Grabbed by the scruff of the neck

I am continually amazed at the power of the Bible to leap off the page and grab me by the scruff of the neck. Never more so than when I read it in a different setting than usual. Never more so than yesterday.

In our devotions as a team, we are using the lectionary readings for Holy Week. One of the readings yesterday was Psalm 116, where the song-writer thanks God for delivering him: “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy... The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow… For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.”

Yesterday we spent the day visiting two hostels opened for children who live on the streets. We’ve seen many such children; they wash in drains, they are dirty, ragged, often sick, and I presume malnourished. They have no healthcare, no education, no hope. In contrast the children in the hostels were bright-eyed, energetic, smartly-dressed, clean, and confident. It was particularly brought home to me when a group of older girls, perhaps about 12 years old, performed a dance for us. These were children with self-respect, with confidence and with good reason to have hope. “You have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.” What a picture of salvation!

Of course yesterday was Maundy Thursday, the day of Jesus’ last supper, betrayal and trial. It was also the day when he washed his disciples’ feet and told them to do the same. For many of us, this trip to India is the first time that we have really understood what it is to have dusty, sweaty dirty feet, all the time. It makes me read the account of the foot-washing with more attention.

In the morning, we watched little street children (babies, really) being brought to a pre-school, showered and given clean clothes to wear while their own clothes were washed. “‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ Jesus asked them. ‘You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.’”

We read the gospel account alongside the hymn of Philippians 2: “Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” The passage charts Jesus’ downward trajectory (which includes his self-abasement to wash the disciples’ feet) Son of God to human to death to crucifixion, the most shameful death of all.

Reading this passage in the context of the slums of Calcutta made me wonder: if Jesus were incarnated – made human – in this city today, who would he choose to be? How low would he go? Even to live and die as a street-dweller of Calcutta. I am sure of it.

As I say, sometimes the Bible grabs you by the scruff of the neck.