Communal care

It may be a first-year college student problem, but of late I feel as though I have no free time. There are, of course, classes, which come with no small amount of work. I also have my job in the Campus Center for Young Children and daily practices for track. And then there are those little things that take a surprising amount of time: eating meals, cleaning the room, calls home, showering and that minor thing called sleeping. Upon realizing the time I “lost” to these things, I began to cut them out. First it was the occasional skipped dinner on Mondays, then it was a quick text to Mom: “I’ll call on Sunday, no time now.” As the workload increased, more things were removed. This culminated in the flu I caught the week before spring break. I became more or less incapable of doing anything without help. Help from my teammates at practice, help from my friends finding food and studying whilst having no energy, help from professors when all I wanted to do was sleep for a straight week.

This dependence on others, especially in light of my recent “cut out” incidents, is what I was thinking and praying on before writing this devotional, which is focused around Jesus teaching the disciples about the importance of communal care. I guess an extension on an assignment, or a glass of water and an Ibuprofen aren’t exactly the same as feet washing, but I definitely have a better understanding of the relationship between disciples.

I encourage you to remember to make time for the little things, which when combined create a big thing: community. I am unashamed in my need for my community and the Holy Spirit therein.

Scripture: John 13:1-17 (NRSV)

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, ⁴got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” ⁸Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” ¹¹For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” ¹²After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. ¹⁴So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.