Daily Prayer Guide - Passion Week - Wednesday - Breathing Service

Breathing Service – Modeling Servanthood 

Read: John13:3-17 

³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ 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.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Listen to: Lead me to the Cross; https://youtu.be/YM2JBzosk8I

Consider:  As we continue to walk this journey with Christ to his suffering, we find an unexpected discovery.  It is like the air is different when we are with him, like a different barometric pressure, the atmosphere is totally changed from any place else in our world.  Jesus, the Son of God, who is leading us to live in the Kingdom of God, is creating and permeating an entirely new atmosphere. It is an atmosphere of service. You can’t escape it except to run back to your own , old way of living.  It is unavoidable when your with him. 

Jesus shows us how to breathe when we are with him, it is by taking a towel and doing the most menial tasks. He jumps right in to the bottom of the servant roles with an attitude that he was doing the most prestigious job because he is loving the one he is serving. 

There is a reason for this new freshness in the atmosphere of service.  It is because Jesus doesn’t see this act of service as Peter sees it.  Peter sees it as something to do, an action to take. But Jesus sees service not as an action to do, but a state of being.   He was inviting Peter into a deeper kind of relationship.  Service is relational to Jesus, not occupational.  For Jesus, service is the way he lives, not an action he schedules.  Jesus said, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”  When Jesus served the disciples it was a way for him to be close to them, in a very humble and personal way.  He served them out of who he is, he served them to be with them.  A final way for him to point out that “the son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt 20:28)

But it doesn’t stop here. He says we should do this too, live like he does – attitude and all!!!   We model what Jesus has shown us, that service is to be a core of our identity.  We also call others to service. This is, indeed, a new and fresh walk, on the road where Christ walks. When we serve others, we look like Jesus.

Today when our proximity with others is limited, it doesn’t mean that we can’t serve them in meaningful ways.  When serving is a matter of being, then we will find ways to express ourselves.  Calling family, friends and neighbors to check in on them is a way of serving them that builds relationships.  Going to the grocery for someone who is COVID vulnerable.  When you know them, you can serve them.  When you serve them, you will know them better.  When you don’t know them, find a small way to serve them that opens the door for a relationship.

Prayer: 

Father, You are turning my world upside down, but yet it seems so right. Forgive me when my pride has kept me from receiving your service and also blinded me from serving others.

·      Thank God for his invitation to serve others like Jesus

·      Ask God to give you eyes to see the opportunities around you

·      Thank God for the health care workers who are selflessly serving others with coronavirus.

Help me to breathe in this new way of living and begin to pass on this atmosphere of service. Show me the menial places you want me to serve and give me an attitude to enjoy them. May my joy cause others to long to serve others as well. Amen. 

Action: Look for one way you can serve someone that will take them, and you, by surprise that you would actually do it. Let them know that God loves them as you do it. 

Meditate: Matt 20:26-28 

“Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."