“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end… [He] rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him… Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me…’
“When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done to you?.. I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him…
“After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me…’
‘Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another… Will you lay down your life for me?'” John 13:1,4-5,8b,12,15-16,21,34b,38a
Jesus knew what lay imminently ahead. His excruciating death loomed, but love loomed nearer, and it compelled Him to the nitty gritty with His disciples. No fanfare, no going-away attention or fêted applause, His was to the end a position of servitude to His Father and friends. Whatever it took to finish His every lesson and work on earth was His joy and glory.
The way of Jesus is steady, life-giving love to the end. From His initial condescension from glory to be born in a manger, His way was kneeling, taking the low place, unceasing self-expenditure, serving, doing the necessary and dirty work. Indeed, He came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as the deepest expression and example of love. Every loving act as He walked earth’s dust led to the dirtiest work of all when He bore the ugliness, evil, shame, repulsion, and horror of our sin on the cross. (Isaiah 53:2-11; Matthew 20:28)
For us, nearing the completion of a task often carries with it a sense of exhilaration or euphoria, desire for notice, desert of reward, or mere exhaustion. The work itself has consumed, so there’s great aplomb with the finish. Certainly no more can be spent or given.
Have we truly applied the dirty work of Christ? Have we been stunned and brought to humble gratitude by what He’s done on our behalf? Have we allowed Him to wash the grime of strange affections, temper, self-absorption, greed, and worldly fetishes off our feet? If so, our cleanliness should bear a distinction in daily decisions and interactions with others.
Do I reach a point too often where I want another to do the dirty work? Where do I insist on being served rather than serving? Does self-care or laziness compel over love? How do we respond to opportunities to humble ourselves for the sake of others? Even when we are spent, if we cherish and implement Jesus’s example of surrender we surely experience His supernatural blessing.
Lord, make me willing to do dirty work that exhibits and magnifies Your grace and love.
As the rain and snow 