Day 3 w/ John 13

Now on day three I am seeing yet new things.  Today I was struck by the interaction between Peter and Jesus when it came time to wash Peter's feet.  In every community there is a pecking order.  People can relatively and quickly establish who is in charge, who can be counted on, who is quiet, who likes the sound of their own voice.  I'm sure this was true among Jesus' disciples as well. Peter understands this and it is just wrong that Jesus is washing feet.  Jesus is the leader, he is The Lord, he is the Rabbi, he is the one that everyone is striving to more like.  People of high status within the community don't do bottom rung jobs.  From Jesus perspective, he knows that this is how the group is thinking. He also knows that the group is still thinking the way the world thinks. And Jesus wants to set a very different standard for the way community is done.  Jesus words from the Gospel of Mark remind us that Jesus himself said, "I came not to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many."  Jesus knows that his time with the group is short, and he knows that this may be one of the last times to set the community thinking in a brand-new direction. 

We can see Peter's thinking shift, he wants Jesus to know that he is all in.  But Jesus cautions Peter, that a full cleansing is not what is needed. I hesitate even to suggest it, but I think one of the things we can take here is that service to one another, service to the community, does have its limits.  My hesitancy, comes from a big concern that our current culture is so about not serving one another, that to suggest that there are limits to the way we serve, is to give a community excuses not to serve. I strongly want to avoid that!