A Pitcher, A Basin, and Towel

My wife and I went to a wedding in recent days.  There were present at the wedding many of the things that you commonly see at such events-  beautiful bridesmaids, an angelic  looking bride with a radiant smile,  a cute flower girl dropping flower petals down the center aisle of the church, handsome groomsmen,  a groom with both a  look of anticipation and nervousness across his face.    This wedding also featured something else that I have seen never at a wedding and very rarely in a worship service-  a basin, a pitcher, and a towel.   After the bride and groom exchanged their vows and rings,  they took turns sitting in a chair washing each others feet while a combination guitarist and soloist softly played and sung.   It was a beautiful act that added much to a wonderful occasion, and it was  a poignant reminder of some important lessons to me.

You may have heard the phrase "that is a horse of a different color".   Well, you might say that the Gospel of John is a gospel that is different not in color but substance  than Matthew, Mark, and Luke.   While Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus on the Lords Supper on the night that Jesus was betrayed,  John focuses on the fact that Jesus girds himself with a towel and (like a lowly slave and servant) washes the feet of his disciples.  John tells us that Jesus exclaims that "as I wash  your feet, so you are to wash one anothers feet".

In marriage and in life in Christ, we are called to serve each other.   It is not simply the woman serving the man a meal or clean clothes, but it is the husband and wife serving each other not for the sake of duty, but for the sake of love.   Marriage is not  about what I can get, but  what I can give.  And such is this nature of the life in Christ.   In this "what is in it for me" world,  perhaps the best of life is found not in how others serve us but in how we serve others.  

PRAYER:   O God, you sent your son Christ Jesus not to be served but to serve and to be a ransom for many.    Help us to die to self to live for you serving for Christ sake.  Amen.