Have you ever watched someone be far, far more loving than you, and wondered how they do it?
I can think of a lady who, in caring for her husband with worsening dementia, showed endless patience, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, helping him with the same ordinary little things, over and over and over again. I never saw her cross, or even a little irritated at her husband for his inability to do the simplest things or to remember anything from one minute to the next. I often wondered how I would be in a similar situation, and I’m pretty sure I would soon be irritated. Her beautiful character was a mystery to me – how did she do it? What made her tick so much better than me?
How Jesus ticked...
In John 13, the author opens a fascinating window onto how Jesus ticked. A few verses into the chapter, Jesus will get up from the table, take off his outer clothing, wrap a towel around His waist and begin to wash the filth from the feet of every single one of His disciples, including those He knew would abandon Him, deny Him, or betray Him.
How did He do what no one else present wanted to do? What made Him, of all people, willing to serve in the most menial way? What made the Messiah tick?
John gives us two reasons. The first is simply love. ‘Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end’ (v.1). This group of ordinary, weak disciples were people Jesus loved to bits! He cared more about them than about Himself. He lived to be a blessing to them, no matter what it cost. Indeed, He would soon die to be a blessing to them, not counting the cost.
The second reason grabs my attention still more. ‘Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist.’ (vv.3-4) He took those actions while absolutely convinced of two things.
The first thing he knows is His absolute power to do anything at all in the entire universe. The Father had given everything into His hands, to do with as He wanted. He has totally free choice, He operates utterly without restraint, and He knows it.
What do you get excited about doing when you are given a completely free choice of what to do? For me, it’s most naturally about kicking back, sitting down, stopping work. My default mode is self-focused, self-serving.
Jesus is entirely the opposite. He chooses, because He wants more than anything else in the universe, to serve those He loves. He is so beautiful!
The second thing He knows is that He had come from God and was returning to God. My best guess is that this combines a sense of purposeful, vital mission to accomplish with a sense of absolute, unshakable security not even that perilous mission could shake. He is sent and He is safe.
Jesus’ taking of the towel happens in part because this is why He came, and in part because He has no need to protect anything of His dignity, or His status. It is already unshakably certain.
This then, is what makes Jesus tick, what drives him to ultimate service. His love, His mission and His security. These three combine to make Him the most beautiful, most loving, most effective human being ever.
And so it’s really rather wonderful that all these things are also given to us! The law of love is now written on our hearts, by the Spirit of Jesus. We are drawn to the idea of loving like Jesus loves, it moves us and appeals to us, and His Spirit sets us free to do what we now truly, increasingly, want.
He makes us tick differently, tick better. We are also sent on just the same mission – Jesus’ mission – to make disciples for Him out of sinners like us. There is no greater purpose for a human being to pursue. And finally, we are secure in exactly the same way, for we will certainly be raised with Him and appear with Him in glory
Jesus ticked so beautifully. And by His grace, by His Spirit, so can we.
