“Jesus got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him”. John 13:4-5

One of the most poignant scenes of scripture is when Jesus kneels to wash the feet of his disciples. While it may be tempting to rush past this event, to hear the words of institution or go with Christ to Gethsemane, we would do well to sit and observe the Lord’s humble action.  John records that in this small action Jesus offered “the full extent of his love.”

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power.  His time had finally come. Jesus had arrived at the time where his victory and kingship would be revealed. Yet, instead of a thunderous expression of strength and divine might, Jesus silently gets up from the table. In an act of audacious humility, Jesus takes off his outer clothing, wraps a towel around himself, and begins to wash the disciples’ feet.  Just as the divine glory is set aside in the incarnation, here, the glory of Christ’s own humanity, as Rabbi, Messiah, and King, is set aside in service to the disciples. The love of Jesus reaches down to the lowest place of life to redeem and to heal.

What the disciples must have thought as this occurred.  Did they try to gussy themselves up in that moment?  Did Andrew try to pre-emptively wipe off the dust? Did Bartholomew slyly dump water on his feet so they would not be as dirty when Jesus approached?  We know that Peter initially rejected the offering.

Do we attempt to cover the dirt before him who comes to wash us?  Do we ever attempt to mask the hurts, the mistakes, the sins? Like tidying up before the house cleaners come, we sometimes try to cover over the messiness of our lives, lest Jesus see our truest needs.  Yet if we do so, we miss out on the fullness of Christ’s love.  For that lowest of places, that place of deepest need, is the very place where Jesus offers us the fullness of his love.  All that is required of us is to receive.

feature scene mountain sun devotional


“While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22 (ESV)

As I walked around the block recently it occurred to me, as someone who is closer to the end than the beginning of life, how I have changed my horizons.

I prepare, plan ahead, and I look to the future, but, I find that now I appreciate the constant and the good in the present far more than I did in the earlier years of my life. Then I seemed “indestructible” and now I find that I am more prone to breaking. Now I know that the future can be changed by what happens today, then I was always looking to tomorrow. What I feel is impossible today, I have found that by rest and prayer tomorrow, or soon after, God will show me how to overcome, or provide a change of heart within to go through it.

My understanding of Jesus has changed since I was sixteen but I know He is still the Creator Spirit of God that moved across the water in the beginning. I believe He will still be there to roll up the heavens and earth at the end of time itself. A constant, like gravity, a rule that I take for granted by which I live out my daily existence. Without the influence of God in me, I would no longer be the Me that I am used to being!

So in all things I attempt, because sometimes I fail for a time, to see Jesus with me in what life brings me day by day. However, more importantly I look to see His influence within me because even when I cannot see it I know He is with me.

Hebrews 13:8:- “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Matthew 10:28 (ESV):- “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body.

All things are relative!

LORD, we rejoice that You have always been the same. You are always there as we come to You in the Name of Jesus. Have mercy on us and forgive us the past so that we can know Your presence with us today and on into our future. Amen.