I rose early one Friday morning to attend a men’s Bible study. After
leaving that study, and before heading to the medical school, I stopped by a
nearby nursing home to visit a neighbor. Having done what seemed to be my
two good deeds for the day I was thinking very highly of myself as I left
the nursing home and walked to my car. Coming across the parking lot was a
dear and wonderful church family member. She was carrying what seemed to be
a large shopping bag. We exchanged pleasantries and talked about our
reasons for being at the nursing home so early on a Friday morning.
Mary McArthur was on her way to visit a dear friend of hers who had suffered
a brain aneurysm several years earlier and was confined to that nursing
home. Mrs. Nelson was bedridden and unable to care for her needs. The
nursing home staff would routinely cover Mrs. Nelson’s feet with these
fluffy, furry house-slippers to keep her feet from getting cold. I assume
Mrs. Nelson was a bit warm-natured thus this act of kindness on the part of
the nursing home staff led to hot, sweaty feet. Mary McArthur cheerfully
told me she had in her bag a towel and a plastic basin. As she knew that
hot, sweaty feet would more than likely be bothersome to her friend, she was
on her way to wash her bedridden friend’s feet. On recounting this story to
Mary McArthur’s family it turns out this was not just a single act of
foot-washing but something that had been repeated many times over and for
others as well as for Mrs. Nelson.
In the
gospel according to John, chapter 13, verses 1-17, John records the
following incident in the life of Jesus. Jesus was
sharing a meal with His disciples. As the meal begins, Jesus rose
from the table, 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.
Peter, one of the disciples, resists this action by saying to Jesus, “You
shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do
not wash you, you have no share with me.”
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, has 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. Truly, truly, I
say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger
greater than the one who sent him. If you know
these things, blessed are you if you do them.
In the example of my friend Mary McArthur and in the incident described by
John are several themes, several pearls worthy of our thoughtful
consideration and meditation.
First, the actions of Jesus serve as a standard of humble service and
a calling to all of us to ‘wash one another’s feet’ - to be a servant for
the good of others – a standard which Mary McArthur easily met in her life.
Surely you the hearer of these words didn’t work hard in middle school, high
school and college to come to medical school and prepare yourself to humbly
serve others – to wash the feet of your fellow man or woman? In point of
fact, I would submit that that is exactly your God-given responsibility and
your privilege. You must not forget that you are here by God’s grace. You
are here in this room today with talents, gifts, and abilities which He gave
to you – you actually didn’t choose these abilities (just like you didn’t
choose when you were born, where you were born, who your parents are and a
myriad of other aspects of your life).
You are here by God’s grace because He has so ordered the events of your
life as to bring you here, now, at this time, to this place. He created you
in His image and He has sustained you to this point and He is expecting you
to follow the example that Jesus provides and that Mary McArthur fulfilled.
Second, Jesus’ act of humility and service is a stunning display of love.
For Jesus the foot washing pointed to an even greater act of love – His
sacrificial death on the cross which provides the basis for His offer of
spiritual cleansing. Mary McArthur’s act of humility and service was an
expression of the love that she knew because of her relationship with Christ
- love which she willingly shared with many, many others.
The third pearl in this story—a pearl of wisdom of eternal
significance—relates to the spiritual cleansing offered by Jesus.
The cleansing of the disciples’ feet represents their cleansing from sin.
If Jesus does not cleanse us of our sins then we can have no share with Him,
we cannot have forgiveness of our sins nor can we have spiritual life,
everlasting life, eternal life. Surely I don’t have to convince you of your
own sinfulness and certainly most everyone in this room has witnessed my
sinfulness and imperfections. The point is that we all need the spiritual
cleansing that only Jesus can provide. The fellowship of the cleansed that
Jesus is creating is based on His love for them and is itself characterized
by that same love.
The last pearl comes from the lips of Jesus himself in v 17: “If you know
these things, blessed are you if you do them.” My prayer is that you will
come to know the deeper meaning of these things about love, humble service
and especially about spiritual cleansing and that not only will you know
these things but that you will do them as well. In that knowing
and doing will come eternal blessing beyond all you can ask or imagine.
Grace be with you.
