Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. John 13:1,2 MSG

What would you do if you knew you only had a few days to live?

Hollywood has depicted this in movies, and many a character hops a plane and travels to the most exotic locale they can think of to live a life of luxury until their day of reckoning. Would you do that? Maybe you would go skydiving or bungee jumping, get that tattoo, or do something wild and crazy you had always wanted to do but never made the time for. Would you spend every last dollar you had eating all your favorite foods and doing all of your favorite things? Would you throw a big party and invite everyone you know so you could go out with a bang and a spotlight?

Lots of different things might make that list for each of us, but there’s one thing that likely would not:

Washing the feet of our friends.

Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world and go back to the Father. He knew the Cross lay ahead, and he knew the pain and suffering that was to come with it. He had it in his power to do anything he wanted in those days before the Cross: seek out his family to say his goodbyes, indulge in food and drink, fight back against the injustices he knew were coming, even run. He didn’t do any of those things; he chose to spend his last days with his friends, whom he dearly loved. He didn’t spend idle time with them wallowing in self-pity, either: he spent it actively teaching them by serving them. 

Jesus loved them to the very end by leaving them with a poignant example of the way they were to serve one another. There were no wild and crazy antics, no attention seeking, no party celebrating his life. There was only the guest of honor humbly washing the feet of his friends.

God, open my eyes to the ways I can be of service to others today. Help me to remember that it doesn’t matter if I’ve got fifty years or fifty days left on this earth, there is always time to show others an accurate representation of You through service. Amen.