"The Lowest of the Low"
John 13:3-17
Reed Redus, Associate Pastor
First Baptist Church of Amarillo
August 31, 2014
Standing below the Hoover Dam, a beaver was bragging to his rabbit friend.
Looking up at that great wall made of seven million tons of concrete, the beaver said, “No, I
didn’t actually build it, but it was based on an idea of mine.” 1
This morning, we will look together at a passage about humility. This story may be
familiar to you, and it is full of gold. The Scriptures are timeless and always timely. May
God speak to us today from His Word. If you would, turn with me to John’s Gospel, the 13th
chapter.
In circles of Christians, we can sometimes elevate foot washing to a prominent,
ceremonial position. We might tend to proudly think, “Because I am holy, I am going to
wash your feet. Aren’t I an advanced Christian?” It's ironic that we can take this dirty job,
and make ourselves feel more holy, more clean for doing it.
But we need to remind ourselves that foot washing was dirty, nasty work. They
wore open sandals. They walked on roads with animals, and there was no sanitation
department, no massive street sweeping vehicles. And washing feet was not just dirty
work, it was considered lowly work, slave labor…humiliating! The kind of task that an
entire culture looked down upon. To get a perspective on what foot washing really meant
back then, Gerald Borchert, a respected NT scholar, looked at many different 1st Century
Jewish writings from outside the Bible. He summarizes this way: Foot washing “…was
regarded as menial slave work, and as such, was primarily an assignment given to Gentile slaves
and women.” 2 So this is one of the most humiliating tasks there was.
Think of India’s caste system with its rigid levels of society, where the lowest of the
low are the Untouchables, thought by their society to not be worthy of most jobs. The Wall
St. Journal reported this week that some of the most serious human rights abuses in the
world still happen with India’s lowest caste, the Untouchables. 3
Now remember, also, that all the way back in the beginning of John’s Gospel, John the
Baptist is ministering, and as Jesus approaches, and the baptizer says, “I am not worthy to untie
Charles Townes, winner of the Nobel Prize for work with lazers told that story.
Gerald L. Borchert, discussing Mekhilta on Exod 21:2 and Kethub 96 a. in vol. 25B,
John 12–21, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers,
2002), 79.
3 Available from: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/08/25/indiasuntouchables-still-pressed-to-work-disposing-human-waste-despite-legal-prohibitions/
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his sandals.” What is he saying? He's saying that touching feet is the lowest of low positions in
our life, and yet compared to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, he was not even worthy of that low
position.
Foot washing was dirty, nasty, lowly, slave work, and, yet, our second truth this
morning, and this one is big, is that God washes feet.
Our text begins by letting us know that Jesus does not make this move out of
desperation or by accident. This is intentional! Verse 3 says, “Jesus, knowing that the
Father had given all things into His hands…” got up, girded himself and took his towel. This
means that Jesus realized the full extent of his power, realized the authority that God had
given him, and Jesus acted in His full nature as God.
I don’t know about you, but when my mind conceives of what it means to be God, I
naturally gravitate toward the big, the grand, the powerful. My mind is usually amazed that
God could create a world with His voice, or destroy it. And rightfully so, God is grand and
powerful, but He is also good. At the same time that God has all power, He has all humility.
My mind just never thinks about God’s humility, his meekness, first, if at all. But, in this
scripture, we have the God of the universe doing the lowest of lowly tasks. It’s hard to
describe the stooping, the descending that is happening here. This would be akin to the
President of the United States coming to your house, knocking on the door, and when you
open it, there he is with all of his entourage of secret service and executive staff. And he
says, “Excuse me. May I, not my staff, but may I wash your commodes, your toilets?” Can
you imagine that? The president working in your bathroom? It feels repulsive, right?
(Should I joke? Some might say, “Oh yes, come on in; at least you’re working today.”) That
would never happen, but . . .
