It was just before Jesus was arrested and crucified. While Jesus and the disciples were at their last meal together, Jesus stunned everyone in the room by wrapping a towel around himself, pouring water into a bowl, and bending down and washing the feet of each disciple! Why would He do this? Why at this time? As I have thought over events in my life as a pastor, I have come to a conclusion about my relationship with the Lord. He doesn’t owe me an explanation. When He does something in my life, He doesn’t hold a news briefing with a time for Q and A. While washing the disciples’ feet (a task ordinarily done by a slave), Jesus did tell them one thing: “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7). In our faith walk with Jesus, we don’t have to anguish over trying to figure out everything. Our “task” is to take the risk and let Jesus do His will in our life…whether we have a clue or not as to what He is doing. In His comments to the disciples, Jesus creates a contrast between now and later. We won’t always get it now. We often scratch our heads as we face unexpected surprises and challenges to our faith. The now becomes the arena where we must exercise what we say we believe. As we walk with Jesus, we can trust Him in the moment because we recall all the times in the past when He has proven himself faithful. This is the “hindsight” that sees from the vantage point of later. We must believe that what we cannot see or understand in the now will make sense in the later (even if the later means heaven). As we anticipate the joy of Resurrection Day, we look to Jesus and realize that He had to pass through the now of present pain and great chaos in order to experience the later joy of eternal victory! So, let’s remember that in this world sometimes we will sigh, “I don’t get it!” But our greatest need is not “getting it” as much as trusting our way through it. Just trust Jesus right now. You will understand later.

Pastor Mark Boucher