Easter is my most favorite holiday. I'm not necessarily so big on the egg hunts and all the marshmallow birdies, and it's not even all the chocolate wrapped in pastel foil. I mean…yeah…I like those things. And I do partake.
What I love the most, though, is how the significance of the move Christ made for me on the Cross impacts me. It humbles me. Reminds me. Teaches me something new. Refreshes me. And brings new life to places in me that are parched. Always. Not to say that the rest of the year I'm not affected by His act of love for me and us, because I am…deeply…often.
A few days after the sun had set on Easter, I was re-reading the events that took place during the last week of Jesus' life. I've read and heard the story hundreds of times…and struggled each time to wrap my head around what He did for me. And this year was no different. However, there was part of the story this time that came off the page at me in a way I'd never known. And it was this:
John 13:3-5 ~ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
These twelve people, the disciples, that surrounded him at the Last Supper trusted him and followed him one day and doubted, denied, and betrayed him the next. Often they didn’t get what he was trying to teach them and, as well, questioned him when he instructed them to get out of the boat, keep their eyes on him, or cast their fishing nets on the other side. They repeatedly fell asleep when he asked them to pray. They were constantly wanting to know which of them was going to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They had really given him no good reason to one by one wash their nasty feet.
So why would He? Yes…I know. He was God. I get that. But He was also fully man. Just like us! Which meant he could probably get annoyed. And perturbed. And irritated at friends who didn't use common sense. Or hurt his feelings. Let alone betray and deny him.
Instead...he served them.
And as I read and re-read the passage, and thought about what it was that enabled him to do so, these things leapt off the page at me.
1. He knew who He was. (Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power…)
2. He knew where He came from. (…and that he had come from God…)
3. He knew where He was going. (…and was returning to God…)
So…He served.
Cause and effect.
Knowledge. Something that penetrated and resided deep inside his mind, heart, soul, and bones so much that serving others was his natural response…to anyone. His true identity.
And then some more stuff hit me right between the eyes.
I have access to the the same knowledge and identity. And so does every person who believes.
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
New creations in Christ...but only because of his life, death, and resurrection.
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