Walk
with me into the Upper Room. It is the night before Christ’s
crucifixion. Jesus picks up a basin of water, a towel, and pitcher.
Kneeling before a disciple he washes the dirt of travel from his
feet. Peter watches apprehensively as Jesus moves closer. Finally
Jesus kneels before him. Unable to handle the scene before his eyes
Peter jerks away (John 13:1-7).
“You
shall never wash my feet!” he cries.
"Unless
I wash you, Peter, you will have no part of me" (John 13:8).
What
would elicit should a response in Peter? Peter is well aware that he
is only a servant, and does not believe it is appropriate for Jesus
to wash his feet. For Jesus to serve him in such a lowly way creates
feelings of unworthiness in him. It is also hard for Peter to
visualize Jesus as a servant, because he has only known Him as
Master. Yielding to Jesus the servant is harder than yielding to
Jesus the leader. Jesus, as leader, bears the weight of
accountability. Jesus, as servant, asks, “Peter, I give my life for
you, and now I wish you to give your life away for my sake.” The
ball is now in Peter’s court, and Jesus asks him if he is willing
to be accountable. It is time to see if Peter is ready or not to
accept the responsibility of the call upon his life.
Just
like Peter, we all deal with a sense of unworthiness, and a sense of
pride. A lot of Christians try to get rid of pride without going the
way of the cross. Without allowing Jesus to wash their feet and
without a complete heart change of attitude, a Christian remains
stuck in his own unworthiness. If he is a person who is concerned
what others think of him, then his outward appearance is his greatest
concern. The humility he might actually believe he has found in Jesus
might be nothing more that pride. When faced with the true humility
of the Master standing right before him asking to wash his feet, his
own shallowness brings shame and he says, "oh, no, I am
unworthy.”
Peter
also can no longer control with his mind his love for the Master.
This is the time that is must become a heart issue. When Jesus kneels
before Peter, the humanness of Peter’s mind must yield to the
calling of Jesus’ heart. If I am really a Christian who wishes to
know the Lord intimately, I don’t want pride to be a part of my
life. I really want to experience the humility of heart that Jesus
expects. As humans we find it hard to absolutely surrender. We just
don’t want to make the sacrifice. What we might not understand is
that the sacrifice which is the hardest is the one that brings the
greatest blessing.
Jesus
kneels before you and before me. With basin and towel ready, he says,
"Unless I wash your feet, you can have no part of me". Do
we allow Him to have His way in our lives? I pray that we all
discover the path of surrender. Because it is at that moment of
surrender, we discover who we really are.
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