Jesus washed the disciples feet..what was He saying through that act of servanthood and humility? I love what my friend Woolly hears Him saying to us in that act:
“You might not understand what I’m doing now, but you will, you’ll get
it yet. See, a person’s feet get dirty from the journey that they are
on, but not the rest of him/her. By what I’m doing here on this Earth,
living and dying for you, I’m going to show you that you are already
clean and that you’ll only get dirty from the journey that you’re on.
While
you’re on your journey through this world you’ll feel pretty dirty on
the outside, all of those outside bits, the bits that are outside of
your heart, outside of that special place where we already are One.
Those bits that are subject to the troubles of this world, your faults,
your failings and how you feel because of your circumstances or
upbringing or religion or culture, all of the things which are put upon
you by forces outside of your control, they’ll all make you feel
unclean, but you’ll come back to me and I’ll make you clean once again.
I
want you to go and live and whenever you get dirty, go and find me in
each other and let them clean you up once again, let them remind you of
who you really are deep down underneath all the layers, all of the dirt.
If you can, go and find me in a still place and remember who you are,
who I say you are. And don’t worry, I’ll see you again, one day all the
layers will fall away once again and you’ll plainly see that there was
nothing to fear all along the way.”
Isn't this such a relief to know? The dirt and grime we see, that makes us feel we are so dirty, is only outer muck and unrelated to the treasure we truly are beneath. Through it all, we've never been anything but clean and holy deep down. Jesus knew that all along, and He makes sure we know it, too. To realize this in the ultimate way is to truly know that "There was nothing to fear all along the way.." :)
The cross forever stands as our proof of
God's love and our value to Him in the face of any accusation or lying
voice of condemnation or shame...for He says we're worth dying for,
we're loved no matter what we do, we can't drive Him away no matter how
we act, He's for us, on our side, to do us good, no matter what, forever
and always! Committed, faithful, unconditional, nonjudgmental,
generous, self-sacrificing, other-centered, 100% pure LOVE! That's what
He is, and the cross is our proof that it is so! Hallelujah!