Do As I Have Done For You

Do you find it difficult or easy to do the things Jesus has done for you? Is it possible and attainable to do what Jesus has commanded you to do? What help and assistance do you need to do what Jesus has called you to do?

Jesus not only taught his disciples how to live and to serve in this world, Jesus also modeled what we are supposed to do to live for him and to serve him. Jesus also died on a cross and rose from the grave because we cannot do what he has commanded us to do and we cannot do what he has modeled for us to accomplish.

At the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus, the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, gave the mandate to wash one another’s feet, only after he had modeled for his disciples what he was asking them to do by actually washing their feet, even Judas the betrayer and Peter who would deny Jesus.

John’s gospel account tells us, “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (John 13:12-15, ESV).

Jesus does not just teach what he wants us to do, he models it. Jesus is our teacher and our example, our perfect model of humble obedience and service.

While Jesus is our example, he is more than our example. Jesus is our savior when we fail to listen to him and obey his teachings, and when we fail to model our lives after his perfect example and obedience.

While Jesus did model humility and service by washing his disciples feet, Jesus’ ultimate act of humble service was to go to the cross and to die, because we could not obey his perfect teaching or follow his perfect example.

As Jesus said in Matthew’s gospel account, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28, NIV).

As the Apostle Paul said in Philippians, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8, ESV).

May we obey the mandate of Jesus to serve one another by washing one another’s feet, to die to self and to die for one another, recognizing Jesus served us perfectly through his humble obedience to the father by dying on the cross for our sins to humbly serve us as he poured himself out on the cross.

A Collect for Maundy Thursday: “Almighty Father, whose most dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it in thankful remembrance of Jesus Christ our Savior, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

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