Today’s Gospel from John begins as Jesus had just finished washing the feet of his disciples. Jesus then said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him” (Jn 13:16). Jesus not only taught the truth that God the Father sent his Son to serve and not be served, he modeled this practice consistently.
From his conception, gestation, and birth, the Son of God developed as a human being in the very simplest of conditions and endured the hardships of those on the margins. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were most likely ostracized because of the circumstances of Jesus’ conception. The census was a good opportunity to get of Nazareth. And then when the time came there was no room or hospitality so Jesus was born in a cave. Very soon after his birth, the young family was forced to flee from Bethlehem to Egypt. When Herod the Great died they returned to Nazareth, and other than the incident when he remained in the Temple while Jospeh and Mary left him, we hear nothing about the life of Jesus until he begins his public ministry. The most likely reason for this was that there was nothing to tell. Jesus most likely apprenticed with Joseph, in the trade of a simple tektōn, a woodworker, which was pretty low on the rung of the social ladder.
Through the short time of his ministry, Jesus modeled for his disciples what a follower was and what it meant to be one of his successors. To follow in his footsteps they would need to participate in servant leadership, which is really authentic leadership as Jesus lived it. He not only taught them but lived and modeled that there is no task too menial that we can’t roll up our sleeves and dive in and help. There is no person too other that we can’t assist when they are in need.
In this act of washing the feet, Jesus also revealed something deeper. The depth of his love for the apostles and each of us. The Son was willing to come close, to become one with us in our humanity, to be in solidarity with us even in our sin by participating in John’s baptism of repentance, even though he was free of sin. He then took upon himself the sin of the world on the cross. In the washing of the apostle’s feet, he also showed the depth of his love in caring for them in such a menial way. Another foreshadowing of the depths of his love in his willingness to give his life in a humiliating and horrific way for all of humanity in willing to be crucified.
Jesus, fully divine, did not grasp at his divinity or lord it over anyone. He was willing to be baptized even though he was free of sin, washed the feet of his apostles even though he was their master and teacher, and he was willing to experience crucifixion and death even as the Messiah. In each of these acts, Jesus reveals the full gift of himself, holding nothing back. Jesus encouraged his apostles and is encouraging us with every breath, thought, word, and action to love each other as he has loved us.
A good prayer and meditation for us today is to ask Jesus to reveal for us how we have resisted his urgings in the past regarding serving and loving others as well as when we have refused to interact or treat someone with anything less than the basic human dignity which they deserved which is to love each other, to will each other’s good. Have we ever thought that what he was asking of us was beneath us? Have there been people we have kept at arm’s length or refused to reach out to? For those ways in which we have withdrawn within ourselves and refused to be of help may we ask for his forgiveness.
Are we willing to allow Jesus to wash our feet, to heal our wounds, and forgive our sins? If so, then having been washed, healed, forgiven and loved, may we be more willing to share what we have received from Jesus. May we be more open to each of the people and/or tasks that God asks us to engage in, the discernment to know his will, and the clarity and courage to act as his servant with humility, with love, and without hesitation.
—————————————————————————-
Painting: “The washing of the disciples’ feet” by Ghislaine Howard
Spiritual Stepping Stones