S8.14| In the Midst of Suffering: Lessons from Jesus Washing Feet
Carla draws inspiration from a poignant moment in biblical history—a moment that continues to shape our understanding of service, humility, and love. As she delves into John 13:4-5, Carla reflects on the profound act of Jesus washing His disciples' feet during the Passover, setting an exemplary standard for us all, especially during our times of suffering. Join us on this transformative journey, and be sure to stay connected by following us on social media at Carla Arges or at affirming truth.
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Key Takeaways
Servitude in Suffering:
Carla emphasizes the significance of serving others as Jesus did, even in the midst of our own tribulations. In the face of His impending death, Jesus chose to exhibit a humble spirit of servanthood, teaching us to look beyond our personal sufferings to tend to those around us.Prayer Over Wishful Thinking:
Loving the Betrayers:
It's a given—serving loved ones comes naturally. But Jesus washed the feet of even His betrayer, Judas. This episode challenges us to extend grace and love toward those who may not seem deserving, especially those who have caused us pain.
Sacrifice in Inconvenience:
Carla reminds us that true servitude often disrupts our comfort zones. Whether it was the Last Supper or the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus did not let inconvenience hinder His act of love. We are called to embody this same kind of sacrificial love, no matter the cost to our personal plans or comfort.
The Ripple Effect of Service:
Often, when we reach beyond our own pain to serve others, it acts as a remedy for our souls. Carla shares that serving with a Christ-like heart can bring an outpouring of peace and comfort to our lives, alleviating our own suffering through the act of giving.
Connect With Carla:
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Renewing Hope Course —-> https://www.carlaarges.com/renewing-hope
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Resources:
5 Steps to Building Resiliency
Affirming Truths Facebook Community
5 Tips for Overcoming a Negative Body Image
Who You Say I Am Biblical Affirmation Cards
TRANSCRIPT
Carla Arges [00:00:08]:
Hey, friends, welcome to affirming truths. I'm your friend and host, Carla Arjes. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith and root our identity in Christ. My hope is that you will leave each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review. I am so glad. Here, let's get started.
Carla Arges [00:00:35]:
Hey, friends, welcome to this episode of affirming truth.
Carla Arges [00:00:38]:
I am your host and your friend.
Carla Arges [00:00:40]:
Carla Arges, and I am so glad you're joining me. Today we're going to have a talk about suffering and what we should look like in the face of suffering based on what Jesus did. And we're going to be looking at John 13, four to five, and I'm going to dive right in and read it. So to set the scene, this is Passover. This is where we're having the last supper before Jesus is being crucified. And in chapter 13, verse four to five, we read, he rose from supper, he being Jesus, and laid his garments aside and took a towel and girded himself. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel he was girded with. In the midst of what was to come, Jesus washed feet.
Carla Arges [00:01:47]:
Can you imagine? Now, washing feet would be a humble job for anyone. But in the society that was like the lowest of the lows, even the jewish slaves and servants would avoid this task. And it would usually go to the gentile slave and service like that's how low and menial this task was of washing feet. That you have to understand. Back in the day, they wore these sandals. It's dusty. Their feet, after walking around, would be dirty, and that dirt would come into the house. So it was customary to have your feet washed by the servant, the slave, and not just any servant or slave, but the lowest of the low in the pecking order.
Carla Arges [00:02:38]:
So this was a huge act of humility, a huge act of emptying oneself out of any pride of any, any notion of being better than them, like God in the flesh, not only humbled himself to come to earth and be subject to the same things, the human body is subject to hunger, fatigue, like Jesus knew those things as he was human. But to do the lowest of the lowest task, and I want you to understand something. A few verses before it says, jesus knew that his hour had come. The weight of the cross was on his shoulders. A little while later, he would be sweating blood on the ground in Gethsemane asking God, take this cup from me if it's possible. He was in duress. He was stressed. He knew what was coming.
Carla Arges [00:03:46]:
He was suffering. Not only that, we see that he knew he was going to be betrayed by someone that he loved, someone that he trusted, someone that he poured into. I don't know if you've ever been betrayed by a friend or gone through a friendship breakup, but that's hard. That's hard. That's devastating. In the midst of all of this, Jesus washed feet. And I think that there is an important lesson here for us in our own suffering. You see, in our own suffering, we tend get really consumed with self, don't we? We get consumed with how hard things are, how bad we feel, how our suffering is showing up in our lack of sleep or pain in our body, how our suffering is making it hard to move through the day.
Carla Arges [00:04:39]:
We get really self focused in our suffering. And Jesus, being fully human, would have been tempted towards that, because we know it says in the word. He was tempted in every way. We are tempted. He would have been tempted in his humanity to be self focused, to want to escape, to do all of that. And yet, in his suffering, he demonstrated such an important lesson to us. That lesson, yes, being of sacrificial love. That lesson also being that we need the cleansing of Jesus.
Carla Arges [00:05:21]:
It was a foreshadowing to the greater cleansing that was going to come by his blood. But there's three things that I want us to take away from this story in our own suffering. Number one is that in the midst of his suffering, in the midst of understanding his hour had come. In the midst of feeling that weight, he served. He served. How often do we avoid serving others? How often do we say, I don't have capacity, I don't have it in me. I can't manage it. And yet, here, knowing his death, a horrible death, was impending, he served.
Carla Arges [00:06:07]:
So the challenge for us today is in our suffering, in our hard spot. How are we serving others? How are we bowing down in sacrificial love to others, as demonstrated by Jesus in our suffering, we're still called to serve. If we are to be made like Jesus, if we are to walk in the image of Jesus, if we are to use Jesus as our example, then we must, in our suffering, serve. Number two, he served even those he knew would betray him. Even in the hard stuff, it might be easy to serve our children and meet their needs. It might be easy to serve our husband and meet his needs. How are we serving those that are hard to serve, that are hard to love. The man that was going to betray Jesus to death, Jesus still washed his feet when he says to Judas, go and do what you're going to do.
