Practice 12 of 13

Serve

Do the job nobody wants.

Key points

  • The practice: Do the job nobody wants.
  • Try this week: Do one job nobody wants this week, without being asked and without mentioning it.
  • The good news: Jesus knelt and served you first, all the way to the cross.
In this article
  1. What Jesus did and taught
  2. Why it matters
  3. Try this week
  4. A question to carry
  5. With kids
  6. Go deeper
  7. The good news

What Jesus did and taught

Washing feet

At dinner, the night before he dies, Jesus gets up, ties a towel around his waist, and washes his friends’ dirty feet.

It was a servant’s job. Peter tries to stop him.

Jesus says: this is how you should treat each other.

“For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.”

John 13:15

Find it: John 13:1–15

Read John 13:1–15

1 Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God, 4 arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For he knew him who would betray him, therefore he said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.

World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

Why it matters

The most important person in the room took the lowest job.

Serving quietly is one of the clearest ways to love.

Try this week

Do one job nobody wants this week, without being asked and without mentioning it.

Low-energy week? Do one chore before anyone asks.

A question to carry

What job do you avoid that would help someone else?

With kids

Let your kids serve dinner to everyone, the way Jesus served his friends.

Go deeper

The good news

Jesus knelt and served you first, all the way to the cross. Serving others is passing that on.

You don’t earn anything by doing this practice. Why it starts with grace