Learning to do the unexpected—this is what following Jesus means

By Dean Collins

Most of us like things to be as expected. When I get up in the morning I expect the coffee maker to work, the door to open when I walk out on the screened porch, the birds to be starting their morning communication with each other, and on and on. When I pick up my phone I expect the signal to be good. I expect my iPad and computer to boot up. When I go to my favorite restaurants I expect the menu to be the same and the food to taste the way I knew it would. We all have lots of expectations about how things are supposed to work. 

Interrupting our normal expectations usually prompts a sense of frustration. The unexpected is usually seen as something negative that will cause delays and probably cost money to fix. Unexpected things interrupt the routine. But what if following Jesus is all about delivering the unexpected routines of life with moments of love, kindness, and generosity? 

Reading through the 13th chapter of John, we find that Jesus continued to do the unexpected. Jesus was in his last few days before his crucifixion. For three years the expectation of nearly everyone was that Jesus would do another miracle. The disciples had witnessed many healings, seen demons cast out, watched Jesus walk on water and calm storms, and cater large groups out of a lunch sack.  People followed Jesus expecting him to do something grand and to tell riveting stories. But on this evening none of those expected things would take place.

Unexpected service

Everyone had arrived for supper and was already reclining at the table when Jesus did the unexpected. He rose from the table, took off his outer garments, grabbed a towel and tied it to his waist, poured water in a basin, and began to wash his disciples’ feet. The reaction of those around the table indicated that no one expected Jesus to do what was thought to be the job of a household servant. 

No one expected Jesus to do what was thought to be the job of a household servant.

In Luke 22 we learn that Jesus had earlier sent Peter and John to prepare for the supper they would eat in the upper room. They asked Jesus where they were to prepare, and Jesus told them they would meet a man carrying a jar of water when they entered the city and that they should follow him to the room that would have everything they needed to make preparations. It seems logical to me that the jar of water the man was carrying was the water needed to wash feet and to make other preparations.

In John 13 either the disciples had no expectations of anyone washing their feet or they figured Jesus would have secured a servant for the job. After all, Jesus had somehow made arrangements for the food to be in the room, so maybe he took care of the necessary clean-up, too. The unexpected twist was that Jesus would be the one to do the humble task for his friends.

Jesus pushed back against the resistance and surprise of the group and quietly insisted on completing his service to them, teaching them that they should remember this moment and replicate it by serving each other and those they encountered.

Unexpected reactions 

As the disciples shared the meal, Jesus said one of them seated at the table would betray him this very evening. That was unexpected news for the disciples. Soon after the announcement, the identity of the betrayer became obvious. Judas left the table and proceeded to meet those who had paid him for his betrayal.  Then we see what I think is the next unexpected moment. 

I suspect we would have handled this moment differently than Jesus. It seems this would have been a good time to call out Judas, to brag about how you knew he couldn’t be trusted, or maybe to use Judas as an example of how not to act.  But Jesus did none of these things. Instead, he shared that he would be going to a place where they could not follow. And then he issued a new commandment about love. 

“A new commandment I give to you,” he said, “that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Unexpected kindness

We often talk of the challenges of following Jesus in this post-modern world. But what if it is not as hard as we make it out to be? What if following Jesus is less about convincing the unbelieving culture how right we are and how wrong they are, and more about a ministry of unexpected kindness, even to those who lie about us and betray us?

What if we could learn to love in unexpected ways and at unexpected times? What if we could learn how to react calmly or not react at all when others persecute, betray, lie, or steal from us? I suspect the more we act with unexpected kindness to others, the more we will end up in friendships that lead to conversations about what is in us that allows us to be and act very differently from the expected ways of our culture.

Lord, today we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would move us to act with unexpected kindness and grace to someone who needs to experience you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Luke‬ ‭22‬:‭8‬-‭13; John‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬-‭38 ‭ESV‬‬

Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash
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