Barry Metz 03/22/15

Let’s Give Ourselves to Humble ServiceJohn 13:1–17

I thought we might begin this morning with the punch line. (I admit it’s a terrible way to tell a joke but I think it might be an ok way to start this sermon.)

What’s the punch line for this sermon this morning? Well I’ve hidden it in plain sight. It’s the title of the message—Let’s give ourselves to humble service.

Before we even look at the passage and the reasons why we should give ourselves to humble service, could we brainstorm the idea in different contexts?

Let’s give ourselves to humble service. What could it look like in a marriage? Talk to me…(Ideas: Helping with a responsibility that’s not normally yours…Doing a chore that’s not normally your chore…Asking questions and listening well…Filling your spouse’s car with gas…Having the oil changed on your spouse’s car…Choosing to do something that your spouse really likes…. Sweeping the floor…Cleaning the toilets…Cleaning the garage) What could it look like in families? (Ideas: Washing the dishes after meals…sweeping the floors…cleaning the toilets….straitening my brother’s room…cleaning up after my sister left the bathroom a mess) What could it look like in church? (Ideas: Cleaning the white boards after classes…Cleaning up after fellowship meals…Signing up to be a greeter. Adopting a flower bed or two around the church….Finding out some needs of church members and attenders and taking on those needs. Contacting some of the elderly and asking if there are ways one can help them….Volunteering to do children’s church once a month, praying for needs…) What could it look like as our two mission teams go out to Haiti and Kentucky this summer? What activities could our mission teams be involved in that preach the gospel without words? And that raises a question. Are we encouraged to give ourselves away in humble service to each other? Or to a needy world also?

Let me ask a few more questions: What is it that would lead you to begin giving yourself away in humble service? Have you ever thought about that? Would you get up from your chair if you saw Jesus giving himself away in humble service? Would it help you to read that Jesus commanded his followers to give themselves away in humble service? Or finally would it help to know that Jesus promised blessing for those who chose the road of humble service?

Our passage this morning comes with all of those motivations. And I wonder out loud in advance will we have ears to hear? (And for those of you who are already thinking to yourself, “Oh no it’s a “you need to do more sermon!,” I hope the message doesn’t have that feel to it.) I hope we can hear Jesus’s words a fresh, “For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you.” I hope we can hear afresh that we’re not called to do anything that our Lord hasn’t done first and given us the grace to do. And I hope we can hear afresh that happiness comes when we obey.

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The famous missionary doctor to Africa, Albert Schweitzer, said “One thing I know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”1

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Well if you have your bibles, let’s read the first seventeen verses of John 13… John 13:1-17.

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

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With this passage we turn a corner in the book of John. The public ministry of Jesus is over. “At this point in the gospel we move out of the streets into the quiet of the Upper room.”2

The next five chapters--John chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 --are often called Jesus’ Farewell Discourses. One writer calls the five chapters, Jesus’ Discipleship Course.3 And clearly in these

1 Albert Schweitzer, missionary doctor, 1875-1965. Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 2.2 Bruner, page 747 from Lesslie Newbigin, The Light Has Come, page 1673 Bruner, page 747

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five chapters Jesus is preparing his disciples for the mission he has in mind for them—reaching the world with the gospel.

One author4 suggests that the literary form of book of John has the shape of the arc of a pendulum. Let’s look at that on the screen.

The pendulum’s swing begins up high, reaches a low point, and then returns to its original elevation. (Some engineer in the audience is thinking to himself….No, no, no there’s energy loss!) You’re right.

Well John’s gospel in John 1 introduces Jesus as the Word who was with God and who was God. Wouldn’t you agree that that is a high point in the arc of the pendulum? But as Jesus’ story unfolds, hostility toward him increases. In fact as Jesus does more and says more, he is rejected more. And then at the pendulum swing’s lowest ebb, John 13:30, a verse we’ll cover next week, Judas steals away into the night to betray Jesus. But from that point on the pendulum swings back up to the cross. The death of Jesus is not a tragedy. The cross is a high point in the book of John. It is the highest moment of Jesus’ glory. In chapter 19 “when Jesus is on the cross he is proclaimed ‘king’ in all the chief languages of the world.”5 And as we talked about last week, at that point, when Jesus is lifted up (still future for us as we journey through the book) He will become spiritually magnetic for all people, drawing all people to Himself.

