Frontline Devotion for Friday, March 24, 2006 by Mike Martine

John 13: 1-17

As a person who has what my wife calls “the ugliest feet on the planet” I can truly appreciate this passage.

Most of us know that washing the feet of another person is pretty gross. Couple this with the fact that streets and pathways in the time of Christ were filled with animal, and sometimes human, excrement and you have a recipe for the “really gross.”

All of this makes the example that Jesus, the teacher, sets hard to ignore. He takes a task that would normally be given only to a slave (a low-ranking, non-Jewish slave at that!) and does it himself. It is an example of love and humility few of us can imagine emulating.

Our society seems to loathe humility. We are far more concerned with our rights, getting our own way, and “standing up for ourselves.” But Jesus demonstrates here that the way of the servant is actually God’s way.

How can we serve our neighbors? That’s the question this lesson teaches us to ask. How can we make life better for others?

My prayer is that, as we travel the path of self-denial to the cross with our Lord, we will come to understand that it is also the path of freedom. May we learn to serve as Christ served. May we learn to give as Christ lived. And may we find, in all of this, the peace he has promised. AMEN.

All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world.  Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily.  Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback.  Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org.

Visit the Frontline Devotions Archives