Love is Doing the Dishes

I have to admit to a pet peeve, a practice among Christian groups that really drives me crazy – the foot washing ceremony.  I’m sure you’ve seen it or experienced it.  For me it has been in the context of a weekend retreat or conference.  At the end of the event, the leaders breakout a bunch of water basins and wash our feet or have us wash each other’s feet.  It is supposed to be a dramatic, meaningful and inspiring end to a wonderful weekend.   I know this may offend some of you my readers, but I truly believe that the way this ceremony is currently done completely misses the point of what Jesus was trying to teach His disciples – and us.  The practice is based on the narrative found in the Gospel of John.

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him… When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

 For me, one of the keys to understanding this passage is the last verse, “…do as I have done for you.”  He did not say do “what I have done” but “as I have done.”  I think this is an important distinction.  Jesus was not telling us to duplicate His actions but to embrace His attitude.  What is so remarkable is the context in which John places Jesus’ action.  At this point, Jesus knew He was about to die a horrible death.  He knew He was about to be betrayed by a man who spent 3 years with Him.  He knew that He was about to experience again all the glory He had known with the Father.  And He knew that everything in the universe was under His authority.  In light of all these disparate and seemingly conflicting experiences there was one thought foremost in Christ’s mind – to show His disciples, His friends, the full extent of His love.  The foot washing wasn’t only about humility. It wasn’t about establishing a new Christian liturgy. It was about showing what love looks like.  Being fully secure in His own mission, calling, position and relationship with the Father enabled Him to take on the posture of a servant.

 Unfortunately, we have turned this most powerful demonstration of love in action into a show.  It seems to me that too often it has become a spectacle designed to demonstrate our “humility,”  to show our equivalence to Christ by going through the same motions, but without the power and without the love.  If we are truly secure in our relationship with the Father, if we understand the fullness of what it means to be “in Christ,” then we don’t need to resort to the occasional ceremony to demonstrate servanthood.

 Let me suggest some more meaningful and, I think, more appropriate applications of Jesus’ example.  How about you husbands doing the dishes for your wives after supper.  Is that not more loving and serving?  How about watching the kids of a single mom in order to give her a night out or babysitting for a young couple who can’t afford to go out but need a date night?  How about mowing the lawn for a neighbor, cooking a meal for a friend, fixing a car, helping paint a church member’s new home?  How about doing some home repair for an elderly couple or driving them to the grocery store?  I hope you get the point.  Washing each other’s feet is an act of love based on the fullness of our life in God.   It is not a demonstration of our humility, nor do we aim to get credit for a good deed.  Having been the recipients of the “full extent of His love,” is it not appropriate to show the same to others?

Are We Not Phantoms?

My son’s high school drama club is performing the Broadway musical, Phantom of the Opera.  It is a very ambitious project for a high school, but they actually pulled it off beautifully.  You would never think this was a high school; such was the talent, staging and production value.  But that is not my point here.  As I watched the show, I finally understood the story line:  The tale of a disfigured man – ugly and repulsive – looking for acceptance, perhaps even love, from another human being.  It the cry of aloneness looking for relationship and intimacy. Yet the story goes beyond just one character in an opera.  This is the story of the heart cry of humanity disfigured by sin looking for the lost intimacy with God.  Is it possible for a loving, beautiful, pure God to love such ugliness of soul?  Does He not shun us, even as we hide ourselves from Him in shame; in self-repulsion?  The simplest answer is, no, He does not shun us.  He does not reject us.  The most astonishing and breathtaking truth is that in the face of our blemished, stained and defaced soul, God still extended love to us.  He kissed us in the very place of our hideousness.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)

 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:3-5)

It seems to me that I keep repeating this theme in my various blog posts.  I can’t seem to get past this most remarkable truth.  And maybe it’s because I don’t want to.  There is so much Christian chatter and philosophizing, so much noise about becoming better Christians or changing the world or taking back our cities and nations.  It all sounds so complicated and planned and scheduled and calculated and I just want to scream because we somehow lose sight of the simplicity and power of the cross. 

Now some of you may think I’m being simple-minded and unsophisticated.  After all, there is “work” to be done.  We have to move past this and grow up.  We need to mature.  Do we not?  No, I think not.  There is nothing more powerful, more loving and more life-changing than saying to someone, “God has not rejected you and I can prove it.”  The soul breathes this in and gushes out in life.  Why does it need to get more complicated than telling those soul-marred phantoms that there is someone ready to accept them?  I don’t think it is.

Call me simple if you like, but that’s His story and I’m sticking with it.