“The cross is thus where Jesus is elevated above all, hailed as a glorious ruler; and through his resurrection, he is empowered to return to his place in heaven.”6

I met with a friend Friday for lunch who works with college students at UT Tyler. He told me about a female student that in the last few months had made the decision to leave Christianity. My first reaction was sadness. My second reaction was incredulity… “But doesn’t she know that this is true?” (I’m finding the more that we plumb the depths of Jesus 4 Raymond Brown as referenced in Burge, page 3635 Burge, page 3646 Burge, page 364

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and his ministry in the book of John I personally am more and more compelled to believe that it is true!)

Well there is another observation we should make about how the book of John is organized and how there is a change once we get to these chapters that make up the Book of Glory—chapters 13 through chapters 207. In the first twelve chapters of John, Jesus does a sign and then the significance of that sign is unpacked—sign first, significance of the sign second. Well in the Book of Glory that order is reversed—the sign will be unpacked before the sign occurs. What is the sign in the Book of Glory? What is the only sign in John chapters 13 through 20? It’s the cross. Well Jesus himself will unpack that sign before the cross occurs. This is a helpful observation even in our passage today because the passage seems to go two ways—one writer says the passage has a bifocal application8 (I wear bifocals—one lens helps me see close, one lens helps me see far away.) In the passage Jesus washes the disciples’ feet and he exhorts the disciples to follow his example. That’s one application. But another theme just kind of intrudes into the story—the foot washing event becomes an opportunity to reflect on the cleansing that occurs at the cross. The future sign –the cross—is just kind of unpacked a bit in our story.

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Well we said that Jesus was gathered in the Upper Room with his disciples. As I reflected on John 13 this week, I found myself wondering why John doesn’t tell us anything about the Upper Room itself—how it looked, how it was furnished, how many windows were in the room, what size the room was. I went looking for a picture of the Upper Room—not that the disciples carried I-phones and did selfies—and I found this one ….

…in some of my resources with this brief description: “The upper room of a traditional Middle Eastern house was often the most comfortable room in the dwelling as it was not as dusty as the lower floor. Breezes blew through the upper room more freely than they did through the ground floor of the house. Often this room was specially furnished for guests, and allowing them to stay there showed them great honor”.9

7 Bruner, page 7588 Carson, page 458 “This bifocal application has generated discussion on the structure and provenance of the narrative.”9 Logos images

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Evidently what went on and what was said in the Upper Room was far more important than any details about the room.

Look at verse 1. John 13:1 informs us that Jesus knew that the hour of his departure to go back to the Father had come. (We’ve talked about this word ‘hour’ several times in the book of John. This is the sixth appearance of the word ‘hour’10in the book. The final appearance of this idea will be at the beginning of the great prayer in John 17:1.) Jesus knew his hour had come. We can infer from this fact that Jesus really is in charge. He’s not caught unawares in some terrible circumstances. There are no surprises for him. But verse 1 tells us something else. He really loved the men he was with. He loved them to the end. They were ‘his own’ His love was ‘love to the last breath and love in its highest intensity.’11

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Every so often it’s good to go back to the headwaters of the love we see expressed here in the scriptures. We’ve just read of Jesus’ love for his disciples. He loved them to the end. They were his own. Where does this love start? Where would we go to see s the headwaters so to speak of this love?

I have a book entitled ‘Delighting in the Trinity’ which continues to bless me. The author makes the point that a single-person god like Allah or Buddha really couldn’t be intrinsically loving like the God who is a trinity that we know. (Allah is said to have ninety-nine names, titles which describe him as he is in eternity. One of them is ‘the loving.’ But how could Allah be loving in eternity? Before he created there was nothing in existence that he could love—so he needed creation to be loving. But that would mean that Allah is dependent on his creation and one of the cardinal beliefs of Islam is that Allah is dependent on nothing)…

The author goes on…. “Everything changes when it comes to the Father, Son and Spirit. Here is a God who is not essentially lonely, but who has been loving for all eternity as the Father has loved the Son in the Spirit. Loving others is not a strange or novel thing for this God at all; it is at the root of who he is….The Father has always enjoyed loving another, and so the act of creation by which he creates others to love seems utterly appropriate for him….Creation is about the extension of that love outward so that it might be enjoyed by others. Why is there a creation? The fountain of love brimmed over. The Father so delighted in his Son that his love for him overflowed, so that the Son might be the firstborn among many sons. (Rom. 8:29) Our God does not begrudge having someone else beside him; he enjoys it. He has always enjoyed showering his love on his Son and in creating, he rejoices to shower it on children he loves through His son.”12

10 John 2:4, 7:30, 8:20, 12:23, 27; 13:1 and 17:111 Ridderbos, page 452 eis telos has both temporal and intensive meaning.12 Reeves, “Delighting in the Trinity” pages 41-43

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And so as these special men are gathered in this special place we’re reminded that Jesus loved them.. And the long view is that the fountain of love that God is has sloshed over and these mere humans have been brought into God’s waterpark.

