Good morning my dear friend,
I love writing to you and sharing my heart thoughts. I try my best to be a Jesus follower. He shows us the way to be a disciple and I love reading stories of his interactions with people. He was always so kind, gentle, and understanding of their needs. He gave us a single command: to love other people as I love you. And recently, I have been laser focused on the account in John 14 of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, even removing his outer garment and putting a towel around him, the look of a slave. And the disciples are aghast and fall silent as they watch Jesus move from disciple to disciple and wash their feet and dry them with a towel. What is beautiful to me is that he also washed the feet of Judas, the disciple who was about to betray him. What was going through Jesus’ mind as he bent over the dirty feet of Judas Iscariot. He was washing the feet of one whom he had chosen, taught, and ministered to, and also knew that soon would betray him. He could have removed Judas from the Passover meal if he had wanted. Instead, he washed Judas’s feet as if to say, “You are still mine and I still love you.”
So, my challenge to you this week is: Whose feet would it be difficult for you to wash? Trump? Biden? Your annoying neighbor? Your estranged brother? The Way is fueled by a single command, to love other people as I have loved you. James, the brother of Jesus, stresses that actions speak louder than words. He attacks the notion that becoming a Christian is simply a matter of assenting to a few spiritual truths without experiencing any real change in behavior or thought. Are you changed? Do you freely love? Could you wash the feet of your enemy? Take your faith seriously. Follow “The Way.” Linda