There is an old saying, often attributed to no one in particular, that captures something true about the human heart: “everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to do the dishes”. We laugh at this because we recognize ourselves in it. The laughter, however, should not let us off the hook. It is a confession dressed up as a joke.
Jesus, who could have called down legions, washed feet. The God of the universe, on the night before His Crucifixion, knelt with a basin and a towel. This is not incidental to the Gospel. It is the Gospel. The Kingdom is built, slowly and unglamorously, by people who tend to what is in front of them: the crying child, the unwashed plate, the elderly neighbor, the spouse who needs forgiveness for the same thing again.
To despise the dishes is to despise the form God Himself took. The world will not be changed by those who refuse the small obedience. Wash the dishes, change the world.
Praise Be to God
