Ought
“If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:14
Ought – It’s simple accounting. Think about your debts. Do you owe money for your mortgage, your car, other loans, credit cards? What would you do if all of your creditors showed up at your door on the same day and demanded full repayment? Most of us would never be able to satisfy the demand. Jesus used this theme in Matthew 6:12 to show how impossible it is for us to fulfill the debt obligation we have to God. Here he uses the word to demonstrate another kind of debt: the debt to serve.
Opheilete is a word taken from the realm of finances. It’s what I owe. It’s not an optional payment or a voluntary gift. It is debt, plain and simple. I am obligated to repay. In this passage Jesus is saying that we need to pay close attention to His example, not because it is a nice thing to do but rather because just as He took on this obligation, so we also are obligated. Service is not an elective for a Christian. It is a mandatory commitment. If you follow the Lord and Teacher, you must pay the debt of foot-washing.
Most of us intellectually agree. We nod our heads toward this thought and say, “Yes, that’s right. I need to serve. Just look at all that I am doing for others. I give to the church. I sing in the choir. I teach Sunday School. I even volunteer for the Evangelism committee. I’m paying my debt.” But this is not the debt Jesus talks about.
Foot-washing is the dirty job debt. In Jesus culture, only the lowest of the slaves would be expected to take on this task. It is the job of complete submission: cleaning up someone’s dirt. Foot-washing is the task that never gets credit, the task that no one else wants to do, the task that is hidden away in a bowl of dirty water. Jesus says, “If I do this and I am your Master, how can you imagine that you are also not expected to do this? You are obligated to the dirty jobs.”
Is your debt being paid in the dirt or are you a “clean hands” Christian?
