After spending a long hot day outside in dusty fields, traversing dirt roads along with 5,000 other people, that right there will most certainly give you dirty feet!
Here is a photo of our feet once we made it back to the hotel that evening.
Though I was exhausted, there was absolutely no way I was crawling into a nice clean bed with those dirty feet! First things first … those feet MUST be washed!!
It’s one thing to read about Jesus’s ministry while sitting in my comfy home. It’s a totally different thing to actually have filthy dirty feet from walking all day in dusty fields and along dusty roads.
It gives you an entirely new perspective when it comes to Jesus washing his 12 Disciples’ feet!
How would you like to wash 12 pairs of feet just like this??
When it came to Jesus washing 12 sets of filthy dirty feet, it probably would have required more than just one pan of water. More than likely it would have required a pan of clean water for each person’s feet.
Have you ever carried water? It’s heavy … and it’s cumbersome … and it splashes out all over you if you’re not careful.
Now imagine the time and effort it would take to one-by-one wash all the dust and grime off 12 people’s feet … carefully carrying outside the filthy water after each one … and carefully carrying back inside fresh clean water for the next set of feet.
Jesus washing his Disciples feet was a huge gift to them. It was a gift which took time! It was a gift which took effort and energy! It was a gift which required selflessness and humility.
When Jesus told his Disciples to do the same (John 13:1-5) he wasn’t literally meaning for us all to go around literally washing each other’s feet. In our society today, that would be downright awkward.
Jesus was referring to needs. Needs … all around us, in plain sight.
Meeting the needs of others will take time.
Meeting the needs of others will require effort and energy.
Meeting the needs of others will require selflessness and humility.
The Feeding of the 5K experience was one of “washing each other’s feet.” From Dallas and the film team, to all the crew volunteers in their bright blue T-shirts, to all the many everyday heroes who “Paid it Forward”, to all the 5K extras who went to great effort just to be there: everyone gave freely of their time, everyone generously expended effort and energy, and the entire experience was one of selflessness and humility.
The Feeding of the 5K experience is now over … yet the lessons remain.
Every day … all around us … there are needs, in plain sight.
Whose “feet” can you “wash”?
#thechosen
