To Serve
Jn 13:16-20 When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
To serve is an honor and a raising up of the spirit.
To see the love and blessing in service is a gift from God.
Jesus at this point of the Gospel promises to
reveal his divine nature to the apostles
so that they may believe and receive him
as they would receive God the Father. I believe that we
are all sent into this world by God to be Christ
to each other. There are not always dramatic signs to be seen.
Many of the beautiful blessings are visible in the small daily moments in a common life. I have tried to learn to greet the God
within everyone and am often pleasantly rewarded by the responses to this expectation that I receive.
To this day there is one person that I think of when I see or hear of foot washing. He was a palliative care home patient that I visited who was in many respects a hermit. He was dying and the one thing that he really wanted from me as his nurse was to take the rusty white enamel pan from under his kitchen sink, fill it with warm water and carefully soak and wash and lotion his feet. I would wash his feet every time that I visited him.
I was the nurse who found him in his home when he had died and called the proper places and the distant estranged relative that he had listed. I felt sad that he had died alone but comforted that the wishes that he had shared with myself and the staff had been honored. I think sometimes it is more simple than all of the studies and technologies and plans that are available...It is listening with respect and serving
To serve is an honor and a raising up of the spirit.
To see the love and blessing in service is a gift from God.
Jesus at this point of the Gospel promises to
reveal his divine nature to the apostles
so that they may believe and receive him
as they would receive God the Father. I believe that we
are all sent into this world by God to be Christ
to each other. There are not always dramatic signs to be seen.
Many of the beautiful blessings are visible in the small daily moments in a common life. I have tried to learn to greet the God
within everyone and am often pleasantly rewarded by the responses to this expectation that I receive.
To this day there is one person that I think of when I see or hear of foot washing. He was a palliative care home patient that I visited who was in many respects a hermit. He was dying and the one thing that he really wanted from me as his nurse was to take the rusty white enamel pan from under his kitchen sink, fill it with warm water and carefully soak and wash and lotion his feet. I would wash his feet every time that I visited him.
I was the nurse who found him in his home when he had died and called the proper places and the distant estranged relative that he had listed. I felt sad that he had died alone but comforted that the wishes that he had shared with myself and the staff had been honored. I think sometimes it is more simple than all of the studies and technologies and plans that are available...It is listening with respect and serving
posted by Joan Morris at 11:12 AM
