Living As Servants
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Key Verse: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.” Selected Scripture: |
SIX DAYS BEFORE Passover, Jesus had been in Bethany where he had dinner with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, a short time after Lazarus had been raised from the dead. Jesus then made a triumphal entrance into Jerusalem with his disciples for his last meal with them.
According to John 13:2, they were having the Passover Supper together. When supper was ended, Jesus taught them a very important lesson. It begins with an announcement that Jesus knew his hour had come to depart from them and go to the Father. “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” (vs. 1) He knew that the Devil had already put it in the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him.
During the supper, Jesus—knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was going to the Father—got up from the table, wrapped a towel about himself, poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, including Judas, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (vss. 4,5) When he reached Peter, the apostle asked him, “Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered …, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. … If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” Peter then exclaimed, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus replied that washing his feet was enough. (vss. 5-10) Having explained his actions to Peter, Jesus went on to offer a more detailed account of what he had just done. The Master acted as a servant to his disciples, and wanted this example to be understood as the service they were to offer to one another.
Our Lord, their acknowledged Head and Master, had humbled himself to serve them all, and at the same time set them an example that would apply to every affair of life. We may readily see that this washing of one another’s feet applies to every humble service of life. All should be glad to perform acts of kindness, especially the services of tenderness which would be along the lines of spiritual assistance and comfort. We should look for such opportunities on every occasion, both in the great things as well as in the common things of life.
The example which our Lord set was not so much in the kind of service it was, as in the act of service. This pattern was not to be a ceremony performed by the Lord’s people annually, or at any other time; but it was the principle of this service that constituted the lesson. We are to love and serve one another, considering no courtesy too menial to be performed for another’s comfort and good. The principle is summarized in Jesus’ words, “The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”—vss. 16,17
Jesus had demonstrated his humility to all of God’s angelic creation when he left heaven to become flesh. He continued to display this humility as the Apostle Paul tells us, “[He] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Phil. 2:7,8) Thus Paul admonishes us to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”—Phil. 2:5