Stinky feet

As a teenager, I was initialy mentored in the ministry by a minister named Alex that ran a coffeehouse outreach in Spanish Harlem, NYC.  Rough neighborhood.  Lot's of drugs, gangs and crime.  But I loved being a part of this coffeehouse ministry that was conducted in an old 3-story brownstone townhouse on 105th Street.  We saw countless of needy folks come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ during the hippy-type concert & spoken word gatherings. 

In my young mind I thought, "If this is the ministry, I'm going to love it!".  It was thrilling. Then one late, late Friday night, after the crowds had left the brownstone and we had straightened things up, I plopped down on a couch to wait for Alex to drive me home in the South Bronx.  Then I heard him calling from the second floor, asking me to give him a hand with something.  When I arrived, he was in the bathroom with his arm inside the commode, trying to unplug it.  Ugh. Then he told me something that forever will be branded in my memory. "Albert, you need to know something important.  THIS is the real ministry!"

There's a story in the Bible that echos this incident.  After a wonderful time of food and fellowship, Jesus repositioned Himself, tied an apron/towel around His waist, filled a basin with water, and began to wash the feet of the disciples. This really made them very uncomfortable.  Washing stinky feet? The Messiah?   Ugh.

You see, while the disciples were pursuing a "title", Jesus was ministering with a "towel".