Let me put a chart up on the screen…

This chart serves to highlight the prevalence of certain words in John chapters 1-12 and in John chapters 13-17. The four words that are compared are light, life, love and world

Light and life, pictured by the first two columns on the graph, show up 32 and 50 times, respectively in the first twelve chapters of John. That makes sense doesn’t it? But these words kind of disappear in the Farewell Discourses of Jesus in chapters 13-17. Look if you can at the presence of the word ‘love’. The word ‘love’ however (the third column) shows only six times in John 1-12 and then there is a tsunami so to speak—love shows up 31 times—in John chapters 13-17.13 The fountain that we know as God seems to be bubbling over in these chapters where Jesus is with his disciples.

Well in verse 2, the devil is in the details. (So in the Upper Room there is the Heavenly Father’s representative, Jesus, and there is the Devil’s representative, Judas)

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands…think about the famous words from the Great Commission in Matthew 28… All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me Jesus said…in other words “I’m at the top of every organization chart you could imagine”… the Father has given Jesus all things into his hands….think about Ephesians 1:10 and the plan for the fullness of time to unite, to sum up all things in Jesus….3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God… if ever there was a Hulk moment this was it…are you following what I mean here? Hulk in the comics was an imaginary man who was transformed into a superhero

13 CH Dodd as quoted in Bruner makes these observations, page 752

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at the right provocation…his muscles just bust out and he took care of business and saved the day) ….3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and knowing that he had come from God and knowing that he was going back to God…. Stood to his feet and devastated Judas with a blast of divine wrath14 and said “The Kingdom is Here!”

Couldn’t you see it? Well it didn’t come down that way. Instead Jesus rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments, took the form of a common slave, and he began to wash the disciples’ feet.

It seems that when the disciples arrived at the Upper Room, they must have all pushed past the basin with water and the towel that sat by the door even though they knew the protocol that having walked around on the streets at the time, foot washing was job one when you entered a home. The custom was that there would be a servant there to wash your feet. Well we know the Upper Room was a borrowed room and evidently arrangements had not been made for a servant to do the foot washing when the disciples arrived.15 It was a breach in the normal protocol.

“Foot washing in that culture was (the most) menial of tasks. It involved washing off not just dust and mud but also the remains of human excrement (which was tipped out of houses into the streets) and animal waste (which was left on country roads and town streets).16 The rules were clear. A superior never washed the feet of an inferior. Equals never washed the feet of their equals. And the Mishnah even said that a Jewish slave could not be compelled to wash the feet of his Jewish master. The job was reserved for Gentile slaves or for women and children and pupils.17

Well we know from Luke’s comments about this special night that the disciples weren’t thinking anything about serving each other. At one point Luke says that a dispute broke out among the disciples as to which of them was to be the greatest. Let’s look at Luke 22:24-27 on the screen.

14 These words from Carson, page 46215 The text doesn’t say this but it makes sense that Jesus wasn’t washing the disciples’ feet a second time. McArthur writes (“The Upper Room, page 7-8”) “When Jesus and his disciples arrived in the Upper Room there was no servant to wash their feet. It is not clear whether this was an oversight on the part of the person who owned the room, a failure attributable to one of the hired servants, a quirk of bad timing, or some other cause.”16 Bruner, page 17 Mekhilta 1 on Ex. 21:2 from Carson, page 462

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So the disciples had visions of greatness on their minds rather than visions of humble service. And each of them walked past the basin filled with water by the door.

Look again at verse 3-5.

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

You can imagine that writers throughout the centuries have tried to express the wonder of this moment in words.

Listen to this attempt from the 4th century AD: “He who wraps the heavens in clouds wrapped around himself a towel. He who pours the water into the rivers and pools tipped… water into a basin. And he before whom every knee bends in heaven and on earth and under the earth knelt to wash the feet of his disciples”18

And then these words: “What makes John’s account so extraordinary is that there is no parallel in ancient literature for a person of superior status voluntarily washing the feet of someone of inferior status. Jesus’s act therefore represents an assault on the notions of social hierarchy, a subversion of the normal categories of honor and shame… it is not just an honored teacher who is performing a shameful act but a divine figure with sovereignty over the cosmos who has taken the role of a slave.”19

In times past we’ve talked about the fact that Jesus’s life was parabola shaped. Of course we get this from Philippians 2—Jesus existed in the form of God, but He didn’t regard equality a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men….the downward journey continues… he became obedient to death on a cross.

