Five and seven years-old... that’s how old my kids are already! Time goes by too quickly and kids grow up too fast. They are to the age now where they know how to make a really big mess, AND know how and that they should clean it up... However, knowing how-to and if they should is very different from the reality I often live in. Sometimes there is no carrot we can dangle, nor punishment we can threaten, that will light a fire under our children’s rear-ends to make them go and clean their rooms, a mess that they’ve made elsewhere in the house, or a new chore that has been added to their list of growing responsibilities. Perhaps you have young children, or once had young children and you’ve encountered the same war. Sometimes, in the journey that is teaching our children responsibility, life skills, and work ethic, we’ve deployed some preventative measures.
When asking our kids to embark on a new chore, or to begin to clean a big overwhelming mess they’ve made, we do a little cleaning with them to kick-off the task. Sometimes, we do a lot of the cleaning. This is not done to enable our kids, or to do it so it gets done in a timely manner, (although that’s sometimes necessary), nor to simply do something nice for them, even though it may be a heartfelt way to help them out. We do it to teach them. We do it to lead by example. We do it so that every time thereafter, they will have something and someone to reference as they take on what feels to them like the most insurmountable tasks in the world! In John 13, Jesus does something similar.
Jesus does not take on the nature and acts of a servant out of simply carrying out a kind gesture. He does not wash their feet as a way to get his disciples to do good deeds for the sake of doing good deeds. I do not clean for and with my children to teach them to simply be kids that complete their list of chores, but to be responsible, hard-working, contributors to society someday. Likewise, Jesus is teaching more than a mere task, he is leading by example. He wants his disciples to see an illustration for the sake of carrying his mission on to the ends of the earth long after Jesus is gone. Their heart for Jesus and the gospel needed to melt into the world around them. It needed to be counter-cultural and break through the norms of society. This quiet act of servitude by Christ did more than it would’ve had he ran into the room screaming and shouting for his disciples to be kind and meek servant leaders.
This act was not only an illustration of great servitude, but one that pointed to the cross! It was the embodiment of Philippians 2:5-8, “ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” This was most definitely a shock to Peter as we see from his immediate promptings, but it created a shockwave that lingered and lasted to the end of his life. Any time that you come across an encounter with Peter in the Gospels, turn to First Peter and read, you’re sure to find evidence of the growth and sanctification that took place in Peters life. Some thirty years after witnessing Jesus' act in humble service toward him, Peter writes, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Pe. 4:8-11). As he wrote this, I can’t imagine he wasn’t remembering or reflecting upon this quiet moment many years before that shook his world. Whether or not he was, it is what flowed from his heart that proved Jesus' act of washing feet and his conversation with Peter, molded his heart to maintain this posture.
In the midst of the Neronian persecution, where Peter witnessed friends, church members, and possibly family get burned at the stake, boiled in oil, crucified upside down, beheaded, and even worse, as Nero sought to satisfy his sadistic idea of pleasure and entertainment, from Peter’s heart flowed these soft and humble considerations: To love others, to be hospitable and kind, to use your gifts to serve, to pour God’s grace into the world around you, armed with the strength that God gives. I hope that this is an honest encouragement to us as well. Maybe we aren’t facing the fierce persecution that Peter and the early church did, but we still live in a broken, sinful, and tumultuous world that desperately needs the meek, humble, and transformative heart of a Christlike servant leader.
When asking our kids to embark on a new chore, or to begin to clean a big overwhelming mess they’ve made, we do a little cleaning with them to kick-off the task. Sometimes, we do a lot of the cleaning. This is not done to enable our kids, or to do it so it gets done in a timely manner, (although that’s sometimes necessary), nor to simply do something nice for them, even though it may be a heartfelt way to help them out. We do it to teach them. We do it to lead by example. We do it so that every time thereafter, they will have something and someone to reference as they take on what feels to them like the most insurmountable tasks in the world! In John 13, Jesus does something similar.
Jesus does not take on the nature and acts of a servant out of simply carrying out a kind gesture. He does not wash their feet as a way to get his disciples to do good deeds for the sake of doing good deeds. I do not clean for and with my children to teach them to simply be kids that complete their list of chores, but to be responsible, hard-working, contributors to society someday. Likewise, Jesus is teaching more than a mere task, he is leading by example. He wants his disciples to see an illustration for the sake of carrying his mission on to the ends of the earth long after Jesus is gone. Their heart for Jesus and the gospel needed to melt into the world around them. It needed to be counter-cultural and break through the norms of society. This quiet act of servitude by Christ did more than it would’ve had he ran into the room screaming and shouting for his disciples to be kind and meek servant leaders.
This act was not only an illustration of great servitude, but one that pointed to the cross! It was the embodiment of Philippians 2:5-8, “ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” This was most definitely a shock to Peter as we see from his immediate promptings, but it created a shockwave that lingered and lasted to the end of his life. Any time that you come across an encounter with Peter in the Gospels, turn to First Peter and read, you’re sure to find evidence of the growth and sanctification that took place in Peters life. Some thirty years after witnessing Jesus' act in humble service toward him, Peter writes, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Pe. 4:8-11). As he wrote this, I can’t imagine he wasn’t remembering or reflecting upon this quiet moment many years before that shook his world. Whether or not he was, it is what flowed from his heart that proved Jesus' act of washing feet and his conversation with Peter, molded his heart to maintain this posture.
In the midst of the Neronian persecution, where Peter witnessed friends, church members, and possibly family get burned at the stake, boiled in oil, crucified upside down, beheaded, and even worse, as Nero sought to satisfy his sadistic idea of pleasure and entertainment, from Peter’s heart flowed these soft and humble considerations: To love others, to be hospitable and kind, to use your gifts to serve, to pour God’s grace into the world around you, armed with the strength that God gives. I hope that this is an honest encouragement to us as well. Maybe we aren’t facing the fierce persecution that Peter and the early church did, but we still live in a broken, sinful, and tumultuous world that desperately needs the meek, humble, and transformative heart of a Christlike servant leader.