A
Footwasher to the Footwashers
by
Ken Barnes
My
Boys Are Good Boys
The
mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, respectfully approached Jesus. She
had what she thought was a small request. “In your kingdom, please let my two sons sit
in places of honor next to you, one on the right and the other on the left”
(Matt. 20:21 NLT). Many have noted that only a Jewish mother could make such a
request. She wasn’t asking much, only that one could be the assistant savior
and the other the associate Lord. Jesus must have thought that he had heard it
all now.
Jesus
pondered for a few seconds, and then gazed into their eyes with a look of loving
rebuke. “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the
bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” James and John confidently chimed in, “Oh yes, . . . we are able!” (v. 22). Their response proved they were pretty
“clueless in Judea”.
The
other ten disciples looked at each other in disbelief; they could not believe their
ears. Mama had been politicking for her sons. They were beside themselves and
reacted with indignation. (v. 24). They were indignant probably because they
wanted those positions themselves. Pride and vanity have a tendency to bring to
the surface more pride and vanity. So, we see the picture. The disciples were jockeying for position and working one-upmanship. They were a pretty ratty bunch.
The
First Shall Be Last and the Last, First
Talk
about a teachable moment. Jesus, the master teacher, was not going to miss this
opportunity. He hurriedly called them together and said, “You know that the
rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their
authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever
wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be
first among you must become your slave” (v. 25-27).
Wow,
what a paradigm change. You can just imagine the puzzled looks on their faces. He
had just described to them an upside-down leadership style. If you want to be a
leader, become a servant; do what others are not willing to do. If you want to
be first among the leaders, become a slave (a bond servant). Not embraced with
a legalistic obligation, but born of a free choice motivated by love. In this
commitment there was no free agency; it was a lifetime of voluntary indentured
service.
Remember,
the Pharisees perpetrated the model of religious leadership of the day. They
loved the best place in the synagogue. They loved to be noticed in the market
place. “Hello, Rabbi.” The disciples also must have been tempted to think; it will be nice when our movement succeeds
to have the best seats and have people affectionately say, “greetings, men of
God”. But after this little
discourse by Jesus, they might have been thinking, maybe I should rethink my commitment to this leadership thing.
Finally,
Jesus revealed to them the hinge that would support this radical service. That hinge
would be the willingness to give up their lives. “For even the Son of Man came
not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many”
(v. 28). At the core of all authentic service is always a relinquishment. No,
for most of us it will not be our physical lives, but in true service there is
always the aspect of giving up what we want, to do what he wants. How did this
teaching go over with his disciples? Let’s fast-forward to the end of Jesus’
ministry on earth to answer this question.
The
Secret Weapon
The
scene is the last Passover meal that Jesus would share with the men he had
picked to carry on his work here on earth. He looked at his disciples with love
in his heart, but understood that they are still a needy bunch. He needed an
object lesson that would demonstrate the leadership principles previously
outlined. His disciples had been with him three and a half years. “Look, the
Lord is doing it again, another miracle”, they exclaimed. “That little girl is
breathing again. He just touched his mouth and the man could speak. Amazing,
even the seas obey him.” They had seen
it all; yet, it hadn’t brought the change in their lives the Lord had sought. He
needed a secret weapon that would not only change them, but also be a tool to
reach the world. This was the last interaction with his disciples to etch upon
their minds the image by which he was to be remembered. What would it be?
They
have just finished eating and every eye in the room was trained on Jesus. He reached down for a servant’s towel and they gasped.
The disciples, with wide-open eyes and puzzled faces, thought; what is he doing? “Before the Passover
celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return
to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now
he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had
already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that
the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from
God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe,
wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began
to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him”
(John 13:1-5 NLT).
That
night he must have shaken the very Espirit de Corp of Hell. Demons must have
shuttered when they pondered what would happen if this mindset replaced the
mentality of the world—this system of the world that is under the “power of the
evil one” (1 John 5:19), which says you are important according to position,
possessions, or posture in life. Jesus blew a hole right in the center of this mentality
by the most valuable taking the role of the least valuable.
A
Footwasher to the Footwashers
I
worked with Youth With a Mission (YWAM) for 17 years, eight of those in Kona,
Hawaii, where Loren and Darlene Cunningham, co-founders of YWAM, lived. On
several occasions I heard Darlene say that God had called her to be a
“footwasher to the footwashers.” When Loren needed to be away to take care of
the vast responsibilities God had given him, Darlene was home taking care of
the children, always with a positive attitude. I watched her spend untold hours
counseling and encouraging those of us who were called to “stay with the stuff.”
We needed encouragement. Being logistical workers and not directly reaching the
lost, we sometimes viewed ourselves as second-class missionaries. Darlene
encouraged us by speaking worth and value into our lives both in relation to
who we were and what we did. Through her life and example, she helped us esteem
the high position of service to which God had called us.
I
think we might be a bit surprised when God gives out rewards for our earthly
deeds (Matt. 16:27). We might find high on his list of tasks, child-rearing responsibilities,
washing socks, or wives championing their husbands even though it placed them
out of the glow of the limelight. I would not be the least bit surprised if on
that day we have some shocked men (unlike Loren who always honored Darlene)
when they finally realize that in serving God, it is not the height of the task
or even its breadth that impresses God. It is the depth of our love for Christ
that motivates us to serve, which catches the eye of our Father. To the many faithful
spouses of ministry leaders I say: the eyes of the Lord are upon you, and he is
impressed.
And,
of course, our honor and service must go first to Jesus Christ, the ultimate
footwasher to the footwashers.
Ken Barnes the author of “The ChickenFarm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM
Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
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