Jesus really taught an amazing, awe-inspiring message when he washed the disciple's feet. I've often read this passage and the time it takes to read through it, doesn't give justice to the importance of the event, or the time in which it must have taken Jesus to finish this back-breaking task. I wonder how many hours it took to wash the feet of 12 men? I also don't imagine that he skimped on washing any of disciple's feet, from the first to the last. I know if I had stooped down to wash the feet of 12 men and to try them with a towel, I wouldn't have been able to stand up straight for some time after, and when I did finally straighten up, I'd have been holding my back and probably limping. This was no easy task.
It also not only took great humility for him to do it, because he also knew that these men who he was about to bestow such honor on, would soon betray him, deny him, and leave him to suffer alone, but I must say, it took great humility for them to endure letting him minister to them in such a way as well. Even today, I know people who love to give, but have a hard time allowing others to do anything for them. I'm sure some of the disciple's struggled with those feelings. Even scripture records that Peter had that inclination. "Lord, you shall NEVER wash my feet!" I can imagine the fear and shock in his voice as he sharply declined to allow the Lord to lower himself in such a manner. It must have taken a certain dying to himself, in order to surrender to the washing.
In the film I saw, the disciples were grappling over position. Even the brothers, James and John were arguing about which one got to be on the right and which one on the left. So these men were like every other human being in the world. They all had ego, and desire to excel and to be loved, and to be special. And our ego often, if not always, gets so tangled up in our calling, that we really don't know where one ends and the other begins. Do we want our place in the presence of the Lord, because our ego really just wants to be special and we can be validated by God? An honest person, who understands the human ego, will not be able to discern where one desire leaves off and the other begins. But there is a way to divide asunder the joints and mire, thoughts and intents.
The calling for which the Spirit alone desires is not a calling of being special or having a place or position. The calling for which the Spirit alone seeks, will be willing to be the lowest on the totem pole. This individual will be a servant to all. This individual will not get upset if they are overlooked, passed over, discounted, or thought inferior. This individual won't defend their rights or their place or their "resume". They won't try to exert their entitlement to the higher place or position. They will in fact, give up their place and position to those "lower" than themselves. They will condescend to men of lower estate. They will esteem others better than themselves.
They won't take the attitude that "Bless God, I'm the _________here, and you ought to recognize my authority and my position!" But rather they will honor the least one as if they are the much greater than themselves.
What does it mean to "wash other's feet"? Of course above and beyond actual, literal foot washing, is the principal of service. Perhaps not taking the best or closest parking place, but leaving it for someone else could be an act of servitude. To take time to listen to someone who wants to talk. To do things that others need done. To pick someone up for service. To take someone to the store or the pharmacy. To babysit for someone who has a need. To visit the sick or elderly. To pick up paper you see laying on the floor. To see a dirty toilet in the church, and clean it yourself rather than complaining or telling someone who's supposed to do that job. Bottom line, it's to "See a need, Fill a need".
To take the lowest position rather than the highest. To work hard and sweat, and get worn out doing stuff that needs to be done, that your flesh and carnal mind says others ought to be doing! Not to take the stance that I'm the expert, the superior, the teacher, or the "head", but to instead keep a low profile, even in high profile positions. To be there not to reign, but to work, to serve, to support, to do what nobody else wants to do that needs to be done.
The greatest in the Kingdom will be those willing to get a towel, stoop down, and humble themselves in service not only to the respectable, but also to the children, the poor, the unfaithful, the immature, and even to them who we know have or will betray us.
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