This last week I pointed out that Mary’s actions in anointing the feet of Jesus for his burial ran parallel with Jesus washing the feet of the disciples (including Judas). If we want to truly worship Jesus in the way that Mary did as an example of a true disciple, we need to learn to wash the feet of others as though they are the feet of Jesus. I had not made this connection between Mary and Jesus till Sunday morning around 6:30.
When I think about Jesus’ final days with his followers, I am taken back by how he chose to spend those days. He begins with washing their feet, giving them the command to love each other, and calling them to follow is example of love, service, and self-sacrifice not only for those they are in relationship with but also with those who hate them and wish them harm. He washes the feet of the men who will abandon him in his time of need. He washes the feet of the one who betrays him and hands him over to be killed. With love and compassion in his eyes he looks at you and bends down to wash your feet. I don’t have any real feeling for what this would be like, but it is a dirty job that is below the dignity of anyone but a house servant. Yet here we are with our feet in the hands of God in the flesh.
When Jesus wants to sum up all his teaching, he doesn’t give them a theological paradigm to wrestle with. He gives them a meal and an action. The meal is what we call the Lord’s Supper. This is not a time of mere inward reflection on what Jesus did for you to save you of your sins. This is a time of inward conviction calling you to repent of the ways that you hold yourself higher and better than others and fail to pick up your cross for the sake of others. The action Jesus gives us is washing feet. “If you want to be great, become a servant to all.” He humiliates himself and washes the feet of everyone, including the one who is about to get him killed. It is almost as if he is showing that these actions are what embody the Lord’s Supper. You have been set free so become a servant to others.
The way you love those around you will be my witness in the world. They will know you are my followers because of the love you show them. But what if they have different political leanings than me? What if they interpret the Bible differently than I do? What if they have sin in their life that is grotesque? Didn’t Jesus call a religious extremist, fisherman, tax collector, and revolutionary to follow him? Jesus meant what he said about the love they are supposed to have for one another. The thing that unifies them is greater than anything that divides. If you’re holding onto the things that divide you are flirting with idolatry.
We move with Jesus from the foot washing, through his teachings about love, the Holy Spirit, abiding in him, and discipline from God. We then arrive in chapter 17 in what is called the High Priestly Prayer. Read this prayer. After reading it, remember that this is the prayer of God in the flesh who is about to go to the cross and die to redeem your brokenness and make you whole through the Holy Spirit’s work in you. Then, read it again recognizing that He is praying for you. The part I want to focus on this Sunday is 17:20-26. Jesus prays that the church will be unified. In this unity, as the Father and the Son are unified, the world will come to know who God is.
What needs to be done to bring the church to unity? This is an overwhelmingly hard questions when put on a global level of unity. So, let’s bring it home.
What needs to be done to bring NoDa Church to unity?