Jesus cares about you. Yes, Jesus cares about you, me and all of us even when we are so tired, or exhausted, that we feel like we cannot care about ourselves!

Picture the scene as a literal throng of people herding sheep, goats, and donkeys descended onto Jerusalem for the Passover feast some 2000 years ago. Imagine the noise, the jostling and the effort it would take just to walk through the crowded narrow streets. In those days, municipal dumpsters didn’t exist so manure, garbage and stench covered the filthy roads. On a windy day, with all this extra traffic, we can only imagine what volume of filth must have clung to people’s feet and legs.

After a long day of walking far from the comforts of their homes, the disciples finally entered the Upper Room in Jerusalem and took their places at the table. It didn’t matter that their feet stunk and dust hung from their legs. Nor did it matter that a towel hung on the wall and a pitcher of cool water sat on a table. . . It simply never occurred to them to wash even their own feet, because they were all hungry, and way too tired to even care.

That is. . . except for Jesus. Even though he must have been as exhausted as the others, his huge heart never missed a beat. What an opportunity to show his friends how much he truly loved them. When Jesus began to wash the grime off his disciples’ feet, he knelt one-by-one before them and did a task reserved for the lowest servants. Only hours before his own death, Jesus’ most pressing concern was to show his disciples his love – by serving them. Telling time was over. For Jesus, right now, in his truly humble and memorable way, it was showtime.

Can we even imagine watching Jesus as he gently took the sandals off Judas’ smelly feet? The sandals would have been caked with a mix of mud and manure, so just undoing the straps would have taken effort. As Jesus tenderly washed the dirt and grime from Judas’ legs, rinsing the towel and cleaning again, he knelt before Judas and looked up into his eyes as he loved him with a genuine smile.

Later that night as Jesus knelt in the garden to pray. With the weight of the world on his shoulders and the knowledge of what he was about to endure looming, his very closest friends fell asleep. But Jesus didn’t. He continued to care. He continued to embrace the cross for the sake of his friends – for the sake of us.

Best of all, we’ll know when we are so exhausted that we need to rest, we can rest assured that Jesus still cares for us. Simply knowing this can inspire us to care again, to keep serving, even when it’s hard. . . To keep on loving, even when we don’t feel loved.