Washing Jesus' Feet

“Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:” (Genesis 18:4)

Hello, my friend…

Today’s scripture is taken from the account of God appearing to Abraham to renew His promise of his coming son, Isaac.

Abraham (formerly Abram) had been given this promise some twenty-plus years previous but, as you might recall, Abram blew it by trying to help God out. Here we find Abram sitting in his tent out in the desert just relaxing. It was just another day in his life – we don’t read that he was particularly worshiping God at the moment, there was no praise tape playing in the background, no Bible study in progress. Just sitting in the desert heat trying to stay cool. He had already taken care of his flocks, attended to his servants, had breakfast, and Sarah was in the kitchen cleaning up.

Suddenly, three men appeared to Abraham. Now, if he was anything like me, he had probably nodded off to sleep for a moment. The Bible says that when he looked up he saw three men standing beside him. In biblical terminology, that meant they were still a bit away because we further read that he ran out to meet them. Another mystery unfolds at this point, because he calls them Adon, which means king, lord, or authority figure. We know this word from Adonai, which is, of course, a name given to God the Father. Interesting. Three men but one title. Hmmm.

I want to hone in on how he responded to their presence. First, he invited them into his tent to rest. He then invited them to sit while he prepared to wash their feet. We know, of course, that this was a custom to accommodate friends who traveled by foot across arid terrain. It was meant to be a refreshment and a show of honor and respect. Next, he had Sarah prepare three loaves of bread – one for each of them. He then chose one of his choice livestock to be prepared for them to eat. When it was all ready, Abraham prepared a table for them, complete with milk and butter. As they ate, he stood and watched.

Only after all of this was accomplished, they had eaten what he had prepared, and they began to converse, did these men (or this Man) bring up the promise. That is the ultimate point I want to concentrate on in this devotion today. We have this training we have received, as Protestants (especially), that we can enter into the throne room fo God boldly. We are His children; therefore, we have full access to His Presence. I have even taught on this broadcast that we are kings and priests before our God. All of these things are true. After all, they are written in scripture that we God-breathed or inspired. However, we must always keep in mind that we are approaching the God of the universe, the Creator of all we know and don’t know, the King of heaven, God Almighty. The One in Whom we move, we breathe, and have our being. Yes, we are His children, but nobody likes a brat. We are to approach Him with thanksgiving, we are to enter His Presence with praise.

If I had one complaint against Protestants, it would be this: we have forgotten who we truly are. More importantly, we have forgotten Who He Is. While this is not often done (in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it done), I want to reference a scene from the movie “The Godfather.” We see Don Corleone sitting in his office as a man comes in to ask a favor of him. He doesn’t call the Don “Godfather”, he doesn’t kiss his ring, he doesn’t show him any special honor. Just comes in and presents his request. The scene is a classic in its own right, but a very valuable lesson for us as Christians. The Don listens to his request, then begins to recount their relationship. “You have never come to me before. You didn’t want my help. You had the police. You don’t even bother to show me respect. Instead, you come in here … asking for justice. But what you seek isn’t justice. It’s revenge.” Of course, the petitioner, seeing the error of his ways, repents, calls him Godfather, kisses his ring, and all is well. If that doesn’t sound like 70-80 percent of Protestants, I don’t know what does!

We tend to treat God like He is some kind of personal concierge or valet. We believe He is just sitting in heaven, bored, awaiting our every request. We often tend to barge into the courtroom of heaven, not paying any attention to what else is going on, approach the bench uninvited, and state our demands or requests. To be fair, there are times when this is appropriate – as in the case of extreme medical emergencies, natural disasters, etc. The majority of our prayer time, however, isn’t spent on those. I have heard people pray about getting a close parking space at the mall, finding a good deal on a blouse, finding the right buyer for my car, whatever. These hardly qualify as life-threatening emergencies. I’m not saying God won’t or doesn’t grant some of these, but I am saying that we need to learn respect for the God of our fathers once again.

Here in America, it is Thanksgiving week. We generally gather together with family and loved ones to celebrate the founding of America and the freedoms we enjoy here. This time of the year is set aside solely for that purpose. Like most of you, I enjoy this season because it causes us all to stop long enough to be grateful for the blessings in our lives. We need to do that! My encouragement to you, my friend, is to not let it stop here. Let this be the beginning of a lifestyle of thanksgiving. Let this be the start of a new relationship with our heavenly Father. As we thank Him this week, let us realize that He Is everyday. He Is whatever we need. If you need a healing, He Is. If you need salvation, He Is. If you just want peace in your heart, He Is. If you need provision, He Is. Thank Him for that. Be grateful for that. Honor and cherish Him for that.

As I said, it is a busy time of the year. You are preparing for loved ones to come in for the holidays – cleaning, cooking, rearranging, or whatever. I merely ask of you to stop sometime during this rushing around and simply breathe a heartfelt “Thank You” to the One Who has provided it all for us. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving in your heart, and into His courts with praise. Like Abraham in our text (see? I haven’t forgotten), invite Him into your life, offer Him a safe place to rest from His labors, offer to Him the best you have, and give Him your full attention – even for a few moments. He loves you with a never-dying love and has given you all things to enjoy. Who knows? He might have a promise for you that was given long ago that He might want to reestablish in your life.

Be blessed.