I used to be humble...but now I'm perfect

Pride.

It's a word that we hear and instantly think of other people. We think of examples when other people boasted of their accomplishments or had an arrogant air around them when we talked with them. It's something that he needs to deal with; it's something that she struggles with; it's never something that I deal with.

We all know that last sentence isn't true. There are times when we all are prideful - I make better coffee than ___________, I'm smarter than ____________, I'm prettier than _______________, I'm funnier than ____________...the list can go on and on. C.S. Lewis says that “pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man" (Mere Christianity). If you are anything like me you know that this is true, we are great at comparing ourselves to other people - in fact it might be one of the things that we are all experts at.

The disciples were no different - in fact they debated about who the best disciple was (Luke 9:46). You have to imagine that it was this conversation which was in their heads as they silently watched as Jesus watched their feet. Why were they silent - it wasn't because he was washing their feet, this was a fairly common practice in Palestine because of all the dirt roads. No, this was shocking, because their master had stripped to his boxers, wrapped a towel around himself, and began washing their feet. This task was reserved for a servant, and not an Israelite servant because it was too humiliating! And now here was Jesus taking that upon himself - he was intentionally humiliating himself because he loved his disciples.

And after he finished, he told them to do the same. He tells us to do the same.

He showed a fulfillment of this type of love when he hung on the cross - a humiliating death - because of his great love. This is the type of love that we are called to have when he tells us to wash each other's feet. It is through this love that people will know we are Jesus' disciples - after all that was his signature, Paul gives us a summary in Philippians 2: he took on human flesh (he is God), he took the nature of a servant (he was the teacher/rabbi), he died on the cross (he was innocent of any sin). Jesus washed the disciples feet of physical dirt, he washes us of spiritual dirt - we are no different than the disciples feet. Our feet get dirty, and Christ humiliated himself so that we could be clean.

So the question is not: how humble are you; the question is, are you willing to humiliate yourself so that others will know the love of Christ?