It was just
before the Passover Feast, the evening meal was being served and the devil had
already prompted Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. Jesus took this occasion to
wash the disciple’s feet…even the feet of Judas. It’s one thing to forgive your
enemy after the fact, but I’m trying to imagine washing the feet of my enemy
when I know he is about to betray me, stab me in the back and cut my throat. Jesus
said, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also
should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example
that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15 NIV).
2 comments:
Gail;
-----We live in a universe of limits. Both space and time are limited. How far we can go and how many things we can experience and know are limited. Our visual range is limited. Our audio range is further limited. Our olfactory sense is even more limited, and the range of scents we can detect is more limited than the range of pitches we can hear or colors we can see. At the boundaries of all these limits is the truly unknown, though we fill the most proximate-to-us unknown with imagination for moving into and discovering it more gracefully.
-----It’s important to both pre-judge and not pre-judge things and elements of our situations. The Kansas flatlander driving Red Mountain Pass the first time might pre-judge that a tight corner disappearing around the face of a rock escarpment will continue to curve tightly and mentally prepare for that. But instead, he might find a quick straightening of the road hidden by that escarpment. After a couple of those experiences he will drive slowly, greatly annoying us natives who’ve been over this road a hundred times. We know what to expect, and we drive it by nature until baby deer freezes in fright just around that escarpment. Prejudicing anything is dangerous.
-----But Jesus did not proceed through His life with prejudice. He proceeded with the Holy Spirit, which is like a roadmap so detailed that it even shows scaredy-deer frozen in your traffic lane. His roadmap showed His suffering on the cross. That’s why He was able to begin preparing His disciples for that event weeks beforehand. His roadmap showed Him why the cross experience was so important, and it marked its destination to be the place of ultimate glory. With a perfect mind He could perfectly know how each action in the passing course was involved with the overall development of that glorious destination. I probably am wrong, but I can imagine Jesus washing Judas’ feet extra well with extra care. Though Judas was accursed for what he did, what he did was a necessary curve for Jesus' reaching that glorious destination.
-----Even though we can not see around the corners of our lives, we must yet turn them with courage because we know they are part of the path to that same destination. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:17)
-----We too have some despicable feet to wash. But in washing them, we must remember it is not the servitude to them which defines the service we must give them. The righteousness of the Christ who has gone around this corner before us defines that service. The feet are less important to the action than is washing rather than soiling. We wash all feet. And as that great day of God’s wrath approaches this earth we must do likewise more and more, even though many feet will soon lead us into captivity or kill us with the sword. (Revelation 13:9-10)
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Hey Steve,
Good insight...especially the suggestion of extra care paid to the feet of Judas. The Lord not only washed, but then dried the feet of the disciples. When I hand wash dishes I often get lazy and just let them drip-dry, rather than drying them right away and putting them up. No drip-drying for the Lord!
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