Jesus, Our Savior: Lenten Devotions From Time Of GraceSýnishorn

Jesus and service

In the upper room, Jesus stripped to the waist and washed his disciples’ feet. That event inspired works of art, put an idiom in Christian parlance, and demonstrated an irreducible form of service. “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15). Jesus taught this core concept of his theology through an act dripping with meaning that his disciples couldn’t miss. I am not aware of any other religious leader doing anything like that. I am not aware of any other belief system that reveres a menial task as the enduring standard for serving others. Jesus was on the way to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. He set it up with this humble act and authenticated how he wants us to follow him.

Jesus was selfless by nature. The rest of us need to learn to become that way. So, where do you see yourself in this picture?

We may want to be like Jesus: the Suffering Servant who proved that God came all the way down here to minister to us. We may identify with Peter, who was very self-conscious that his Lord and Savior would handle his gnarly feet. And we may see ourselves in the sponge. Yes, the sponge. We may see ourselves being filled up with the Water of Life repeatedly so that we can be wrung out in the hands of Jesus over and over as we serve one person after another.