Picking up sticks

Picking up sticks

Jesus … poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. (John 13:5)

Paul … gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire …(Acts 28:3)

As we read John 13, we are humbled by the Lord Jesus kneeling before His disciples like a household servant to wash their feet. Before the account of this incredible act of grace, we read that Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into His hands. The majesty of His deity is magnified in His stooping. Luke records that the disciples were disputing about who should be the greatest amongst them. Even after witnessing the lowliness of the Saviour, Peter, full of self-confidence, says to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake” (John 13:37). Against such demonstrations of the pride that so often can fill our hearts, the Lord gives us an example of the silent service of love.

In the final chapter of John’s Gospel, as the disciples land the fish they had caught under the direction of the Lord, they find a fire and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus invites them to eat breakfast, and He serves them bread and fish. Isn’t it amazing that the resurrected Lord still serves His disciples?

In Acts 28 Paul and his companions were on another beach. They were rain-soaked after being shipwrecked. Everyone, as God had promised, was saved and landed, by one means and another, on Malta. I have often visualised the ageing apostle, drenched and exhausted on the beach. I have imagined his friends telling him to sit quietly and rest while they made a fire. Like the Lord Jesus, Paul did not preach or pray. Instead, he walks along the sand, gathering sticks. This was not a self-conscious act; it was the natural response of a heart that followed the Lord, a heart that had learned to serve in love.

But God responded to Paul’s service in an unusual way, when a viper came out of the wood because of the heat and fastened on his hand. It was incredible that Paul had apparently carried the creature some distance, but it only fastened to his hand when everyone could see the creature bite the apostle. They expected Paul to die, but instead, he suffered no harm. Then the people changed their minds and said that he was a god. That event led him into the house of Publius, the leading citizen of the island. There Paul healed the father of Publius and began a ministry of blessing on the island, that started by collecting sticks.

When we follow the Lord and learn from Him to be gentle and lowly in heart, we are best placed to be used by Him in blessing. Paul never allowed his gift and ability to make him stand above others. He could say to the Ephesian elders, “You yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me” (Acts 20:34). May the Lord give us the grace to follow these examples of serving in love.