The Secret to a Happy Life
It’s Thursday of Passion Week.
It’s the day before Jesus’ crucifixion, and the last thing we might expect Jesus to be doing is washing dirty feet.
Especially, these feet, that are connected to men behaving so badly.
As Friday fast approaches, Jesus has been telling His disciples about His impending suffering in graphic detail.
But instead of showing an ounce of concern for Him, they’re sitting at the table arguing over which one of them was greatest (Luke 22:24).
And leave it to the Lord to use this ugly incident to reveal a beautiful truth—a truth that’s more like a secret since most of the world doesn’t get it.
There are thousands of self-help books that promise to bring true happiness, which none of them seem to have delivered, since they keep flooding the market.
This is because no one in the world can tell human beings how to be happy, except the One who made human beings in the first place.
Only God has the answers to life’s biggest questions. And we’re about to get one of those big questions answered.
It’s a life-changing truth from the Last Supper:
Blessed (happy) will you be, I promise, if you do these things.
Anyone out there want to be happy?
I know I do—so let’s zone in here, because if Jesus makes a promise, it’s going to come to pass.
Here’s the context that comes before this exhortation and promised blessing:
Even though Jesus knows the terror that’s ahead for Him, which will begin in a few short hours with His arrest, He will remain others-centered to the very end.
But how exactly does Christ end up with a bucket of soapy water and come face to face with the guys’ dirty toes?
Well, in the providence of God, the household servant was MIA that night because these men needed to be taught a life altering lesson; that is, if they were hoping for a blessed life.
The servant (had one been present) would have been tasked to do what was considered the lowest chore of all, to wash the guests’ feet.
Since guests reclined around the table with their feet exposed, and because they traveled dirt roads in open-toed sandals, this foot washing was more than merely ceremonial!
Normally, if there wasn’t a household slave available, someone in attendance would volunteer and the job would get done.
But on this occasion, things are a bit complicated, aren’t they?
These men were jockeying for position, arguing over who was the greatest, so an offer to wash the other guys’ feet would be bowing out of the competition for Greatest Disciple Ever!
It would be pure defeet!
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
So the Second Person of the Godhead gets up from the table with joy in his heart, for He loves to serve.
He wraps a towel around His waist and begins to model what He’s been trying to teach them over the past few years.
In God’s eyes, true greatness means humble service.
Jesus told us, God considers people great, who are great at serving others (Matthew 20:26).
After the Lord wipes the last set of feet dry, He asks them that terribly convicting question:
You don’t think you’re greater than I Am, do you?
Because a servant isn’t greater than their Master—right? So if this kind of thing isn’t beneath Me, it shouldn’t be beneath you either.
And then the life-changing moral of the story:
“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17).
There it is.
A truth more precious than a chest full of diamonds, rubies, and sapphires.
Live humbly, serve others, and you will find true happiness—that’s one of the nuances of the word blessed.
And this advice is not from one of those silly self-help books; it’s a promise from the Living God.
Just one small (incredibly precious) takeaway from the Last Supper:
The secret to a happy life:
Serve others.
And do it from your heart.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others (Philippians 2:3-4).
