John 13:12-20

 John 13:12-20

After washing the disciples' feet Jesus calls his followers to a life of service. The foot washing by Jesus has been seen by some Christian teachers as a symbolic look forward to the cross. The most humble service that is possible is offered by the One in the highest position. No matter how high our position may be nor how high we might believe it maybe, there is no position of service that is beneath us.

Jesus says that a good theology of service by itself is not going to be fulfilling. Here is where as disciples we end up frustrated. Verse 17 does not say that we are blessed in the “knowing” but rather in the “doing”. It has been said that Sunday School is the only educational system in which a person can attend their whole life and never graduate, never enter the workforce and it is still considered normal.  We are not trained to know but to do.

A profound and accurate theology of service will not bring blessing in our lives. This coming of blessing happens as we live service out. “Blessed” or sometimes translated “happy” has two possible applications here. We might say there is ambiguousness about the direction of the blessing. It might be that in the service the blessing flows from inside of us out, this carries the implication more of the experience of happiness. The other possibility is that it might be that in service God pours into us from the outside the good thing that we call blessing. This is almost the idea that the opportunity to serve is a kind of good fortune, or blessing. The vagueness may be intentional so the meaning is both. Simple service even giving a cup of water in Jesus’s name blesses both the giver and the recipient. The service need not be a huge event rather it is in the doing that meaning is found.

“Lord, bless me with the opportunity to serve sacrificially. AMEN”