18 Severian of Gabala (fl. Ca. a.d. 400), “Homily on the Washing of the Feet”19 Bruner, page 762

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The cross is the bottom of the parabola. Therefore God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name….

Some see Jesus’ foot washing action here in John 13 as being the gospel in picture form, or at least a little picture of Jesus’ cross and resurrection.20 Jesus rose from his place and laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel he took the form of a servant and went down. He cleansed his disciple’s feet and then, verse 12, rose up, put on his outer garments and resumed his place. Do you see the parabola in Jesus’ actions? First he’s up, then he descends, then he washes their feet and then it’s back up again. At the base of the parabola, Jesus’ disciples are cleansed.

The picture is even more intriguing when we add John 10:17 from the Good Shepherd story. This is Jesus speaking…

Well Jesus’ act of humility was as unnecessary as it was stunning. It was a profound display of love (vs. 1). But it was also a symbol of saving cleansing (vs. 6-11).

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Peter is incredulous. What Jesus is doing, in his mind, is outrageous. Lord, do you wash my feet? Let me wash my own dirty feet! Let John wash my dirty feet. But you Lord? There is no way!

We’ve got to give Peter some credit here. He’s putting into words what everyone else in the room was thinking (or at least what they should have been thinking). 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Jesus reassures Peter that it makes sense that he doesn’t understand now. He

20 Bruner, page 756

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then tells Peter that after his death and resurrection (and probably after the descent of the Spirit) he will understand.

8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” (Notice in verse 8, the word “Lord” has dropped out… it’s hard to say ‘No Lord’) Peter said to him “You shall never wash my feet.” Peter speaks as strongly in the Greek as he can. (“Not, not will you ever wash my feet-- forever.”) 21 Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

As Jesus says “if I do not wash you, you have no share with me”, Jesus is shifting the meaning of what he is doing here. He’s moving from cleaning dirty feet to cleaning dirty heartsSinners need to be cleansed by the washing of regeneration. Sinners need to be cleansed by the washing that Jesus offers.

What Jesus said to Peter is always true. “Unless the Lamb of God has taken away a person’s sin, (unless the Lamb of God ) has washed that person, he or she can have no part with him.”22

Unless the Lamb of God washes away our sins by His atoning death we can have no real relationship to Him.23

9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

Notice the word ‘bathed’ in verse 10. It’s a different word than the word that shows up all over our passage which is translated ‘wash’. Let me say that again a bit differently. The word bathed, one Greek word, is used only in verse 10. The word washed, another Greek word, is used throughout our passage—Look it’s in verses 5, and 6, and 8 (twice), and verse 10, and verse 12, and verse 14 (twice). And the question is, “Is there a distinction between bathed and washed?”24 Using what Jesus says in verse 10 I’ve probably always thought there was—the one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet. And so I assumed Jesus was teaching that we get a full bath when we trust Christ but we need some 1 John 1:9 washing/cleansing regularly because we still sin. Now even though that’s true I don’t think that’s what verse 10 is teaching.

21 Bruner, page 76522 Carson, page 46423 Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 320). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.24 Carson, page 465, makes a case that John is fond of using pairs of verbs synonymously and the distinction between the words is often ignored by helenistic writers.

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Here’s what I think Jesus is doing here. I think Jesus is saying that if He doesn’t wash us, verse 8, we have no relationship with him. And again Jesus is unpacking the sign that is coming before the sign arrives. He’s unpacking the cross and the cleansing that it brings. And then because of Peter’s exuberance, verse 9—‘Give me the deluxe wash! Wash all of me!’ …Jesus turns the foot washing picture to make another point. The new point in verse 10 is that once we have the initial cleansing that comes at salvation, we’re clean—“the fundamental cleansing that Christ provides is a once-for-all act”25.

And you are clean but not every one of you. 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” Jesus knew that Judas was still in his sins. Jesus knew that Judas had not accepted the Word. The only other place in the fourth gospel ‘where Jesus tells his disciples (minus Judas) that they are clean is John 15:3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken.” 26

“Real cleansing is effected both through Jesus’ Word and through the atoning sacrifice to which the foot washing pointed.”27

So the foot washing was an act of love (verse 1). It was also a symbol of the cleansing that Jesus’ death would provide (verses 6-11). Its’ also an example for us to follow, (vs. 12-17).