Carla Arges [00:07:19]:
That wasn't until after the feet washing. He could have said that to Judas ahead of time. Go do what you're going to do. He didn't. He served him first. So who in your life is hard to serve? Maybe you have a real toxic boss. Instead of praying to God to change them or to remove you from the situation, have you considered praying blessing over their life increase over their life? Have you considered how you can go out of your way to bless them rather than just avoid them? Maybe it's a toxic family. Family member.
Carla Arges [00:08:08]:
How can you show them an extension of love today, even though they're hard to love? Where in your suffering can you go beyond yourself to someone who may even be the cause of your suffering? Judas was the linchpin and the cause for Jesus suffering, who is maybe causing some of your suffering. How can you bless them? And this doesn't mean being a doormat. This doesn't mean staying in abusive situations. Hear me out what this does mean, showing love. It's not without boundaries. But how do you show love to the people that hurt you or are causing suffering in the midst of your suffering? I sometimes have to ask myself this, too, with, you know, my certain family members that caused me pain. How can I? Even though they caused me pain in the past, even though they're likely to cause me pain in the future, and even though they caused me pain in the present, how can I be sacrificial in my love for them? One of the ways I've started practicing this is having an open door policy for my sister. And she always comes hungry, and I'm always ready and willing to feed her, even if that means I don't get a part of the dinner I made because I wasn't expecting her.
Carla Arges [00:09:48]:
And I'll eat something else, and she'll sit there and she will be negative and maybe even criticize me. But that's not the point. The point isn't about who she is or how she's behaving. The point is, is Christ in me or not? How am I exemplifying Christ in me? Are you serving those that are hard to serve? That's the true measure of being like Christ. The third thing I want you to notice is that he served in what many of us could say was a very inconvenient time. It was the Passover. He was about to meet his death. He knew his hour had come.
Carla Arges [00:10:33]:
Wasn't there anything else he could have been doing? Wasn't there more preaching he could have been doing? Wasn't there more healing he could have been doing? Wasn't there more, you know, discipling? He could have been doing. Although washing the feet was discipling. This was an inconvenient time. He's about to die. What does he do? Stop to wash feet? I don't know if I knew that my death was impending, if being sacrificial in my service would be the first thing I think of, would it be for you? We tend to think about ourselves at the most inconvenient time. He does the most humiliating task. He washes feet and he does it out of love. He does it to glorify his father.
Carla Arges [00:11:29]:
He does it to give an example to his disciples. He did not let the circumstance and the convenience or inconvenience dictate his act of love, his act of service. And I know for many of us, we say, well, I would serve more, but it's not convenient because I've got kids programs and I've got work, and I've got this. Or, you know, I would volunteer at church, but, you know, I really. It's just not convenient. It would mean I'd have to be at the door earlier or miss a service or not sit with my family like we are a convenience driven culture. We want convenience. We want fast.
Carla Arges [00:12:16]:
We want right now. We want what serves us before we serve others. It has to cost you something, though. True. Sacrificial, right? It's sacrificial love. That means it's got to cost you something. It's got to cost you your convenience. It's going to cost you your comfort.
Carla Arges [00:12:37]:
It's going to cost you your pride. It's going to cost you. Are you willing to pay the price to glorify God even in the midst of your suffering? I mean, some of these things are much easier to do on your mountaintop. You have to understand, Jesus was not on his mountaintop here. Yes, they had sung Hosanna welcoming him in, but he knew that the time of yelling crucify him was upon him. This was not his mountaintop. And even in the midst of his valley, even in the midst of the shadow of death, a very real death, he inconvenienced himself. He sacrificed himself before the ultimate sacrifice.
Carla Arges [00:13:28]:
He served in the midst of his suffering. He served in the midst of his suffering. He served the one who was about to be a leading cause of his suffering. In the midst of his suffering, he created an inconvenient time to serve. Are you getting this? How can we look outside of ourselves in our suffering? Where can we bless others? Where can we sacrifice and get uncomfortable and be inconvenienced for the glory of God to serve others? And can I tell you in my own experience that when I've been at my lowest and I have gotten outside of myself to bless someone else, and sometimes that blessing is just sending an encouraging text to someone, right? When I have gotten outside of myself and blessed someone else, it has been life giving to me. You know, sometimes it can be such a battle in our head to go do this thing, but it's the very thing that helps bring healing balm to us, right? God gave us this example. When we follow in Jesus example, the Holy Spirit works in us peace and comfort and joy and perseverance and endurance in all the things that we need in order to be equipped to meet our suffering. Jesus was suffering, and he served.
Carla Arges [00:15:07]:
Jesus was weighed down with the reality of his situation, and he served. I want to encourage you today, in the midst of what might be a trying circumstance, to look outside yourself and say, God, where can I serve? Where can I bless others? Lord, lead me to where you want me to represent sacrificial love and be willing to go and do what God calls you to do in those moments. My affirming truth for you today is in the midst of my suffering. I will look beyond myself to serve and glorify God. And my anchoring verse comes from mark 1045. For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus, our prime example, whose likeness we are being transformed in, came not to be served, but to serve, even unto his death. His death was an act of service.
Carla Arges [00:16:16]:
How can we die to self, to serve others, to glorify our father? That's my challenge for you this week, friends. Be blessed. I'll talk to you next time.
Carla Arges [00:16:33]:
Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media, but if we're not, come find me on Instagram at Carla Arges or at affirming truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week.
Carla Arges [00:16:46]:
Bye, friends.