There are no “normal” days in Africa and I absolutely love the constant diversity of experiences when it comes to ministry. Some days we share love with the kids and other days we cook with the mamas of the village. This particular day Mama Mataconi wanted to cook for us. She was a former teacher who was teaching us how to “cook”. When I say cook I do not mean go to a market, pick up a frozen chicken, put seasoning/oil on it and place it in the oven. Cooking a chicken in Malealea means going into your chicken coop, running after a chicken, slaughtering it, cleaning/gutting it, and then starting a fire to cook it.
And this is how we went about the day except for one turn of event. After we went into the chicken coop to chase after the chicken Mama Mataconi chose to prepare for us, she told us to put that chicken back. She then gazed back to the coop and pointed to one of the largest chickens. She wanted to give us one of her best possessions to prepare to serve us with more food. To some it might seem like a little bit more food on a plate at a friend’s house but in this African valley almost all of their valuable possessions are represented in the animals they own. Here I was in African wanting to serve and share Jesus’ love, but instead this woman with a two roomed house is wanting to give her best to us for no reason but to serve in Christ’s love. For me this was a splitting image of Jesus washing the disciples feet.
If then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed you feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly I say to you a servant is not greater than a master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13
This teacher and mama gave me a new perspective on how to see serving in this world. Serving through Christ is not merely doing things you want to do for others that shows love, but isn’t really a sacrifice. This woman didn’t give us the smallest chicken in the coop. Jesus didn’t wash the head or hands of the disciples but the feet. And let me tell you, if they were anything like my feet after hiking on dirt paths in Africa they aren’t pretty! Jesus didn’t just serve this way to His followers but He also washed the feet of Judas. As I move forward in the Race I want to “wash one another’s feet” the same way Jesus has washed my dirty African calloused feet and Mama Mataconi chose a bigger chicken. I get the opportunity to love on people the way Jesus loves on us. I want the word sacrifice to mean instead of giving something away, it means giving something up for a higher purpose even if I don’t know what that is. It is trusting the Lord knows and has done the same in our life. The Lord in heaven found joy washing the feet of the disciples. He did not need to do this, His love is perfectly complete. He just simply wanted to show us a physical representation of His love. God sacrifice the best thing He had, His Son for a greater purpose–for us. That day I realized that sometimes it takes my Teacher and a teacher in Africa to understand the heart of sacrifice.
