| |
Passion Displayed Contribution
by: C. Gene Wilkes
A Devotion from A 40 Day Experience - Extreme Love: The
Greatest Commandment, Day 13.
God calls us to fellowship in His suffering so self can find
its way to the cross. Joy inexplicable resides in sacrifice
of self (see Phil. 3:10).
The night before the crucifixion, the disciples didn’t
know the depth of His passion. Some were expecting a coronation.
Some saw the eve of a battle or revolution. Only Jesus knew.
He knew that the time had come for him to experience the greatest
pain and deepest emotion any human had ever experienced or
ever would. At this time of His greatest need, Jesus got up
from the feast and wrapped a towel around His waist.
Imagine the reactions. “Master, please sit down! What
are You doing? You’re our leader. Put the towel back
on the rack.” Jesus poured water into a basin.
“Wait a minute, Jesus. We’ve seen You visit
with lepers, Samaritans, and children. We’ve seen You
spit in mud and deliver deranged demoniacs, but this is really
uncalled for. You don’t have to prove anything to us.”
Jesus knelt at the feet of one whose feet were callused,
scarred, and dusty from years
of travel, and He began to wash them. A silence fell over
the room. Only the sound of the water, the basin, the rag,
and an occasional sob from those to whom He ministered.
He came to Peter, who adamantly refused, “No! You shall
never wash my feet.”
Jesus whispered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part
with Me.”
When Jesus finished washing the disciples’ feet, he
said: “Do you understand what
I have done for you? You call Me ‘Teacher’ and
‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what
I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your
feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have
set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Son of God, Lord of the universe—approaching His greatest
time of human need, His greatest moment of sacrifice—Jesus
served with love, sorrow, passion. A passion for service.
A passion for care. A passion for people. “Who, being
in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature
of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found
in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:6-8,
NIV).
Who will follow His leading? To serve out of passion, the
passion portrayed that night—with a towel, a basin,
water, and holy hands. Passion.
Spend some time today reading the Scriptures referred to
above:
John 13:1-17; Philippians 2:5-11; 3:10.
_____________________
C. Gene Wilkes is pastor, Legacy Drive Baptist Church, Plano,
Texas. He is the author of Jesus on Leadership: Developing
Servant Leaders (ISBN 0805493514).
|
|
