Faithfully yours - Stories of love – part three

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Published on Saturday, February 20, 2016

By Neil Strohschein

The Neepawa Banner

It was to be their last meal together before he died. Jesus knew that. But his disciples didn’t. In their minds, they were doing again what they had done in each of the past three years. They were celebrating Passover, the annual feast that recalled ancient Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.

At the appointed time, Jesus arrived with 10 of his 12 disciples. Earlier that day, he had sent two of them into the city to meet a man whose house had a room big enough for 13 people to share a meal. They had cleansed the room, set the table and laid out the bread and wine that would be used during the Passover litany. The meal itself was simmering in a pot nearby.

Only one thing had been overlooked. There was no one at the door to perform the customary act of greeting— washing the dirty, smelly feet of Jesus and his guests.

So, after the Passover litany had been recited and the meal had begun, Jesus slipped away from the table, wrapped the towel around his waist, poured some water in the basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet. In his record of this event, St. John says this: “Jesus loved his own who were in the world. Now he showed them the full extent of his love.” (John 13:2)

Jesus was the ultimate servant. No task, however menial, was beneath his dignity to perform. When he came into this world, he laid aside his privileges and prerogatives as God and took the form of a servant (literally, the form of a slave). So when he washed 12 sets of dirty, smelly feet, Jesus was doing something that any slave might have been asked to do.

But the attitude Jesus displayed was far different from that which a slave might display. Washing feet was a dirty job. Few slaves ever volunteered for it. They hated the job and they often felt the same way about the arrogant people whose feet they had to wash.

But Jesus chose to take on this menial task. He did it because He loved these men and this was his way of revealing how deep his love for them really was.

As with everything Jesus did, this event contained a lesson that the disciples needed to learn. Before that night was over, Jesus gave them a “new commandment;” one simple rule that was to govern their worship, their work and their relationships. “Love one another as I have loved you.”

They would never have cause to question what he meant by those words. His example would remain embedded in their minds forever; as would the words he spoke when the task had been completed: “I have given you an example; now do for others what I have done for you.”

Those words weren’t just for Jesus’ disciples. They are for you and me as well. In God’s eyes, there is no such thing as a trivial, mundane or demeaning task. Everything we are asked to do has value in someone’s eyes and the value of the work done greatly increases when it is done in love.

But sometimes, all the love we have inside of us isn’t enough to help us care for those who show no appreciation for the things we do for them. So what do we do then? For the answer, we turn to some of the last words spoken by Mother Theresa of Calcutta, words by which she governed everything she did: “Let Jesus love others through you.”