The other morning I read about a minister uncomfortable with going to a foot washing service. He was okay with washing someone's feet, but having his own feet washed was way outside his comfort zone. Frankly, I imagine it's way outside most guys' comfort zones. (For an example, see Pr. Phil's blog: http://livingthelectionary.blogspot.com/2010/02/lent-1c-romans-105-15.html) Women too, while they may be okay with getting a pedicure, might be more hesitant about having their feet washed in the context of Christ washing his disciples' feet.
What is it that makes us so uncomfortable with being served by one we esteem greater than ourselves? Maybe it's because we like order in our lives, and order generally means the greatest are first and the least are, well, last. But Jesus spent his life upsetting just that kind of thinking. He was always disturbing the status quo. Love your enemies, be kind to those who do you harm, care for those who care nothing for you. Jesus was a man of contradictions. Or so it would seem. Do we presume to understand how God's plan for this universe began? What order did he establish with the creation of man and woman in the Garden of Eden except to form them from the same flesh to care for one another and all his other creations? By allowing themselves to be seduced by evil, they turned God's intended order upside down. So the order we know and that seems to make sense to us is not right. Those who know and love Jesus Christ already realize and accept that truth. But knowing and accepting a truth and living it are not the same thing.
How do we live God's truth? How do we live a right-side-up life in an upside-down world? It was impossible until God recreated his order through the flesh and blood of his Son. He sent this most perfect, upright being into the most imperfect upside-down world to teach us. Jesus, God on the inside and man on the outside walked the earth, worked, ate, drank, slept, laughed, wept, talked, mourned, celebrated, prayed, shared, taught, and did all the ordinary things we do every day. But there was one thing that Jesus did without ceasing. He loved. He loved without fear or judgment, and he loved with complete abandon and total commitment. That is the order he created, the commandment that he gave us, the example that he lived. Love the Lord our God with all our strength, with all our heart and with all our mind. Love as he has first loved us. Love one another as we have been loved. Love our neighbors, love our enemies, love the unlovable, it's all the same. There is no order beyond that, beyond love, and that is the truth that Jesus brought back into the world.
A long time ago man let go of that truth and gave himself up to doubt and sin. It took God coming into the world and taking on the body of a man to bring the truth back to us. He suffered, died and descended into the hell of doubt and darkness, taking us with him. But that doubt and darkness could never hold him, never hold the truth of God's love. Jesus, perfect lamb of God, shrugged off death like a cloak, and rose from the grave, bringing us back with him. Back to God's order, back to life and love and a world where we are meant to care for each other and all of God's creation. Jesus, God on the inside but man on the outside, turned himself inside out and became God on the outside with a heart for all mankind on the inside. That is where we find grace to live in his truth and to love as he taught us. Nobody knows and loves us like Jesus and he is the order that makes it possible to live a right-side up life in this upside-down world.
Beautiful Savior, you show us glimpses of what this world can be, of what it will be when you return and your truth will be the order that allows love to reign. There will be no more sorrow or death, only praises and rejoicing. Help us to seek your order when our world is upside-down. Fill us with your Spirit so, though we be man and woman on the outside, God lives inside us enabling us to love like you. Amen.
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