Day 29
“For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.”1
The beloved New York Yankee baseball player, Henry Louis “Lou” Gehrig, had received a life altering diagnosis two weeks earlier, making sense of some of his growing struggles to play America’s game with his previous intensity. Having played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for his hometown team, the New York Yankees, Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, earning him the nickname “the Iron Horse.” Regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Gehrig had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, (ALS) the disease that today bears his name.
On this hot and muggy June day in 1939, Gehrig walked up to the microphones, surrounded by his teammates and a packed Yankee Stadium and gave his inspiring farewell speech:
“When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such fine looking men as are standing in uniform in this ballpark today.
Sure I’m lucky.
Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy?
Sure I’m lucky.
When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift -- that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies -- that’s something.
When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter -- that’s something.
When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body -- it’s a blessing.
When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed -- that’s the finest I know.
So, I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.”
Today’s reading from John 13 begins what has come to be known as Jesus’ Farewell Discourse, four chapters chock full of Jesus’ final teachings to His disciples given the night before His crucifixion. In this farewell speech Jesus offers comfort, predicts future challenges, commissions them with a new commandment to love one another, promises the upcoming gift of the Holy Spirit and prays for their unity. In today’s reading, Jesus uses the symbol and practice of washing feet to exemplify servant leadership, something He knew these guys would struggle with.
Read John 13:1-20
I love getting a pedicure. Sitting in the big massage chair, a book on Audible read to me through my Airpods, I close my eyes and drift off while the sweet nail technician works her magic. She doesn’t do this for free. I am happy to pay not only the salon’s fee for the complete footwashing, but give a generous tip as well. I can’t imagine feeling this same way, being able to close my eyes and relax if my boss was the one giving me my pedicure!
With his crucifixion imminent, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet as a final proof of his love for them, setting an example of humility and servanthood. More than that, though, is the significance of the washing away of sins made possible through Jesus’ upcoming death. In a striking demonstration of love for His disciples as well as His enemies, Jesus washes all of his disciples’ feet, including those of Judas Iscariot. Jesus’ act is all the more remarkable, as washing people’s feet was considered to be a task reserved for non-Jewish slaves. In a culture where people walked long distances on dusty roads in sandals, it was customary for home owners to arrange for water to be available for the washing of feet. Normally, this was done upon arrival, not during the meal. Perhaps the disciples and Jesus had already had their feet washed before entering the upper room where they were gathering, making Jesus’ act more confusing, even unnecessary.
Jesus makes His way around the room, washing the feet of man after man, until He comes to Simon Peter who balks at this gesture, going as far as to say, “You will never wash my feet.” (v 8) Jesus explains that if He is not allowed to wash Simon’s feet, then he does not belong to Him. The footwashing symbolized the washing necessary for the forgiveness of sins; to be bathed in the cleansing blood of Christ, through faith, making Simon Peter completely, once and for all, clean. Peter couldn’t understand this great grace yet, but needed to trust that Jesus did.
Of course Peter, the poster child of overcorrection, exclaims, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head,” (v 9) supplying Jesus opportunity to explain more fully the principle of washing. Those who have been washed through Jesus’ once-for-all death also need daily cleansing of their sins, symbolized by their frequent need to wash their feet. The disciples will understand fully only after the cross; for now, they grasp in part Jesus’ amazing humility, which will serve as a model for all of His future disciples.
The writer of Hebrews describes the principle of washing in this way:
“Therefore, believers, since we have confidence and full freedom to enter the Holy Place [the place where God dwells] by [means of] the blood of Jesus, by this new and living way which He initiated and opened for us through the veil [as in the Holy of Holies], that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great and wonderful Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, let us approach [God] with a true and sincere heart in unqualified assurance of faith, having had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10:19-22, AMP)
Big Picture Questions for Today:
Have you ever witnessed a foot washing in a church service? How did it make you feel? Uncomfortable? Were you so glad you weren’t in that chair while your pastor washed your feet?
How might you engage in a daily cleansing of your spiritual feet, dirtied by your journey through the brokenness of the world?
Pray for a greater understanding of this first installment of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse and how you might live fully connected to Christ, regularly receiving the washing of the Word.
Staff writer, “Luckiest Man” Our Stories: National Baseball Hall of Fame. https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/baseball-history/lou-gehrig-luckiest-man.
