My name is Patrick Engesser, IT Director for Feed My Starving Children…
For many of us, for sure for me…this COVID-19 pandemic…has humbled me more – maybe you as well…I know I often pray to be humbled, but I am not sure I envisioned God humbling me like this…. Are you feeling humbled? Has this caused you to let go more and trust in God’s sovereignty? To surrender your agenda in favor of His?
I wrote the following devotional the day after the 4th of July in 2019, celebrating the formal founding of our nation, a day we call Independence Day. I would put out there that the day you and I surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, when we gave our lives over we indeed experienced a day we will celebrate now until we live in eternity with Christ, our own personal independence day.
This devotional was fueled by a particularly powerful sermon centered around one of my favorite pieces of scripture in John 13 about Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. I really enjoyed the times when a church I attended would “reenact” the washing of feet by having the congregation do it for each other – it becomes very real this way. I think this is worth pondering as we just celebrated Holy Week last week…
Here is part of the passage - John 13:2-15:
During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 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.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus 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.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
When 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? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 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.”
The sermon reminded me of part of a message I shared with my son Dave and his wife Elizabeth at their wedding. My message to those two spoke of how I think God shares what serving each other in marriage looks like:
This washing of feet was an enormous act of humility, service and love. In His ministry Jesus showed us how to love many times, but this may have been one of the more tangible demonstrations of love you might find. Jesus loved and respected His disciples so much that he was willing to kneel in service to them, putting them ahead of Himself.
So as a father/father-in-law, I gave this advice to David and Elizabeth – demonstrate your love often, hopefully every day, by “washing each other’s feet”, which means living in service and respect towards each other. Be humble enough to kneel in service to each other. Doing this is a true expression of your love and respect for each other.
I bring this to the table as one of the ways for you to consider, hear and understand Jesus and His call on your life and how you might choose to live life going forward.
But there is more to consider in this passage – a question for us - as followers of Jesus Christ, when we go into the world (at home, at work, in volunteering, in on-line social media interactions, in email communications, in Zoom meetings, and in personal time) –
Do we carry the heart of our Savior, Jesus Christ with us? That servant heart?
That question cuts to the quick. So ultimately, God knows our heart and will look into our heart when we stand before the judgement seat, so that begs the question, what will be found in your/my heart? A heart transformed by our Lord Jesus through living for and following Him? Or something else?
Jesus is calling us out of this world to be sent back into the world to shine His light. Jesus is showing us how. In these verses Jesus is showing us what he expects from His representatives in this world. He shows his humility, the kind of humility we can learn to bring into the world as a light.
And this is about more than just feet washing. Some context and background on feet washing -
This was traditionally done before meals. However, it was done by the lowest of servants. Lowliest means not even a Jewish servant would go so low as to wash feet of guests – usually this was done by a gentile, otherwise it would not happen. Feet in that day got filthy walking in sandals through all sorts of conditions. You think your feet stink – maybe they do – but not like this.
This was scandalous for Jesus to do this for His disciples – He was their leader, a teacher, the Messiah and yet He did it anyway. You see in Peters reaction that this was really unsettling for the apostles – first he says – no you are not going to wash my feet – and then - you need to wash all of me.
So when Jesus says he is going to wash His disciples feet (and then does), He is showing you and I how low he is willing to go to serve us, to wash our feet, most important, pointing us to His crucifixion, death and resurrection, through which He washes our sins away, making us fully clean.
In this way Jesus Christ is demonstrating unconditional and sacrificial love.
Then consider this, in verse 2 of Chapter 13, we see that Satan had already put into Judas’ heart to betray Jesus – and – Jesus knows that Judas is going to betray Him – Jesus, gets down so low that he even washes the feet of Judas who shortly will be a traitor to Jesus. Think about how this might have pierced Judas – or hardened him more - such an act of love for him from Jesus.
Some of the key points that this passage shows us about our Savior Jesus:
Another great passage on how low Jesus went for us is found in Philippians 2:1-11. If you haven’t read it for a while check it out again.
I want to leave you with the question asked earlier:
When you go into the world do you carry the heart of our Savior, Jesus Christ with you? How can we as Feed My Starving Children carry the heart of Jesus in the work we do in this current season of work at home and social distancing?
To close, let us pray –
Dear Lord I pray we demonstrate your love often, hopefully every day, by “washing each other’s feet”, which means living in service and respect towards each other. We ask that we can be humble enough to kneel in service to each other. And that doing this will be a true expression of our love for you Lord, and an expression of our love and respect for each other. Lord let us realize there is no special qualification for this service but rather a heart of humility and servant-hood, that there is a direct relationship between lowliness and love – how low we are willing to get speaks to the depth of our love. Father, let us remember no one has ever gone as low as Jesus did. Lord let us find true joy in service not status – let us hear Your sending us out to serve, let us stay humble by taking our sins to Jesus in confession often.
OUR GOD, we earnestly SEEK You. We THIRST for You. We have seen You and behold Your power and glory. Our lips will GLORIFY You. We PRAISE You! We CLING to You as Your right hand upholds FMSC. We rejoice!
Amen! Have a day filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
For many of us, for sure for me…this COVID-19 pandemic…has humbled me more – maybe you as well…I know I often pray to be humbled, but I am not sure I envisioned God humbling me like this…. Are you feeling humbled? Has this caused you to let go more and trust in God’s sovereignty? To surrender your agenda in favor of His?
