pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: feet


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Unwanted Guest

Reading: Luke 7:36 – 8:3

The woman in today’s story is a bit of an unwanted guest.  She is well-known as a sinner, as one who is unclean.  Sins against God were also seen as social sins, so she is one who would have been shunned by any good Jew.  It is curious that she was even allowed in the house.

The Pharisee in the story is officially the host.  He has invited Jesus into his home for a meal.  However, as the story reveals, he is apparently not a very good host.  It was customary to do certain things to welcome a guest.  Most basic was the washing of the feet.  In the dry and dusty climate the cleansing of the feet was a needed and refreshing act of service.  It symbolized the acceptance of the guest.  By not washing Jesus’ feet, the Pharisee left a barrier up between them.

The woman must have sensed something powerful in Jesus’ presence.  She stood silently behind Him and began to weep.  Grace and love must have been working on her heart.  As she cried, her tears wet Jesus’ feet.  Sensing Jesus’ welcome of her presence, she knelt and began wiping His wet feet with her hair, taking on the physical grime and dirt as she cleaned His feet.  In a final act of loving service, she anointed His feet with perfume.  The sin that so encompassed her life must have been falling away too.  His love was overcoming much.

As the Pharisee is mentally recoiling at this obvious sinner touching Jesus, Jesus confronts him.  He uses a simple story on debt forgiveness to illustrate why the woman cries so – she is joyful over the love and grace and mercy that Jesus is giving her.  God’s love is not limited to the saved, but is offered most generously to the sinner, the one most in need.  Much joy comes when one repents, turns from sin, and knows forgiveness.  Through extravagant love given and received, this woman was made whole again and new in Christ.  In our encounters with the lost, with the sinners, and with the unwanted guests, may we too offer the extravagant love of Jesus Christ.


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Lived Out through Us

Reading: Psalm 146

God is steadfast and true.  God loves the righteous.  God seeks to lift up those who are bowed down.  His desire is to bring relief to their suffering and to put an end to the oppression and injustices they face.  How does our God of compassion and love lift up the bowed down?  He sends the righteous, those who have received His favor and blessing, to minister in His name.  He sends you and me.

It is God alone who can restore a person’s soul and who can make a new creation from within.  It is God who sends the righteous faithful to engage the bowed down, oppressed, and suffering.  It is God who has given us each gifts and talents and blessings to share with others to lift them up, to help them in their struggles.  We can be there to offer much, but it is God alone who can transform their lives and hearts.

God desires to use us in many ways.  We are each uniquely gifted and blessed as the body of Christ so that we can corporately minister to a wide variety of situations and needs.  Some are the feet of Christ who enter into brokenness to lift shame and guilt so that hope can begin to enter in.  Some of us are the hands of Christ, entering in and offering a hand up so that one can begin to be above water again.  Some of us are His eyes, restoring value and worth to someone who thought they had none.  Some of us are God’s voice, speaking out against injustice and oppression, seeking to make things right.  Some of us are His ears, listening to the stories that need heard and retold so that others may find or experience positive change in their lives.

God loves all of His children equally.  Some do not even know that they are a child of God.  This day may we collectively be His feet, hands, eyes, voice, and ears so that all may begin to experience His love, lived out through our witness, example, and presence.


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By Our Love

Reading: John 13: 1-17 and 31b-35

During the meal, Jesus gets up from the table and washes the disciples’ feet.  Here He is offering the basic cleaning.  In the culture of Jesus’ time there were three basic cleanings.  Sandals (or no shoes) were common and all roads… were dirt.  To cleanse the feet often was necessary.  The next level is referred to by Peter as he asks Jesus to wash his feet, hands, and head.  This would be the typical daily bath.  What we know as a bath, to fully immerse in water, was definitely not a daily practice for most and was often communal.

The lesson Jesus was teaching, however, did not really have to do with hygiene but rather with status and authority.  Jesus was Lord and Teacher to the disciples.  In their eyes, He was the one to be served.  But here Jesus reverses the normal order.  The most becomes the least as He stoops to wash their feet.  His closing line of this section – you too will be blessed – when we serve one another – applies to us as well.

Jesus goes on to reinforce the idea of humble service as an example of sacrificial love.  He issues a new command: as I have loved you, do you must love one another.  This command is given just after Jesus again speaks of His imminent death and resurrection.  Surely the disciples would hear these words echoing in their heads and connect them to the ultimate act of humble service that Jesus performed on the cross.

We are all called to follow His example, although for most of us it does not lead to death on a cross.  Our ‘death’ is to die to self, to the things of this world.  Jesus calls us to offer ourselves in sacrificial love to others.  To  love each other in the body of Christ, to love those who are hard to love, to love those who hurt us, to love those who cannot love us back, to love one and all – we are to love as Jesus first loved us.  Why? So they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love.


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A Personal Connection

In His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus goes to the temple and teaches from the scroll containing the words of the prophet Isaiah.  Luke makes mention that many there are aware of and appreciative of Jesus’ teachings up to this point.  What He reads that day would be a well-known passage.  The ideas of bringing the good news to the poor, releasing captives, bringing sight to the blind, setting the oppressed free, and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor all were part of the Jewish mindset.  Heads would have been nodding their approval.  But then Jesus added one more thing.  He claimed to be the fulfillment of this passage.  He states that He is this Messiah.  He created discomfort and ruffled feathers.

