick succession: brother kills brother; strife develops between individuals, tribes, and nations. Each person lives for himself now because deep down people cannot live with themselves. Now people use others to try to prove their own value, demonstrate their superiority, and get their ego strokes.
It is an ancient description, but it is amazingly contemporary! Indeed, it is precisely what modern psychology affirms. Dr. Robert Schuller, the well--known television preacher, contends that the most fundamental need of humankind is self--esteem, the need to discover some sense of value. The absence of it, he suggests, is what leads to drug abuse, alcoholism, criminal behavior of all kinds, emotional breakdown - basically to all the ills of modern life. Detached from any ultimate source of meaning and doubting their own worth, people go to all sorts of extremes to try to find some sense of value. If my vision of myself is that nobody likes me and I don't matter much, then I am likely to be a loner, maybe even to make myself so repulsive that people will leave me alone. Or I may take the offensive and do the sorts of things that will get me attention and make people think me a winner, no matter what the price. But whichever of those courses is taken, they each originate from the same source - a lack of self--esteem.
Wasn't that really the story of the disciples in the Upper Room? They had been arguing about who would have first place in the Kingdom. It was status, how they looked to others and hence how they saw themselves, that mattered more than responsibility. And fighting the battle of self--esteem, each had to be certain not to be the one to wash the feet of his companions. But Jesus, secure in his sense of value, knowing that "he had come from God and was returning to God," took a basin and towel and started washing their feet. His relationship with his Heavenly Father made him secure enough to be a servant.
Well, you say, that was Jesus. He was the Christ! He had a special relationship with God! Maybe he could do that, but we can't because we're different!
Anyone who believes that has missed the message of the Gospel and has never heard the central affirmation of the Christian faith! For what Jesus Christ came to reveal was that every human being can know God as one's Heavenly Father - an intimate, caring, loving God! We can know God personally and live in close fellowship with God. We can have that relationship, not because we are good enough or do enough good things to earn God's favor - that will never be true of any human being. It can happen because the truth about us is this: We were made by God! Each of us comes from God unique, different, one--of--a--kind, no other person exactly like we are. And each of us is known to God and loved by God. A mother could more easily forget a child in her womb than God could forget one of his children. Our names are printed indelibly on God's heart! Sons and daughters of the Most High God! That is our derivation!
And where are we going? What is our destination, God's intention for us? Father John Powell, in his book Fully Human - Fully Alive, writes words that point to the answer:
God says: "I am covenanted, committed forever to love you, to do whatever is best for you. I will be kind, encouraging, and enabling, but I will also be challenging. Whatever I do, it will always be an act of love and an invitation to growth. I will be with you to illuminate your darkness, to strengthen your weakness, to fill your emptiness, to heal your brokenness, to cure your sickness, to straighten what may be bent in you, and to revive whatever good things may have died in you."
Those are promises God makes to you and me because our destiny is to become whole persons, healthy and useful persons, persons who can do great things because we are no longer small people. We are children of God, and brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we believe that, we are set free to be a servant people, able to be concerned about others because no longer do we have to be so concerned about ourselves!
