The Focus of Jesus

[Jesus] poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet (John 13:5).

It is the last night Jesus is on earth with His disciples. Knowing that a brutal scourging and the excruciating (from two Greek words meaning “out of the cross”) pain of a Roman crucifixion was waiting for Him, Jesus disrobes, wraps a towel around His waist and washes His disciples’ feet.

If it were my last night on earth, I’d want people to gather around me and tell me how great a guy I am and what a significant impact I made on their life.

Jesus washed feet.

I’d want my family and friends kneeling at my bedside, crying big tears while they sobbed and choked and blubbered about how their life just wasn’t going to be the same without me on earth.

Jesus washed feet.

I’d be looking back over my life, counting and calculating my works and the impact I’d made in people’s lives. I’d be wondering if I could have done more. I’d be worried that maybe God is going to tell me all the different ways I could have obeyed Him better and brought more people into the Kingdom. In other words, I’d be thinking big about Jim and little about others.

Jesus washed feet.

Knowing He had only a few hours left on the earth, Jesus spent a majority of them teaching others what they needed to know to live a life for God. Where Jim would be worried about Jim’s needs at the end of his life, Jesus focuses on the needs of others.

I’ve been wondering just what it would take to respond like Jesus if I knew I was going to die tomorrow. Continue Reading