The god of the towel

          What a humbling event it must have been for the apostles as they gathered with Jesus in the upper room on the night before His

crucifixion.  Although Jesus had spelled out what awaited Him (Mt.16:21), there seems to be little doubt that the apostles remained in a state of  denial - - unwilling to contemplate and unable to comprehend that Jesus was actually going to be crucified.  The apostles  had walked with Jesus for three and a half years, but were still slow to grasp the servant heart of their Master.  He had come to do the will of the Father and there would be no turning back.  Jesus “resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem” (cf. Lk.9:51 with Mk.10:33-34).

          Meanwhile, just hours before convening in the upper room, the disciples were making selfish requests: “grant that we may sit in Your glory, one of Your right, and one on Your left” (Mk.10:37).  Even more striking is Luke’s account of what happened during The Last Supper:  “there arose a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be the greatest” (Lk.22:24).  Yet Jesus “loved them to the end” (Jn.13:1b).  Our Lord “rose from the supper, laid aside His outer garments and girded Himself with a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (Jn.13:4-5).  With a posture that reflected the very incarnation event itself, Jesus acted out a sermon that they would never forget.  “He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant” (Philp.2:7).  What a picture - - - God in the flesh steps down from His seat and lays aside His (regal) robe to wash feet.  The King bows to his subjects.  The Master kneels to become a servant.

          After the apostles had their feet washed and dried by Jesus, He asked them, “Do you know what I have done to you?” (Jn.13:12).

Do we??  “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (Jn.15:13).  Even more amazing is the realization that while we were yet sinners and while we were enemies, CHRIST DIED FOR US (Rom.5:8-10).  Could anything be more awesome?

                                                                                              Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