The American Historian, George Lee, tells a story about Booker T. Washington, the
renowned black educator. 4 Shortly after Washington took over the presidency of Tuskegee
Institute in Alabama, he was walking in an exclusive section of town, when a wealthy
woman, of a different skin color, stopped him. Not knowing the famous Mr. Washington by
sight, she asked if he would like to earn a few dollars by chopping wood for her. He didn’t
have any pressing business at the moment, so Professor Washington smiled, rolled up his
sleeves, and proceeded to do the chore she had requested.
When he was finished, he carried the logs into the house and stacked them by the
fireplace. One of the servant’s daughters recognized him immediately, and later on,
revealed his identity to the lady. The next morning the embarrassed woman went to see
Mr. Washington in his office at the Institute and apologized profusely. She was mortified,
but Mr. Washington smiled. "It's perfectly all right," he said. "Occasionally I enjoy a little
manual labor, especially when I get to do something for a friend."
That’s humility, but see… even that … doesn’t adequately describe what Jesus has
done. This is the God of the Universe acting like he’s an Untouchable.
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Our Daily Bread.
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I think the only comparison that gets really close to this is another dirty, nasty job.
In verse 10, Jesus says, “You are clean, but not all of you.” He just washed all of their toes;
what’s he talking about? Well, John tells us in the next verse, that this foot washing means
much more than just clean feet. There is a different kind of dirt, called sin, and ultimately
this is why He has come. But Judas does not believe. Jesus, taking off his outer garments,
putting a towel around his waist and washing the muck off of His disciples is symbolic, it’s a
representation, of His entire ministry. The Son of God leaving Heaven, leaving perfection,
leaving Trinitarian harmony, and coming to a world riddled with sin and strife, a dirty,
nasty world. Patiently teaching us, patiently healing diseases, patiently loving even when
His disciples wanted to fight the world, and His enemies wanted to kill him. And ultimately,
Jesus bearing the wrath of God toward our sin on the cross. That is the dirtiest work! That
is the nastiest work!
1 John 1:7 says, “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin,” and by that
blood, those who believe are made clean! Listen to how the NT describes believers in Jesus:
clean, spotless, unsoiled, unblemished, new; and comparing to fabric: bright and clean,
white and clean. Theologians use really big, multi-syllable, theological words to describe
this: justification, sanctification, propitiation. But do you know what they all mean? You
are clean! Forgiven!
If the God of the universe has set out wash away sin, how clean are you? I mean to
what degree are you clean?
We took a team to Portland, Oregon, and Corvallis, Oregon, earlier this month. The
team was serving and encouraging a new church called the Branch, a Baptist church plant
of the North American Mission Board. We did a variety of tasks to hopefully help
encourage them, help their roots to grow deep into their community. The team worked at
schools that this church is serving and loving, just like we do at Margaret Wills Elementary
here in Amarillo. We did relational evangelism on the college campus of Oregon State
University, the biggest university in Oregon. The team loved on this church, worshipped
with them, and ate with them. A member of the team had a great idea to give them a
church-planter date night. We watched their kids one evening and bought their dinner.
You would have thought it was Christmas morning!
One of the first things they had us help with was to clean at a Home for victims of
trafficking. The church has adopted a Christian faith-based rehabilitation home for those
wanting to leave the skin-trafficking world. Women can come and live in this home and go
through a complete Christian rehabilitation process for a year to a year-and-a-half. We met
two of the young ladies who are presently going through the program. After we had the
emphasis on trafficking here at First Baptist last year, it was a lot of fun to really put our
hands to something.
Two of our team, Preston Alarcon, a freshman at Amarillo High, and Bryan Houser,
our Director of Missions here in Amarillo, were assigned to clean the van this center use.
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And they got after it; I mean they washed and vacuumed every crevice of that thing. They
asked me to pick up some Armor All so they could really do this job right.
Now, I ask you, how would the quality of that wash job change, if they had asked my
5-year- old son and 4-year-old daughter to wash it? I know two things: (1) They would try;
they are great kids. (2) The quality of the wash would go down drastically. Something
would get done, just not much. A squirrel would run by, or playing in the water would just
be too fun. Often the mess ends up bigger after they start cleaning!