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

(Now there are some denominations that practice foot washing “as a Christian sacrament on par with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper”28. Why don’t we take Christ’s command literally? Two reasons. First, there is not another place in the New Testament where foot washing is treated as an ordinance. Quoting Don Carson here—“Wise theologians have always been reluctant to raise to the level of a universal rite something that appears only once in scripture.”29 And secondly, it seems that the heart of Jesus’ command is a ‘humility and a helpfulness’ that could be completely lost in an outward ‘rite’30

25 Carson, page 46526 Carson, page 46627 Carson, page 466. 28 Carson, page 46829 Carson, page 46830 Carson, page 468

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16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

We won’t be blessed if we know them.We won’t be blessed if we write a paper about them.We won’t be blessed if we preach a good sermon about themWe’ll be blessed if we do them.

Christian happiness (you will be blessed) comes through obedient service (if you do them, i.e., these things Jesus commanded).31

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Let’s return to the punch line that we started with---Let’s give ourselves to humble service. What could it look like in a marriage? What could it look like in families? What could it look like in church? What could it look like as our two mission teams go out to Haiti and Kentucky this summer? (Now with respect to this last question—what could it look like as our two mission teams go out to Haiti and Kentucky this summer? — I wrestled a bit with the question, “Who are to be recipients of our humble service?” Is it to be the believers only? I mean verse 14 does say that we ought to wash one another’s feet so the point could be made that this is a challenge for believers as they relate with each other. Or is the audience for our humble service to be the world at large?

So I pondered some other scriptures…

Are we to be slaves of one another only or are we to be slaves of all? Mark 10:44 says slaves of all.

Are we to do good to one another only or are we to do good to all? Galatians 6:10 says, 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

I don’t think we can keep our humble service to ourselves and honor the Lord.

What could it look like to give ourselves to humble service? I was reminded of the story of Dr. Robertson McQuilken who left the presidency of Columbia Bible College and Seminary to care for his wife who had Alzheimer’s. He left the presidency of the school to care for her full time. And then I was reminded of the story of Henri Nouwen a catholic theologian who chose to work in L’Arche, a facility for mentally impaired people. He had been washed by people so he was washing other’s feet.32

31 Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 320). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.32 Both of these illustrations were in Burge’s commentary

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One author has these suggestions—“good listening in conversation, good hospitality with visitors, guests, and callers, good attention to customers, clients, students and colleagues in business and work, good presence with spouse and children, good ‘being there at your service’ as a whole way of life—these and hundreds of other daily responsibilities and privileges are wonderfully pictured by Jesus’ foot washing gift.”33

I must say I was amazed at how many illustrations of foot care showed up associated with this passage. One time the famous preacher D.L. Moody was found cleaning the shoes of a bunch of ministers who came in for a conference in Chicago. The regular servants who did the cleaning were sick as I remember and Moody woke up early to do the job. Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, once hiked with a Taiwanese pastor back into one of the mountain villages to meet with some of the national Christians. The roads and trails were wet, and their shoes became very muddy. Later, someone asked this Taiwanese pastor what he remembered most about Dawson Trotman. Without hesitation the man replied, "He cleaned my shoes."34 Latin American theologian Rene Padilla remembers vividly one of his early encounters with John Stott. On the previous night the two of them had arrived in Argentina in the middle of a heavy rain. The street was muddy and, as a result, by the time they got to the room that had been assigned to them, their shoes were covered with mud. In the morning, as Padilla woke up, he heard the sound of a brush—Stott was busy, brushing his shoes. "John!," Padilla exclaimed full of surprise, "What are you doing?" "My dear René," he responded, "Jesus taught us to wash each other's feet. You do not need me to wash your feet , but I can brush your shoes."35

Perhaps as we give ourselves to other in humble service, there is something we can do for their feet.

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Let’s hear Jesus’s words a fresh, “For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you.”

And let’s be reminded afresh that we’re not called to do anything that our Lord hasn’t done first and given us the grace to do.

And let’s hear afresh that happiness comes when we obey.

Here one final time the words of Albert Schweitzer… “One thing I know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”36

33 Bruner, page 77334 Jerry Bridges, "Loving By Serving," Discipleship Journal (May/June 1985)

35 Tim Stafford, "John Stott Has Died," Christianity Today (7-27-11)36 Albert Schweitzer, missionary doctor, 1875-1965. Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 2.

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