There is a saying…get the ball rolling. It means, get started. Do something.
Do the first thing and then the next steps will follow.
When a ball starts rolling, it tends to keep going on its own.
At the Last Supper, Jesus got the ball rolling.
The disciples were in the upper room. They were standing around. They might have looked at each other, wondering.
Who was going to wash feet?
In a dusty climate, washing feet was a servant’s job. But it needed to be done.
Who would do it?
The disciples looked around. No one moved to do it.
Then Jesus did it. Jesus got the ball rolling. He washed the disciples’s feet
He started the first action that would lead to the Last Supper and on into the Garden of Gethsemane, the Betrayal, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection.
When things are stalled, when things are stopped, when nothing is happening, it might be time to be a servant. It might be time to do something that God leads you to do for someone else. That might be the catalyst that gets the ball rolling.
John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God, 4 arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered him, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.”
8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
10 Jesus said to him, “Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For he knew him who would betray him, therefore he said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you. 16 Most certainly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither is one who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’Psalm 41:9 19 From now on, I tell you before it happens, that when it happens, you may believe that I am he. 20 Most certainly I tell you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me, receives him who sent me.”