Walk and Serve with Jesus May 11

Prayer
Where do you need me to go for you today, Jesus?

Is there a modern day Pisidia where you need me to take your word? Is there a desert I need to cross? Show me the way.

Come with me and dwell in my heart. Sustain me where you send me. Give me the humility to serve as you do. Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/051106.shtml

“With uplifted arm he led them out,and for about forty years he put up with them in the desert.” Acts 13:17-18

“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.” John 13:16-17

There are two things to think about today.
Thing 1: Your left foot.
Thing 2: Your right foot.

First, imagine walking with Paul as one of his companions. The speech Paul gives to the Jews in Antioch in Pisidia showed how God accompanied the Jews throughout history and sustained them in the desert, gave them wise judges and kings when needed and sought men like David, “a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.” So, too, did God accompany Paul and his companions. (There again is that concept of “acompanatuers.” We don’t do this stuff alone. We are constantly reminded that we exist community with Jesus and other believers and servers -- even if no one else is with us at the time).

Imagine accompanying the Jews on their Exodus. After 450 year in Egypt and in the desert, your feet would be pretty tired. The Jews and you NEEDED God to sustain them, to put up with them. God’s arm uplifted them to keep going so the promise could be fulfilled in their descendant Jesus.

Paul reminded his listeners of John the Baptist who said, “I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.”

Read to the end of Chapter 13 – and you’ll find that the Jews rejected Paul and Barnabas. So they “shook the dust from their feet” as Jesus told them and continued on with their mission.

Picking up in the Gospel, we hear Jesus’ speech after washing his disciples’ tired feet. Even though John said he was not worthy to unfasten the sandals of His feet, here we see Jesus humbling himself in service by washing the feet of his disciples, an act that no slave would be asked to do in Jewish society of that era.

After that act, Jesus gives a promise that God, through the Holy Spirit, will continue to accompany us on this journey and sustain us with the food He provides if we have the humility to serve as Jesus serves. “Jesus Saves.” Well Jesus does indeed do that but before Jesus saves, “Jesus Serves.” Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to inspire us so we may walk the earth for him and serve.

Get started today. Step 1: Just put Thing 1 in front of Thing 2. Say “Jesus.” Step 2: Put Thing 2 in front of Thing 1. Say “Serves.” Step 3. Keep repeating steps 1, 2, and 3.

Go wherever this exercise takes you.

Action

This weekend and in the weeks and month ahead, many of our friends and family members or their children, will graduate. They will walk down the aisle and close out one chapter of their life as they begin to open another. Support a graduate in their life as they choose a path to follow. Make sure they know, as John Germaine reminds us each Sunday, that God is at their side during their times of doubt and stress so they can be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.