I wrote the following devotional the day after the 4th of July in 2019, celebrating the formal founding of our nation, a day we call Independence Day. I would put out there that the day you and I surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, when we gave our lives over we indeed experienced a day we will celebrate now until we live in eternity with Christ, our own personal independence day.
This devotional was fueled by a particularly powerful sermon centered around one of my favorite pieces of scripture in John 13 about Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. I really enjoyed the times when a church I attended would “reenact” the washing of feet by having the congregation do it for each other – it becomes very real this way. I think this is worth pondering as we just celebrated Holy Week last week…
Here is part of the passage - John 13:2-15:
During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 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.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus 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.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
When 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? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 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.”
The sermon reminded me of part of a message I shared with my son Dave and his wife Elizabeth at their wedding. My message to those two spoke of how I think God shares what serving each other in marriage looks like:
This washing of feet was an enormous act of humility, service and love. In His ministry Jesus showed us how to love many times, but this may have been one of the more tangible demonstrations of love you might find. Jesus loved and respected His disciples so much that he was willing to kneel in service to them, putting them ahead of Himself.
So as a father/father-in-law, I gave this advice to David and Elizabeth – demonstrate your love often, hopefully every day, by “washing each other’s feet”, which means living in service and respect towards each other. Be humble enough to kneel in service to each other. Doing this is a true expression of your love and respect for each other.
I bring this to the table as one of the ways for you to consider, hear and understand Jesus and His call on your life and how you might choose to live life going forward.
But there is more to consider in this passage – a question for us - as followers of Jesus Christ, when we go into the world (at home, at work, in volunteering, in on-line social media interactions, in email communications, in Zoom meetings, and in personal time) –
Do we carry the heart of our Savior, Jesus Christ with us? That servant heart?
That question cuts to the quick. So ultimately, God knows our heart and will look into our heart when we stand before the judgement seat, so that begs the question, what will be found in your/my heart? A heart transformed by our Lord Jesus through living for and following Him? Or something else?
Jesus is calling us out of this world to be sent back into the world to shine His light. Jesus is showing us how. In these verses Jesus is showing us what he expects from His representatives in this world. He shows his humility, the kind of humility we can learn to bring into the world as a light.
And this is about more than just feet washing. Some context and background on feet washing -
This was traditionally done before meals. However, it was done by the lowest of servants. Lowliest means not even a Jewish servant would go so low as to wash feet of guests – usually this was done by a gentile, otherwise it would not happen. Feet in that day got filthy walking in sandals through all sorts of conditions. You think your feet stink – maybe they do – but not like this.
This was scandalous for Jesus to do this for His disciples – He was their leader, a teacher, the Messiah and yet He did it anyway. You see in Peters reaction that this was really unsettling for the apostles – first he says – no you are not going to wash my feet – and then - you need to wash all of me.
So when Jesus says he is going to wash His disciples feet (and then does), He is showing you and I how low he is willing to go to serve us, to wash our feet, most important, pointing us to His crucifixion, death and resurrection, through which He washes our sins away, making us fully clean.
In this way Jesus Christ is demonstrating unconditional and sacrificial love.
Then consider this, in verse 2 of Chapter 13, we see that Satan had already put into Judas’ heart to betray Jesus – and – Jesus knows that Judas is going to betray Him – Jesus, gets down so low that he even washes the feet of Judas who shortly will be a traitor to Jesus. Think about how this might have pierced Judas – or hardened him more - such an act of love for him from Jesus.
Some of the key points that this passage shows us about our Savior Jesus:
- The love of Jesus – He is willing to go so low it catches the apostles off guard doing something none of the apostles would ever consider doing this for each other – yet Jesus tells them in verses 15-17 that they should being doing this themselves – not washing feet – but making themselves low - low to demonstrate and shine the light of Christ’s love.
- The lowliness of Jesus – here are 5 ways Jesus showed humility:
- Jesus got low, though His status was high (Teacher and Lord)
- Jesus got low even though His death was soon – He did not get distracted by knowing this fact and looking for sympathy – He got low instead
- Jesus got low even though His betrayer was present
- Jesus got low and wanted nothing in return – except he is sending them with this example – he is sending us as well with this example
- Jesus got low when no one else would
- Washing feet points to the larger works of Jesus – this was beyond getting ones feet clean. This was about the promise of God for our salvation through His Son Jesus Christ going to the Cross to take our place so that we could be washed by His blood and come to eternal life through His resurrection.
Another great passage on how low Jesus went for us is found in Philippians 2:1-11. If you haven’t read it for a while check it out again.
I want to leave you with the question asked earlier:
When you go into the world do you carry the heart of our Savior, Jesus Christ with you? How can we as Feed My Starving Children carry the heart of Jesus in the work we do in this current season of work at home and social distancing?
To close, let us pray –
Dear Lord I pray we demonstrate your love often, hopefully every day, by “washing each other’s feet”, which means living in service and respect towards each other. We ask that we can be humble enough to kneel in service to each other. And that doing this will be a true expression of our love for you Lord, and an expression of our love and respect for each other. Lord let us realize there is no special qualification for this service but rather a heart of humility and servant-hood, that there is a direct relationship between lowliness and love – how low we are willing to get speaks to the depth of our love. Father, let us remember no one has ever gone as low as Jesus did. Lord let us find true joy in service not status – let us hear Your sending us out to serve, let us stay humble by taking our sins to Jesus in confession often.
OUR GOD, we earnestly SEEK You. We THIRST for You. We have seen You and behold Your power and glory. Our lips will GLORIFY You. We PRAISE You! We CLING to You as Your right hand upholds FMSC. We rejoice!
Amen! Have a day filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.