I wished that I could remember who said this. I saw it and can’t forget it, perhaps because I am guilty.
“Everyone wants to overturn tables, but no one wants to wash feet.” People see Christ’s anger at the money changers in the temple as “permission” for righteous anger, but they forget his humble act of service at the Last Supper.
I recall having conversations with a university colleague about what I considered my righteous anger and indignation that I had for the university’s leadership, particularly how it seemed so unconcerned about its role as stewards of the God-given abilities of staff, faculty and students. He would try to calm me down, but I felt justified in how I felt, even though it would wake me at night. This went on for years. It is easy to excuse one’s own such feelings.
We are responsible to God for everything we do. I was angered by the lack of recognition of that fact in the decisions made by leaders, particularly in how those choices affected people, especially my team. I was guilty of wanting to “overturn tables.”
There is a time and place for indignation, and our emotion-filled society that is hyper-attuned about “feelings” feeds the desire to “overturn tables” when we see behaviors we believe to be neither right nor righteous. It is those conditions, too, that neutralize the humility to do another great act that Jesus performed: washing the feet of his apostles.
There are many ways that we can serve others with humility. Few of us have the opportunity or the call to serve like Mother Theresa did, a contemporary example of living a life of service akin to Christ’s washing of the feet. There are other ways that we can humble ourselves, dispel our pride and open our hearts, time and talent in service to others in ways that seek neither fame nor recognition nor acknowledgement.
Perhaps the question we can respond to is simply, “What can I do that shows my love for this person in this moment?” Maybe it is sharing a smile, or opening a door, or providing food, or spending time to listen, or tending a wound (physical, spiritual or emotional). We are not “above” any act of love, no matter how subtle or simple it may be.
There are times to turn over tables, but there are more times to wash feet.