David Bahn – Reflections

How low will you stoop? How menial must the task be before you say, “I’m not doing that?” Often we think of this in terms of the task: cleaning the toilets, picking up litter, scrubbing floors, digging ditches. The CEO doesn’t carry out the trash at night. The chairman of the board doesn’t clean the restrooms. The head nurse doesn’t empty bedpans. Whether or not there are exceptions to these examples is one thing, but the truest test comes when they are done for an enemy or a betrayer.

Jesus not only washed the feet of the disciples, he washed the feet of Judas whom he knew would betray him (v. 11).

John 13:1-17

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him,  “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹²When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

The truest test of a disciple of Jesus is two-fold:

• What task do you put beneath your dignity? What are you simply unwilling to do because it is (not morally!) not a worthy task. This is not a matter of vocation or priority; that is, we need not all go out and become full time bed pan cleaners; we need doctors, nurses, lab techs, school teachers, pastors, auto mechanics, and restaurateurs. But each of us – within our own vocation must be willing to take the servant’s towel without complaint.
• Who are you willing to serve? Who will you help? Is there someone beneath you, for whom you will not lift a finger? This is not a matter of enabling self-destructive behavior; the Bible is clear, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat. ” (2 Thessalonians 3:10) But if we judge someone beneath our kindness or compassionate caring we have missed the point of what it means to follow Jesus. His example is clear: he washed the feet of Judas who would betray him.

Jesus’ words, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them,” in v. 17 are good words for us today. As we approach Holy Thursday and Good Friday we do well to remember Jesus’ example of servanthood and humility and follow his example as we have opportunity. Is there a task at the office or in the neighborhood to which God is calling you today as testimony of Jesus’ claim on your life?