Holy Monday: The Basin and the Towel

Yesterday was the celebration of Palm Sunday. I pray you and I will continue to shout our grateful Hosannas to the blessed King. I pray also that we will take off our outer garments of pride and ingratitude, humbly spreading them on the ground for the coming of the Master in our hearts.

Yesterday, we officially began Holy Week.

Holy Week.

From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, we have an eight-day span that is highly evocative of the Jewish practice of presenting boys in the temple for the ceremony of circumcision and consecration (see Exodus 13:2,12; and Leviticus 12:8) in the sight of the Lord.

So, eight days after we commemorate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, we celebrate His resurrection -- in a way, signifying the circumcision of the earthly "foreskin" that kept Him in the ground and the consecration of a perfect Savior in the sight of God and humanity.

Yes, it is a holy week -- the agonizing final days during which the Son's earthly body was tried, tested, refined, and glorified for all to see.

The last days of Jesus on this earth point again to the blessedness of the incarnation of God. One of the chief advantages of the incarnation of God, the Son—God becoming flesh—is Christ being such a perfect example of the manner in which we, His followers, should live on earth while we await His return. The call for us to imitate Christ is not a hollow one because Christ Himself offers and grants His Holy Spirit to empower our minds, hearts, and limbs to embrace Christ-likeness fully and victoriously.

One example to consider during this Holy Week is found below:

"So He [Jesus] got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him . . . 'Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them'." 

John 13:4-5 & 14-17, NIV

Not only does the above passage highlight Christ’s humility, it also allows us to glimpse a portent of the much greater humiliation to befall Him as He washes more than our feet through His blood shed on the Cross. It further brought to mind His holy Word—once reserved for a few, now offered freely to all—that washes and cleanses the Church in order “to present her to Himself as a radiant Church, without stain and wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:27, NIV84). 

About fourteen years ago, I was introduced to the song below which expresses a most poignant truth for the heart of the Christ-follower:

"In an upstairs room, a parable

Is just about to come alive

And while they bicker about who's best

With a painful glance, He'll silently rise

Their Savior Servant must show them how

By the will of the water

And the tenderness of the towel

And the call is to community

The impoverished power that sets the soul free

In humility, to take the vow

That day after day we must take up the basin and the towel

In an ordinary place

On any ordinary day

The parable can live again

When one will kneel and one will yield

Our Savior Servant must show us how

By the will of the water

And the tenderness of the towel

The space between ourselves sometimes

Is more than the distance between the stars

By the fragile bridge of the Servant's bow

We take up the basin and the towel."

The Basin and the Towel, Michael Card

What stirrings this song unearths in my breast!

On this Holy Monday, might we ponder that which the basin and the towel might signify in our own lives? Might we ask the Holy Spirit to show us how we might wash the “feet” we encounter in our own life situations? Might we humbly approach our relationships and gratefully respond to our circumstances? Might we request a generous portion of His humility as we grow to love and serve those whom the Father has placed on our paths in the most basic of ways—as Jesus humbly portrayed?

Holy Jesus, Lord and Savior, 

we thank You for the gracious humility You showed 

in washing the feet of Your disciples. 

We thank You for the humiliation You endured on the cross 

when You bore the sin and shame of the whole world. 

You came to serve 

and gave Your life as a ransom for many. 

O Master, our Good Shepherd, 

teach us to serve You gratefully 

as we wash the feet of our sisters and brothers 

with the soap of love, 

the loofah of patience, 

the elbow grease of compassion, 

and the water of grace and truth. 

Help us to worship You 

by giving ourselves sacrificially to Your people. 

In Your name, O Christ, we pray. 

Amen.