THURSDAY April 17, 2025

HOLY WEEK DEVOTIONALS :
Maundy Thursday (Day 5) - The Heart Behind Humility

Written by Brett Bosworth

As a young kid I was not the humblest of human beings. I suppose that is a quality or
character trait that is learned with age and life experiences. Compared to the rest of the people my age I still believe I lacked. I’ll give you a couple examples and let you judge. When someone used to tell me thank you, I would fold up my arms, snarl up my face as if they had just said the most despicable thing a human could think of, and I would loudly reply back DON’T SAY THANK YOU! If that’s not the most embarrassing thing a mom would have to deal with, on other occasions when people would introduce themselves, I would reply “I don’t like you, you are dirty.” I can imagine mom wanted to crawl under a rock.

As adults we think that’s silly and that we would obviously never respond to someone that way, at least on the outside. We smile and say ‘hi’ or ‘you’re welcome’ but inside we are an arms folded, squint faced, tongue out little child. We see someone who doesn’t fit our idea of put together and think “ewe I don’t like you, you’re dirty”. Someone we dislike says “Thank you”, and inside you think “don’t say thank you to me, I don’t like you, you’re dirty” as we smile and say out loud “you’re welcome”.

So how is it that Jesus was able to wash the feet of his disciples? Feet are the stinkiest, smelliest, dirtiest part of a human’s body. In a time where showers were few and far between, body wash and Axe spray didn’t exist, no lotion, and no closed toe shoes. And He washed not just any disciples’ feet, but Peter’s, who would deny even being Jesus’ follower or being associated with him. If that’s not bad enough you have Judas who smiled and ate dinner with him, knowing that he was going to turn him in for 30 pieces of silver. Washing feet was seen as a servants job - if anything they should have
been washing Jesus’ feet!

Jesus was able to do this because humility is of the heart. It is not a learned reaction, like simply saying you’re welcome or smiling and saying hi. It’s not giving someone a compliment because they gave you a compliment or even replying “you did it better
than me”! True humility is washing feet - not just any feet, but the feet of people who do you wrong. Who has denied you lately like Peter denied Jesus? Who has betrayed you lately like Judas betrayed Jesus? Whose feet do you need to wash?

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