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Humility of Mind and Action By Jean Jantzen An important part of the Passover ceremony is the washing of each other's feet. But why would Jesus want us to do it and what does it teach us?
ery soon we in United Church of God will be partaking in the foot-washing ceremony in which each man pairs with another man and each woman pairs with another woman and they wash one another's feet. It is a simple act. It only takes a few minutes of our time. But, according to Jesus Christ, it is a very important part of the Passover service as it teaches profound lessons. Let's read His example for us: "Jesus...rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded" (John 13:3-5). Verse 12 reads, "So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." We know that in ancient times it was one of the lowest jobs to wash another's feet. Is that the only meaning we are to learn -- to become a lowly servant to another?
Were the Israelites in a humble foot-washing attitude? They agreed to do what God said, didn't they? We know the story of how the Israelites complained and many rebelled. So God led them for 40 years in the wilderness to humble and test them (Deuteronomy 8:2). In Genesis 15:13, Abram is told, "Your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years." There it is. Servitude! Bondage! A humbling experience, but did this type of trial produce a foot-washing attitude -- the attitude of humility, service and love that we should have not only at Passover but year-round? Voluntary humility Notice that God was forcibly humbling the Israelites. Does God want to force us into humility? No. We, as the spiritual body of Christ are to humble ourselves. It comes down to choice. It is a voluntary humbling (Romans 12:1). "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service...For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." There it is again -- a humbleness of mind. So, being a living sacrifice and having a humble attitude go hand in hand. We are to surrender ourselves to it. It is our reasonable service. In the dictionary the word humble is described as:
What really surprised me here was that the word humble comes from the word humus, which means earth.
The ideal development of crop plants depends largely on the humus content of the soil. Some soil is certainly more productive than others, some can even be quite depleted and the plants or trees suffer or even die from a lack of this important ingredient humus. So what can we learn from this analogy? What does compost have to do with being humble and the foot-washing service? Everything! Humus or organic matter is living matter, and in its humble attitude or state it is something that sacrifices itself -- in other words, it dies -- decomposes -- changes composition, if you will -- and in the process gives itself up in order to serve others (John 12:24; Matthew 10:39). To give life to other plants, animals and humans, it gives its own life through its humble service. Humus is an excellent example of a living sacrifice. Living sacrifice
Let's look at an example of humbleness in action -- of a living sacrifice from the Bible. Ruth of the Old Testament demonstrates the principle of the foot-washing attitude -- the one we should be developing. Ruth lived in the land of Moab and had married one of Naomi's sons who later died. Ruth did not bear any of his children. She had no further obligations to serve her mother-in-law. Naomi, after losing her husband and sons, was going back home to another country, another way of life. Naomi was not of the same religion as Ruth. But Ruth displayed an unusual attitude. In Ruth 1:16-17, Ruth says, "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, l will lodge: Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried." Ruth in her humility, went back to the soil, so to speak, to work in the fields -- giving herself in service to another human being. Like the humus or compost, her sacrifice provided sustenance or life to another. Without Ruth, Naomi would have had a difficult time obtaining food.
God did not have to do something to her or convince her to be humble. And because of her living sacrifice, Christ was born through her lineage and He, in turn, gave His life to be , a living sacrifice so everyone could have a chance at eternal life. So let's not be like the physical Israelites, having to be convinced by physical trials to be in a humble foot-washing attitude. Instead, let's humble ourselves before God and one another by laying down our lives voluntarily to serve and love one another -- just as the example of the humble humus -- or like the examples of Ruth and Christ, who sacrificed so others may have life. For more information about the foot-washing ceremony and more about God's Holy Days, read our free booklet . Copyright 2006 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
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