A command
This fresh set of Daily Devotions is being provided for our LCA/NZ family, friends and visitors to help us to keep our eyes on Jesus as we face unsettling times. They can be used by families and individuals as part of the LCA/NZ’s Church@Home resources to encourage us and build trust in our Heavenly Father during this season of uncertainty and physical isolation.
by Pastor Reid Matthias
Click here for your printable verse to carry with you today.
‘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 for you’ (John 13:14b,15)
Read John 13:1-20
What is the job you would least like to do? Perhaps it’s vacuuming or dusting. Or you might be particularly disengaged from cleaning the toilet. Imagine, though, taking out the basin of water and washing the feet of your friends.
Maybe you’ve done this before as part of a worship service. There is a true sense of discomfort and embarrassment. Feet are generally dirty. Toenails aren’t always kept well. Let’s not get started on what grows …
Now imagine that the Son of God is wrapping a towel around his waist and without asking begins to wash your feet. Are you uncomfortable? Is it about your feet, or the fact that Jesus the Christ is doing the washing?
There is no social distancing whatever in this command.
Embedded in this first Maundy (‘Maundy’ means ‘command’) Thursday is the directive that followers of Jesus are all part of foot-washing. There are no ‘designated foot-washers’; all of them must do this so that they might experience the true grace, mercy and power of Jesus.
Who is this Jesus who looks beyond our dirt and the places we’ve been?
Who is this Jesus who washes us clean, not only with the waters of baptism but also with the blood from his veins?
Who is this Jesus who calls you and me into this mission?
What does washing the feet of others mean for you?
Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus, who spared no indignity to offer us salvation through his cleansing blood. Open our hearts and minds for opportunities to care for others so that they might experience his grace and mercy. Amen.
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