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There's no category for what Jesus does

 

"Kiss my ring. Bow at my feet. Wash my feet. Make sure you serve and honor me the way that I deserve."

All things nearly every king, ruler, and person in power has said throughout human history.

All things the gods and goddesses of the religious marketplace of the ancient world demanded.

All things Jesus never said.

During Jesus' last night, he revealed in startling ways what he had been all about from day one. As God's presence on earth:

  • He was born in obscurity and poverty in a garage filled with animals, the living "tools" of a pre-tech age. He never made it his mission to make his way out and climb to the top of the social ladder. Jesus is not a poster God for the American dream.
  • He lived among the struggling and the sick; among the sinners and the overworked. He didn't come to lend a hand from a higher, safer position. He lived among the ones he came to save. He was no different in his life than they.
  • He tended to the needs of the forgotten with his own hands. He wasn't above going into the homes of everyday people who didn't have it all together. Where social expectation would have said, "you don't belong there, Jesus," or "you're above that," he went there anyway.

On his last night before his death, he washed his disciples' feet. A strange thing to think about today. Not so unusual then. 

Many of us probably know the basics: it was the job of a slave to wash the feet of their master. It was just another way that daily life in the ancient world reinforced the status quo of hierarchy. It all started from the top: this is how the gods behave, which trickles down to the earthly powers and rulers, down to the social fabric of society, down to the household and family.

More than this, it wrote into the minds of people that the gods must be served. Humans are made to serve and please the gods. You make the gods happy, and then they will be good to you. You are supposed to wash the feet of the gods you serve.

Jesus redefines the whole system. 

Jesus, as God's presence in a human life, came and served humanity. God served us, and did not demand us to serve him. God's joy does not depend on our efforts. God's joy depends on us receiving his goodness and blessing.

There's no category for this. "The system didn't plan for this," as hip-hop artist Lecrae puts it in his song "Anomaly."

The systems of this world still have no category for this. This isn't just "servant-leadership." It's something else entirely. It's a complete transformation of how we think and live. Our minds and ways of thinking are not able to really handle it. 

If you think I'm wrong, consider the common thinking of most people. So often we implicitly think that we have to do something, or that we haven't done enough in nearly every aspect of our world. It's built into our cultural imagination. Why do you think so many people in our culture are bending over backwards to convince themselves and others that they are "good enough," or that it's "ok to not be good enough"? 

When it comes to God, things aren't different. Am I "good enough" to get to heaven? we often wonder. When we're pressed to face our mistakes or think about our relationship to God we often try to justify who we are saying, "Well, deep down I'm a good person, it's just that I've made some mistakes, but who doesn't, right?" We object to the religious god of our culture who demands morally perfect, good-citizen lives. Or we buckle under the weight of it.

Our default method of thinking revolves around merit. And the merit system places God in a category above us (which he is), and says that we must, like we're an employee in God's business, do the right things to keep the owner happy with us. When we fall short, the relationship (which was messed up from the get-go) becomes distorted, we can't make eye contact, we try to evade talking to the boss. There's something deeply off about the whole system.

God is indeed in another category than we are. And God doesn't demand that we kiss his feet, say the right prayer, attend church at least twice per month. Jesus shows us that God came to serve us. We don't know what to do with that. We might agree with that verbally, but our mentality is still stuck in the old system. If God serves us, then what are we supposed to do? Just nothing? We can't get our merit-based heads around it. We think it will lead to laziness. 

When Jesus washes his disciples' feet, when he says "this is my body, given for you," he's breaking the system, shattering the status quo. He's giving himself to us, for us, to break us free from the weight of falling short and free us into something new: true life, joy, peace.

God has shown up in Jesus to serve us, not demand that we serve God. God does not set up expectations for you. It's not about being good. It's about being transformed and changed by the God who serves. If this is how God is, then this is how we should be. 

Jesus came to serve, to lift you up. Just receive it. Let it change you.


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