A Choice To Serve

“What do you want your family, friends and colleagues to say about you at your funeral?”

I was in a mandatory staff workshop, hoping the time would pass quickly. But this question got my attention.

I thought about the list of achievements and accolades I hoped to accomplish by the end of my life … But in the end, this is what I hoped people would say: “Kia was a loving mother, a devoted wife and a faithful friend.”

The goal of this exercise was to help participants focus on living with the end in view. I believe this also may have been Jesus’ mindset on Holy Thursday.

Jesus knew His time on earth was limited. He could have used the day before His death to recount the miracles He had performed, review parables He wanted His disciples to remember, or list the people He had healed.

But instead of making the end of His life about Himself, He made it about others:

“So he 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, NIV).

When Jesus removed His outer garment, revealing the robe closest to His skin, He demonstrated unusual vulnerability. His outer robe identified Him as a rabbi, but He exchanged that title for the title of slave or servant, someone who washed the feet of a wealthy master when he returned home from traveling.

Washing feet was not the job of a Savior, but Jesus willingly did it — even for Judas, who would betray Him, and the disciples who would disown Him. He washed their dirty, dusty, smelly feet — which walked everywhere in open-toed sandals — as a selfless act of love and servitude.