Day 37: Jesus Stooped Shockingly Low to Lift Us Up

Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Now when it was time for supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.

When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have 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 for you. JOHN 13:1–5, 12–15

I’M PRETTY OLD-FASHIONED ABOUT basic civility and treating others with respect, so the current entitled climate of modern culture is driving me a bit bonkers. Never before have I seen so much narcissistic vitriol passed off as “virtue” as I’ve observed in the past year or two. All you have to do is scroll through social media for a few minutes and it becomes apparent that humility and sacrifice are not trending! But then the way of this world has never been the way of Christ, has it? Which Paul reminds us of this in his first letter to the Corinthians: “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18 nlt, emphasis mine).

And at the risk of stepping on your toes instead of pampering them like Jesus did, “we who are being saved” are not immune to egocentrism and self-indulgence. Which probably would’ve been apparent if someone had polled church members to ascertain how much toilet paper we hoarded during those first few months of COVID-19! It’s easy to post humblebrags online about how “love wins,” but it’s a whole other thing to live a life bent in the radical position of God and others-oriented service—to emulate our Savior’s posture when He gave His disciples that Passover pedicure. Because, of course, the point of this passage isn’t about hygiene.

Dr. D. A. Carson (yet another brilliant theologian I have a platonic crush on) explains that the central theme of Jesus’s behavior and message here in John 13:1–15 isn’t about the rite of foot washing (which only occurs one other time in Scripture, in 1 Timothy 5:10); rather, it’s about Christ modeling humility and helpfulness.30 In other words, the largess of God’s love for us is best expressed in the context of community, through humble acts of kindness and service to each other.

And the final convicting kicker of this narrative is that during this period of ancient history, the task of foot washing was normally only performed by the lowliest of servants.

Sadly, I think far too many spiritual leaders still consider humility beneath them. It would surely behoove all of us to remember that humility comes from the Latin word humus, which refers to the earth or ground; therefore, becoming more honest about our own dirt could enable us to get closer to the ground as we seek to live Jesus-shaped lives.

I hope to remain forever gobsmacked by the fact that King Jesus left His throne in Glory, knowing it meant He’d not only be picking up a towel to wash the filthy feet of folks like me, but ultimately hoisting a cross on His bloody back to wash all our hearts clean from sin. And I pray the resulting gratitude will compel me to stoop increasingly lower as I lean more fully into His mercy.

• THE WORD EXAMPLE in John 13:15 comes from the original Greek word hypodeigma, which can also be translated “pattern.” What Christ-follower in your life has a pattern of humility? In what ways could you follow their lead in the coming weeks?
• READ MARK 10:45. How would you distill Jesus’s statement about His purpose here into a modern-day mission statement?
• READ MATTHEW 20:25–28. What behaviors would you have to change in order to passionately align your heart with Jesus’s teaching here? What situations do you tend to be “first” in? What would it mean for you to be “last” or “low” in those same scenarios?