Just-In-Time God

Years ago manufactures came up with a new strategy to improve their business and profits.  It was called Just in Time manufacturing.  Here’s how it worked.  Suppose Company A made a product that had three different components.  Normally they would stock a bunch of each component to make sure they had enough parts on hand to make their product.  Just In Time manufacturing meant that instead of having a large inventory of these components they would order and get them at their plant just as they needed them to make their product – not a moment before.  Everything showed up “Just In Time.”  It was a good concept, but originally “Just In Time” was God’s idea!  And I can prove it:

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners (Romans 5:6)

“At just the right time” Christ showed up in history, not a moment too soon or a moment too late.  And as brilliant as that is, it gets even better, because Christ shows up in your life at just the right time also.  He reveals Himself to you when you need Him.  He speaks and guides you when you needed it.  He supplies what you need at the right time.  And I know it may not seem that way sometimes, but I am firmly convinced that it is true.  I don’t believe God is messing with us.   I don’t believe He likes to watch us squirm and fret.  I don’t believe He takes some twisted pleasure in our anguish or hardships.  Instead He would much rather that we trust Him and trust that He is doing the right thing in our lives at the right time.  Jesus tried to teach His followers that very principle when He said:

So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing…Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not…So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

You see, the point here is that the Father knows what we need and will give us what we need from “day to day.”  In other words, Just In Time.  He doesn’t give us what we will need tomorrow today.  He gives us what we need today… today!   By the way, I don’t think this verse in only talking about “stuff.”  There is plenty we need daily that is not material goods.

So, I want you to be encouraged.  I want you to be hopeful.  And I want you to be worry-free.  We have a Just In Time God and He comes through every time.  “Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms” (Ps 68:19).  Please Lord, let us see your goodness to us each day.

Changing our Focal Point

It was one of the first verses I memorized when I first became a Christian nearly forty years ago and only recently have I started to truly understand it.  Talk about being slow!  It’s a good thing we have eternity, because I am going to need every minute of it to really understand the Scriptures.  So here’s that verse I memorized.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. (Psalm 119: 9,11)

 There it was, the prescription for dealing with sin.  All I had to do was memorize more Scriptures – the right Scriptures – and apply them in strategic situations to dispatch sin right out of my life. So I spent more time memorizing more Scriptures.  I even memorized the entire book of Philippians.  But somehow sin still found a way in.  Sin had a way of circumventing my scriptural blockade and I was left devastated, ashamed and confused.  Why didn’t it work, this magic elixir, these words of power that promised so much?  Precisely because I was treating the Scriptures as a magical remedy.  I was led to believe that just having the words was enough, that the string of syllables found in my Bible and implanted in my mind could hold back the tidal wave of sin.  It was not so.

 Now before I continue on, let me pause to clarify.  I actually think that memorizing Scripture is a good practice for any Christian.  I think that too many of us don’t know our Bible well enough and that memorization seems to be a lost art much to the detriment of individual Christians and the Church as a whole.  I am not against Scripture memorization, I am just more critical of the way it has been applied.  So let me now go on.

 I was so focused on the words of the Scripture that I lost track of the Word in Scripture.  So intent was I on discovering the perfect combination of verses to deal with whatever was ailing me at the moment that I lost focus of the Perfect One.  I missed the incarnate Word and saw instead an incantation.  I missed treasuring HIM in my heart.  That is the only way to stay pure, by staying focused on Christ.  So what does that really mean?  That is a nice concept but how do we do that.  Let me suggested three truths, three ways to focus on Christ so that He will become a treasure in your heart.

 First, meditate on the great wonder that the Father chose you from the beginning of world to be with Him, to be saved, redeemed, adopted, accepted.  He actually chose you, not a people group, an ethnic group or a church denomination, but He chose an individual – You.  Next, having grasped that concept (if you can), think about the extent to which Jesus was willing to go to ensure your company with Him for all eternity.  Finally, as you consider these two great and breathtaking truths, turn every moment into an opportunity to say Thank you to Him – to live in thanksgiving and gratitude.  You see, I think that if we make Christ our focus and live out of that grateful heart, Sin loses its luster, its appeal fades, its power diminishes and before we know it, Sin no longer controls.  It is not a matter of trying harder not to sin, of doubling our effort, of shouting Scriptures so that we can somehow scare Sin away, instead the only way is to stay focused on THE WAY.  It is about a Person and knowing Him.  One of my all-time favorite hymns captures best what I am trying to say.  Here are the words:

 O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conqu’rors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

So, how can a young man or young woman, old man or old woman keep their way pure, by keeping it according to THE Word and looking full in His wonderful face.