Fast forward to now.  When one speaks of sharing the good news, of freeing people from whatever oppresses or holds them back, of giving spiritual sight to one who is blind, all of us nod our heads approvingly.  We too view helping others as worthy and as the calling of the church.  But sadly enough we have our “just hold on a minute” line.  It’s a wonderful idea to feed and care for the needy.  Could you just do it over there?  It is great to share the gospel with those who have not heard it.  But do they have to come and worship here at our church?  It is noble and godly to help people overcome addiction and sins in their life.  But does little Suzy have to see it played out in person?

Sorry, but yes, we need to minister to people in our churches.  Alas, we must sit beside those new to the faith, to love and mentor them, to help them connect to God.  Yes, it is messy.  Folks who struggle need help in the form of a personal connection.  We are to be Jesus’ hands and feet, touching their lives directly and walking side by side with those who are new to faith or who are struggling.  May we find a little discomfort, may our feathers get a little ruffled, and may we like it.

Scripture reference: Luke 4: 14-21


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Moments and Encounters

Anthony came to church yesterday.  He arrived almost at the end of the 9:30 service. I recognized his face but couldn’t remember his name.  I confessed that to him as I greeted him at the back of the sanctuary.  He kindly reminded me and he apologized for being so late.  I assured him that is was OK and shared that I was glad to see him in church again.  Anthony asked for a Coke and I went downstairs and bought him one.  He did not follow me downstairs but he did wait for my return at the top of the stairs.  After a couple cookies and some conversation with others in the Parlor, Anthony headed off for the next part of his day.  Our paths will cross again.

In encounters such as these, I often wonder if I did enough.  It was a good chat and I was able to meet his request for a pop, but should have I done more?  In the time and space between services on a busy Sunday morning, it was probably what I could offer.  And maybe Anthony sensed that and kept his request simple as well.  And now I will remember his name next time so I can start our conversation by greeting him by name when our paths cross again.  In asking the question about doing enough, we prepare ourselves to do a little more the next time.

Our God has a special place in His heart for the poor and needy, for the widow and the orphan, for the  destitute and powerless.  In many places in the Bible we read about this love and our charge to care for those in need.  In those moments and encounters today and in the week ahead, may we offer all we can, seeking to be His hands and feet.

Scripture reference: Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, and 22-23


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Choosing His Way

Our broken world needs God.  For many living in brokenness, we will be the first bible they every read.  Although we are not of this world, we are to be in the world.  God calls us to be His hands and feet, using whatever gifts He has given us to make His world a better place.  We cannot simply and only exit within the four walls of our homes and our churches.  We must step outside into the fray.

To be a “living sacrifice” we must be willing to give up and share some of our stuff – our time, our money and resources, our gifts and talents, and ourselves.  As God becomes more, we become less.  Our decisions and actions look less like ours and more like His.  ‘Other’ supercedes ‘self’.

As we become increasingly aware of the world’s needs and our role in meeting those needs, we become more aware that our whole life is an act of worship.  Our simple greeting of another becomes a way of sharing God’s love with another in need.  Our conversation with the store’s employee becomes an opportunity to minister.  Our choice of how to conduct ourselves at work becomes an extension of our worship.  Our choice of what to do with our free Saturday becomes a reflection of God being a priority in our life instead of ourself being the priority.

Our words offer hope, love, reconciliation, healing.  Our actions bring relief, justice, provision, protection.  As we live into this type of Christianity, God’s spirit and presence in our life grows deeper and deeper within us.  As people that are broken begin to know God through our words and actions, they begin to know God too.  Every word we offer and every action that we make can bring ourselves and other closer to God.  May we choose wisely this day.

Scripture reference: Romans 12: 1-8


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Ready to Go??

Romans 10 poses two great questions for us to consider: “How can they call on the one they have not believed in?  How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?”  And one of my own: how many people do I know who have not truly heard the good news of Jesus Christ?

In his call for sharers of the Word, Paul tells us that blessed are the feet of those who go to share the story.  In the Great Commission, it is the first thing Jesus said is required of us: go!  Only after we go can we share and teach.  Are you feeling the urge to be a sharer of the Word?

Jesus shows us what love is: He suffered and died on a cross for us while we were still enemies, while we were still separated from Him because of our sins.  He suffered in order to fully love us.  Isn’t that a story worth sharing with others?  Are the bottoms of your feet feeling itchy to get going?

Scripture reference: Romans 10: 5-15


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Today, Today

Our world contains much that is broken and many who are suffering.  For some it is abject poverty in a country far away.  For some it is oppression that we cannot imagine because of a a political system or because of  prejudices against religion, gender, race, or ethnicity.

Within our own land of plenty and freedom, some suffer in poverty, in abusive relationships, in dysfunctional or broken homes.  Others battle homelessness, addictions, or injustice.  As the people of Abba Father, to whom are we called and what are we called to do?

At a minimum we are to offer what we can – maybe it is in the form of cash or maybe it is actual food, counseling, or other forms of direct assistance.  At a minimum it is praying for justice and equality.  At a minimum it is offering Jesus Christ and the hope that comes with knowing Him.  All Christians are called to make disciples.  All Christians are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  These actions may be in your own home, in your community, or far away around the world.  But today we must each ask, ‘What will I do to answer the groans and needs in my world?’

Scripture reference: Romans 8: 12-25