How would you classify the believer’s cleanliness, the forgiveness of our sins, if the
God of the Universe did the task? What was the quality of His work? If you are in Christ,
there is no part of you that He forgot about when He cleaned you! There is no sin, past,
present, or future that He left out! He doesn’t make mistakes! He finishes His tasks with
perfection! Philippians 1:6 “I am confident of this that He would began a good work in you
will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” 5 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “God
made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God.” 6
We all have blemishes, sin, disobedience...dirt. A noted Washington monsignor was
to be the guest of honor at a Washington D.C. banquet. 7 He was retiring after 25 years of
service. A prominent senator knew the priest and was to give the celebration speech, but
"things happen to important people," and he was unavoidably detained, so the toastmaster
proceeded without him. In the absence of the senator, the microphone was passed around,
and honor and after honor was heaped upon the priest. The, the cleric arose to give his
acceptance. The old man smiled and said, “The seal of the confessional can never be
broken, but I will never forget when I first came to D.C. 25 years ago. I thought I had
stumbled into a terrible place. The very first man to enter my confessional told me a hairraising tale of corruption and sin, the bribes he had taken, and a list of offenses so bad,
nothing has compared since. I wanted out of D.C., but as time went on, I have grown to love
this community and realized what a wonderful place it is." As he was speaking, the senator
finally arrived. When the priest was finished, the senator went to the podium to say a few
words. “I’ll never forget the first day our honored guest arrived at this parish. In fact, I had
the privilege of being the first to go into the confessional.”
We all have dirt. The question becomes, what will we do with it?
“When Satan tempts you to despair...” and he will! The Bible calls him “the Accuser
of the Brethren.” The very nature of your enemy is to remind you how awful you are. You
need to know this -- every person in this room is being tempted to believe he or she is a
horrible person.
Phil. 1:6 NIV.
2 Cor. 5.21 NASB.
7 Michael Hodgin, 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking: Fresh, Timely, and
Compelling Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Speakers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1994).
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“When Satan tempts you to despair,...”(and he will!) “When he tells you of the guilt
within,...” (and he will!) "Upward we must look and see Christ there, who made an end of
all our sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free! For God, the Just,
is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me. Behold Him there, the risen Lamb, my perfect,
spotless Righteousness..." The young Irish girl who wrote those words, nailed it! In fact
she first entitled this hymn, not Before the Throne of God Above, but the Advocate.
If you are a believer in Jesus, His work of humility on this earth and the cross and
resurrection have …made ….you ….clean! The believer has an Advocate, a Supporter, a
Backer, a Washer, who has taken care of all our dirt. Do we listen to that accusing voice of
fear and doubt? Or do we listen to our majestic King, who as a servant leader, placed
Himself in the lowest of all positions? And, washed away a stain that would couldn’t?
(?????)
You may be here or listening, and you know. You’ve never become a Christian.
You’ve never had your sin washed away. I invite you today to ask Jesus to cleanse you. He
will.
1. Foot washing was dirty, nasty work.
2. God washes feet.
3. And, finally, Jesus encourages these men, “Go and do likewise…”
Peter likes to get messy. He’s always talking first, thinking later. I sort of like him
for it. Look at how Peter nearly makes a mess of all this. In verses 6 & 8, his reaction to this
humble, low position of Jesus is NO WAY. “Jesus, you cannot serve me like a slave.”
Jesus gets serious and says, “If I don’t wash your feet, then you have no part with me.” And,
as often happens with Peter, he wished he hadn’t spoken, and asks for a whole bath!
What happens when we stop washing feet? I don’t mean literally, but what happens
when we start thinking there are tasks beneath us? Are there tasks too dirty for us? Jobs
below our pay grade? “Unions have their rules you know!” This is what Peter was
struggling with. He thought this task was above Jesus; Jesus was better than this. But if
only he understood, the low position of God is not just for God, but the calling of every
believer. Jesus throws this class system out of the window, and as God serves us, and then
calls us to do the same.
