Who Is The Greatest?
Fear Not - Part 4
Sunday, March 14, 2021
John 13:1-17, Luke 22:24-27
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”
John 13:8
For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
Luke 22:27
We love sitting around the table talking about Jesus and even talking with Jesus in prayer. We sometimes feel like the disciples, members of Jesus’ inner circle, having the privilege of traveling and dining with our Savior and soaking in all of his wisdom along the way.
What happens though when Jesus gets up from the table, takes off his outer robe, and kneels down to wash our feet? If Peter is any indication, my guess is we would become very uncomfortable. It would probably feel a lot like a dinner guest getting up in our home to do the dishes. That’s not their place. They are the honored guest.
We talk a lot about being like Mary, sitting at Jesus’ feet to listen and to worship, but there are also times when Jesus puts on an apron and joins Martha in the kitchen as though he were a household servant. In our desire to sit comfortably at the table with Jesus, I wonder what we are missing out on while Jesus is working in the kitchen, scrubbing dishes or floors or even our feet. Do we even notice that the one who is serving us may just be the very face of Christ in our midst?
When we are at the table, we are in control. We live in a culture where even the average person can have any number of servants at our disposal in a given day. There are cashiers and restaurant staff who we interact with everyday. There is the person who makes our coffee and the one who hands it out the drive-thru window. There are even people who will deliver anything we want right to our door at the touch of a button our phone and we never even have to interact with them. It is so easy to take people in the service industry for granted. It is as if they have just become part of the larger machine that makes our lives easier, but we give little thought to what their lives are like. We don’t see them as people. We don’t know their hurts or their struggles or even their joys. We don’t know what their families are like or even if they have families at all. They are just “servants” and so long as they are serving our needs, we remain comfortable and in control.
What does it tell us about servants when Jesus chooses to be among them?
Perhaps it’s time to switch seats. Perhaps it’s time to follow Jesus’ example and trade in our seat at the table for a towel and a basin of water to serve someone else. Who knows, maybe we might even have an opportunity to serve those who have invisibly served us for so long. Wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace for someone who is so used to working for almost nothing and being looked over?
It’s amazing how much harm we inflict on others, often unintentionally or unknowingly, when we are afraid of losing control. But if we let go of control willingly and offer someone else our seat at the table, there is nothing to fear, because there is no fear in love.
Who is God calling you to serve this week?
What control will you have to give up in the process?
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
Video of the complete worship service available at http://asburyumc-huntersville.com/live