The Towel of the Servant...

Two thousand years ago, in a single, selfless act, a King took an ordinary towel
 and dried the feet of His disciples only hours before His crucifixion.

In Christ’s day, the roads throughout Palestine were dry and dusty.  When the rains came, they turned into seas of mud.  As travelers walked along these roads, their feet and sandals became dirty.  Can you envision as the disciples gathered, they may have had an inner struggle – knowing the right thing to do and yet being human like you and me!  “Hmmmm, I wonder who’s going to be the one to stoop (literally) and wash those dirty feet.  I hope no one expects it to be me!  My back hurts, my knees lock when I stoop like that, they may have cuts on their feet and long and dirty toenails that make the job disgusting.  I hope the homeowner has a servant there to wash our feet.  I’d like to be the first one – so that the towel isn’t too soiled or the water too dirty!”

Servanthood – Jesus personified for us for all eternity what it means to truly
 wash one another’s feet.  He could have just told us how important it was to Him 
that we serve one another; He could have explained the spiritual and cultural
 significance of wiping the dirty feet of one another – but instead He actually 
demonstrated in a very clear, obvious way what it means to be a servant.  Have you ever washed another’s feet – have you participated in a foot-washing ceremony?  Or, more importantly, have you had someone wash your feet?  It’s very humbling isn’t it? 

What are some other symbols you could use in your own family, in your neighborhood, at your office, in your friend group to exemplify to another –you want to ‘wash their feet?’  Might you ‘bite your tongue’ when you want to take credit for something; might you listen to someone’s story yet again when you have heard it numerous times before; might you let them ‘shine’ rather than yourself; might you go to their home and help with projects when you sense they are weary and overwhelmed….knowing that you have undone projects as well?  What about being their shoulder to cry on, their ear to listen, their ride to the attorney’s office when they’d rather not go alone?

A challenge I lay out to each of us is – find ways to wash another’s feet – be creative, be generous, be dispensers of God’s grace.