Let’s read together. [Read John 13:13-17]
Jesus lead us down a path of humility, and I feel so blessed for the many examples of
walking this path. At FBC, I’ve seen a head of Human Resources for a major corporation
driving a van for English class. I’ve seen the wealthiest among us getting smoke in their
eyes to serve food to those who couldn’t afford it. I’ve seen both Dr. Batson and Dr. Barrett
picking up the occasional piece of trash. There aren’t too many because our housekeeping
staff does such a wonderful job. This week, Howie laid down on his stomach with a pair of
scissors to cut leftover strings off of the edges of some new carpet.
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I was talking with a former FBC intern last week, who went to work as a Interim
Children’s Minister in another city, knowing that working with kids was not her heart’s
strongest desire and definitely not her strongest gift. All she knew was that her friends
who were pastoring the church desperately needed help they could trust. She saw a need
and just took care of it. She re-arranged her whole life to help. If we’re looking, there are
so many examples of Christ-likeness, too many to count.
When we think of the tasks to which we are called… I think God will place footwashing types of tasks in front of each of us. Low tasks. Humbling ones. The kind of jobs
that when the boss starts assigning, 60% of the people slowly disappear out of the back of
the room. Or when the clip-board comes out with the “To Do List” on it, no one makes eye
contact. These kinds of tasks that we secretly hope the our spouse has already finished
before we arrive home, and they're a part of each of our lives. If not, we’re probably not on
mission.
What would happen if we hold Jesus’ humility in front of whatever low tasks we
need to do? “I need to show love to which neighbor? That "loud, never mows, tall weeds
and grass neighbor”? What would happen if we could just set in front of that the image of
Jesus, doing untouchable work, washing my feet, bearing my sin, and asking me to do the
same? Doesn’t that empower us? Doesn’t that drive Christian selflessness? Before He ever
says, “You also should do as I did to you,” He made a stoop that none of us could imagine.
“There is a potent history of vigorous “Can do” people here at FBC,” a deacon
recently remarked to me. We have a legacy of this church setting its heart and mind to big
tasks because of Christ’s work and through His power. This year our church is about to
begin celebrating 125 years. The border mission trip is celebrating 20 years of the current
trip, and 45 years of going to the same location. When I take mission teams, I feel like I get
to sit back and watch the fruit of this legacy of service and mission work.
In China, that team of mostly non-teachers did what I think is one of the most
intimidating tasks in the world -- they went into junior high schools for the sake of the
Gospel. They taught like champions. Today, there are new believers from China to
Hungary because of people who about all they know about teaching is that they we went to
school. Our church taught Bible School to over 2,000 people here at First Baptist Church, at
Margaret Wills, and at San Jacinto in the heat of summer. In Portland, that team washed
miles of windows, painted on a hot playground, and set up an entire library. There were
nuclear engineers, medical professionals, landscapers, students and pastors trying to
remember the Dewey Decimal System!
And the news of this passage, is WE’RE NOT DONE YET!!! Until we’ve breathed our
last breath, our mission is a foot-washing mission! We are called to the lowly. We are
compelled to the humble.
Booker Washington’s run-in with that woman, actually became a part of his legacy
and teaching. To help the school become as financially independent as possible,
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Washington decided to plant cotton. He hoped it would provide a steady source of
income. Of course before any planting could be done, a large area of Alabama woods
needed to be cleared. So, one day after class, Washington told everyone to pick up an ax
and follow him into the woods. The students stared in silence and refused to move.
Awkward! Finally, when they realized he was serious, one student informed the professor
that they had come to Tuskegee to become better teachers, not better farmers. If they had
wanted to be undignified farmers, they could have stayed home. And, thank you very much,
they were going to sit right there. Quietly, but firmly, he told his students manual labor was
beneath the dignity of no one; all work was good for the spirit and the school. The truth
was that this was his plan to provide for their education. Then he picked up an ax and
went outside. A few minutes later, the distant ax could be heard. Crack! Crack! Crack!
Slowly, one student got up, picked up an ax, and headed outside. And then another. And
then another.
Our Lord has picked up a towel and poured water into a basin and gone about a task
that no one else wanted to do. When he finished, I wonder if he was breathing hard? I
wonder if he was sweating a little bit?
Church Family, we have been served in some ways that we may never understand,
and called to do likewise. What a task! Let’s finish it together!
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