Great Expectations John 13:1-20

Great Expectations John 13:1-20

Last week I spoke about how to have a proper self-image, today I want to talk about how we see other people.

How do we view the other people in our lives? What is their value to you and the world. How do we determine that value?

What do we expect of them morally?

What do we expect of them, to become, to contribute to society, to be?

What is their value as a friend?

What is their value as a person?

What do you believe about a person?

In our passage Jesus clearly puts a value on each of the disciples, including Judas. Jesus takes on the lowliest of social positions by washing the disciple’s dirty feet. To do so elevated them to a place of honor. Peter’s questioning of Jesus shows that radicalness of Jesus’ actions.

But then Jesus throws the curve ball. Jesus says “I am the greatest one in this room and I treat you as more important than myself. You should imitate my actions.” Over and over in the Gospels Jesus says he came to seek and save the lost, poor and neglected people of the world. He challenges his followers to be the servant of all. Jesus places the highest value on rescuing the lost and broken people of the world. Therefore, we should place the highest value on the lost. What is the value of each person’s life, soul? It is worth suffering for, it is worth being beaten for, it is worth being humiliated by everyone in town, it is worth the pain of dying on the cross.

A homeless person with some obvious mental issues came to church looking for help. The man had no shoes, His feet cut, bleeding, sores all over them, and the stunk up the whole room. Jacki Ritchie, a nurse in our church who was there took this man and washed his feet over and over until they were clean. Jacki put ointment on them and bandaged those broken feet. Another woman came up with the size fifteen shoes that would fit him. It was one of the trues pictures of Jesus’ love I have ever seen. Jacki trying not to gag at the sight and smell of those feet that belonged to a man she did not know and would never see again. Washing them with all the love of Jesus for one of his lost.

What limits do you place on people? Do you believe they have something of value to contribute?

My head deacon
There was a woman whose children were unruly, her husband came to church in a dirty and often mismatched suit, with part of breakfast on it. Often the whole family could be heard fighting with each other blocks away. She herself dressed plainly with little make up or work on her hair. So, my expectation of her when they elected her a deacon was not high. When they made her head of deacons at her first meeting I went into shock. She broke every preconceived idea I had by being the best deacon I ever had. She organized and empowered the whole church to become servants and ministers to each other.

We mistakenly put limits and values on people. We forget that is not them, but God in them that sets the limits of what they can do. Abraham, Ruth, Ester, Rahab, Jacob, David and even the disciples were not the kind of people you would choose for your save the world team. But what God did with them was not limited to their abilities, it was limited by God who empowered them.

The world around us values people for their looks, their intelligence, strength, productivity, or their wealth. But God challenges us to see differently.

God’s question to each of us is; “are other people worthy of you washing their feet? Are you more interested in seeing them succeed than your own success? Is their Joy and happiness important to you? Will you give of your own life so that they can find their way back to Jesus?