John 13: 1-20)
By Kim Thoday
In the New Testament, what are some of the different ways people see Jesus? How was Jesus understood, in his life and in the life of the early Churches? Some of the characters and writers used well known socio-religious and political categories and titles for Jesus. Some of the categories did not fit so well. Albert Schwietzer, at the beginning of the 19th century, rightly said that the greatest trap for each theological generation is the tendency to create Jesus in its’ own image.
The true nature of the Church has always been tied directly to the person of Jesus Christ. However, get the Christological question wrong and you are likely to muck up the question of ecclesiology.
Amongst some of the great legacies we have in the Christian Church are the Gospel narratives. These stories, when evangelistically recast, have the power to break though our presuppositions and re-connect us with the person of Jesus Christ. We must learn to proclaim the stories afresh in our postmodern cultures and sub-cultures.
Gospel stories such as the Jesus washing the feet of the disciples are as important as ever for Christian identity and praxis in the world today. We need to learn to read ourselves and our congregations into these stories. We need to allow the stories to interpret us. Do the core values of our Churches flow from the person of Jesus as we encounter him, and he us, through our rigorous biblical reflection, study, discussion, praxis and prayer?
Many of the Gospel narratives present Jesus, in a variety of ways, as in the service of humanity. What a concept! Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, God incarnate, God in the position of a servant. John’s depiction of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet has often been presented in a sanitised and sentimentalised way: illustrating his kindness or humility. Well yes but … its also one of the great demonstrations of greatness and true discipleship.
In this story, Jesus becomes the model and facilitator of service par excellence. When the disciples gather to celebrate the Passover, none of them want to do the slave’s chore, and wash the dirty feet of his friends. So Jesus gives them – and us – an object-lesson in greatness. He removes his cloak, takes a towel, fills a basin with water, and starts to move slowly around the group, washing their feet, and wiping them with the towel. This was unheard of because in Hebrew culture only slaves washed another’s feet. In the dramatic silence that day only the embarrassed breathing and the trickle of water could be heard. Here is God incarnate, stripping himself to wash the feet of his proud friends! Here is God, prepared to get grubby in concrete service. Here is God, touching a part of another’s body that was taboo for anyone of respect. Here is God, who loves his people so much, he is willing to humiliate himself to demonstrate the degree of that love. This is true greatness in the Kingdom of God.
In the narrative, once Jesus has finished the washing of his friends’ feet he asks them do they understand what has been done? One question we need to be asking is: do we understand what Jesus has done for us in light of his whole ministry and his death and Resurrection? He says to his disciples that their task now is to wash the feet of one another. What does he mean by this? What did he mean then; what does he mean for us now? What are the implications for Christian discipleship? What will it mean for us to wash one another’s feet; to get grubby for the Gospel; to be humiliated for Him?
Martin Luther King Jnr once said:
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato or Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
Blessings,
KIM THODAY, HEWETT COMMUNITY CHURCH OF CHRIST, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Humiliating Greatness (John 13: 1-20)
By Kim Thoday
In the New Testament, what are some of the different ways people see Jesus? How was Jesus understood, in his life and in the life of the early Churches? Some of the characters and writers used well known socio-religious and politically categories and titles for Jesus. Some of the categories did not fit so well. Albert Schwietzer, at the beginning of the 19th century, rightly said that the greatest trap for each theological generation is the tendency to create Jesus in its’ own image.
The true nature of the Church has always been tied directly to the person of Jesus Christ. However, get the Christological question wrong and you are likely to muck up the question of ecclesiology.
Amongst some of the great legacies we have in the Christian Church are the Gospel narratives. These stories, when evangelistically recast, have the power to break though our presuppositions and re-connect us with the person of Jesus Christ. We must learn to proclaim the stories afresh in our postmodern cultures and sub-cultures.
Gospel stories such as the Jesus washing the feet of the disciples are as important as ever for Christian identity and praxis in the world today. We need to learn to read ourselves and our congregations into these stories. We need to allow the stories to interpret us. Do the core values of our Churches flow from the person of Jesus as we encounter him, and he us, through our rigorous biblical reflection, study, discussion, praxis and prayer?
Many of the Gospel narratives present Jesus, in a variety of ways, as in the service of humanity. What a concept! Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, God incarnate, God in the position of a servant. John’s depiction of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet has often been presented in a sanitised and sentimentalised way: illustrating his kindness or humility. Well yes but … its also one of the great demonstrations of greatness and true discipleship.
In this story, Jesus becomes the model and facilitator of service par excellence. When the disciples gather to celebrate the Passover, none of them want to do the slave’s chore, and wash the dirty feet of his friends. So Jesus gives them – and us – an object-lesson in greatness. He removes his cloak, takes a towel, fills a basin with water, and starts to move slowly around the group, washing their feet, and wiping them with the towel. This was unheard of because in Hebrew culture only slaves washed another’s feet. In the dramatic silence that day only the embarrassed breathing and the trickle of water could be heard. Here is God incarnate, stripping himself to wash the feet of his proud friends! Here is God, prepared to get grubby in concrete service. Here is God, touching a part of another’s body that was taboo for anyone of respect. Here is God, who loves his people so much, he is willing to humiliate himself to demonstrate the degree of that love. This is true greatness in the Kingdom of God.
In the narrative, once Jesus has finished the washing of his friends’ feet he asks them do they understand what has been done? One question we need to be asking is: do we understand what Jesus has done for us in light of his whole ministry and his death and Resurrection? He says to his disciples that their task now is to wash the feet of one another. What does he mean by this? What did he mean then; what does he mean for us now? What are the implications for Christian discipleship? What will it mean for us to wash one another’s feet; to get grubby for the Gospel; to be humiliated for Him?
Martin Luther King Jnr once said:
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato or Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
Blessings,
KIM THODAY, HEWETT COMMUNITY CHURCH OF CHRIST, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
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