“Wash one another’s feet.”
JOHN 13:14
Serve one another humbly in love.
GALATIANS 5:13
It had to be one of the oddest and most awkward moments they had ever experienced. Of course, since the disciples had been following Jesus, the odd and awkward moments were surprisingly frequent. He was so different from anyone they had ever known. And now here it was the night of the Passover feast, and He did it again.
What did Jesus do this time? Walk on water? Raise the dead? Miraculously feed thousands? No. He did not perform a miracle that revealed His power as God. Instead He took the opportunity to reveal His heart as a friend.
The scene occurred in first-century Jerusalem. Most roads were made of dirt and were covered with a thick layer of dust. It was customary for hosts to provide a slave at the door to wash the feet of guests as they arrived. The servant would kneel with a pitcher of water, a basin, and a towel. If the host could not afford a slave, he or one of the early arriving guests would take upon himself the role of servant and wash the feet of those who came. What is interesting in this story is that none of the disciples had volunteered for the task of servant. They left that up to someone else.
That “someone else” was Jesus.
We should understand that the disciples did not sit on chairs during dinner—rather, they reclined around a low table. In such a setting it was common to have someone else’s feet near your face, so this task of washing feet was vital to the success and pleasure of the meal.
Jesus, their rabbi, must have embarrassed them all when He began to wash their feet. Chuck Swindoll writes, “Serving and giving don’t come naturally. Living an unselfish life is an art.”1 In John 13 we see Jesus, the master artist of unselfishness in action. We see a portrait of service.
Secret #5
Loving service.
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.
JOHN 13:1–3 (EMPHASIS ADDED)
Twice in this section we read that “Jesus knew.” Jesus knew who He was. Jesus knew where He was going. Jesus knew where He came from. He was secure and confident in His identity. This deep sense of spiritual security and personal confidence was His platform for love and service.
I have found that my ability to be a loving servant to others flows out of having the right attitudes about myself. When I get a real grip on how much God loves me, I am better able to love and serve others.
When Jesus got up to serve, He didn’t announce it. He just did it. Jesus didn’t have to prove Himself. When we’re caught up in proving ourselves, we fail to see the real needs of others.
Sometimes, like when our kids ask us tough questions, we think we have to have all the answers. Sometimes we act as if we live on a pedestal. We know we’re not perfect, but rather than admit it, we try to cover it up. Jesus never acted that way. His attitude was that He had nothing to prove. It was like He said, “I’m not doing this to prove that I’m a good person or to show that I’m better than you—but simply because I love you and you need it.”
In those days rabbis held positions of great esteem, especially over their disciples. You would never expect a rabbi to take the role of servant and wash feet. That would ruin his reputation. But Jesus wasn’t hung up on His reputation or position.
Jesus had already given up all the glories of heaven to come to earth and be a man. He laid aside His divine attributes and took the role of servant. He had already given up much and knew that He would soon give up even more. He had come to die.
Jesus clearly had nothing to lose. He wasn’t worried about His reputation. He was simply concerned about doing what needed to be done. It didn’t matter that He was the rabbi, the disciples’ master. It only mattered that He loved them and they needed their feet washed.
Jesus was a man of integrity. There were no skeletons in His closet. He had no dirty laundry. He could serve greatly because He lived rightly. He had nothing to hide, nothing to lose, and nothing to prove. He had all the attitudes of a loving servant.
I find that my own selfish attitude often hamstrings my ability to serve. Selfishness leads me to hide, to try to prove something, to hang on when I need to let go and serve.
Jesus expressed His love for His disciples through His service to them. Look back through this passage again and note the actions Jesus took to express His love:
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
JOHN 13:1–5 (EMPHASIS ADDED)
Love is always expressed. It goes beyond fond thoughts to obvious expressions. The Bible says that Jesus “loved his own.” Then it describes how He showed them the full extent of His love by serving them. If you love other people, your life should surely show it.
Expressing our love may not come easily. We’ve all heard about the middle aged couple who came in for marriage counseling. The counselor asked the wife to explain the problem and she said, “He does not love me.” The counselor looked at the man and asked if it was true. The man said, “No, that’s not true.”
The counselor turned to the woman and asked her why she thought her husband didn’t love her. She said, “Because he never tells me he loves me.”
Th e husband shook his head in disgust, “Woman, I told you I loved you when I married you and that if I ever changed my mind I’d let you know.”
Love that is unexpressed is love that is unrecognized. Jesus’ love was easily recognized because it was often expressed.
By its very nature, service is active. Jesus didn’t just sit around saying, “I love you.” He showed it by His actions. He got up, took off, wrapped, poured, washed, and dried. He met the need at hand. Real love is always active. It cannot sit still when there is a need to be met.
I read an interesting statistic the other day. Only 49 percent of the women in America said that if they had it to do over again, they would marry the same man. Yet of the women whose husbands helped around the house, 82 percent said they’d marry the same man again. Why is that the case? Because love is actively expressed.
What makes the events recorded in John 13 so memorable and startling is that what Jesus did was entirely out of character for a rabbi in that day. Rabbis were to be served. They were not about humbling themselves; they were into exalting themselves. That was the way it was done. Yet Jesus stood convention on its ear and lowered Himself to serve and to meet needs.
I find that my greatest obstacle in being a loving servant is … me. I’m always in the way. I’m too busy. I’m too tired. I’m too focused on myself and my situation to see the needs of others, especially those closest to me. Jesus showed us something most of us need to see—the art of unselfish living. Servants are willing to brush aside self in order to see what someone else needs and to act to meet that need.
Mother Teresa personified love through active service as she cared for the least of the least in the slums of Calcutta. In speaking of serving lowly people she said, “We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”2 When asked why she could serve so tirelessly she replied, “Love cannot remain by itself—it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.”3
As we mentioned in chapter four, the church at Philippi was divided. To help the Philippians understand how to experience relationships with unity, harmony, and spiritual intimacy, Paul pointed back to the example of Jesus.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
PHILIPPIANS 2:5–8
In this passage of scripture, Paul not only shows us that Jesus was a servant but also how we can become servants by following His example.
Philippians 2:6 states that Jesus, who had equal status with God, didn’t cling to the advantages of that status. If anyone had rights, Jesus did. If anyone laid down His rights to serve others, Jesus did. He had the right, as God, to have everyone serve Him.
We must get past the notion that we somehow deserve to have others serve us. We must lay aside the “right” to be served. We must stop expecting to be served. We need to be the ones who serve.
Philippians 2:7 says that Jesus set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave by becoming human. What a huge step down—from the lofty position of the infinite, almighty God to that of lowly human!
What staggers me most is that Jesus came to earth as a member of a lowly nation in servitude to the Roman Empire. I think if I were God and decided to become human in the first century, I’d at least make myself the emperor of Rome. But that’s not what Jesus did.
If I were God and chose to come to earth as a Jew, I’d be the powerful high priest in Jerusalem. Not Jesus. He was the son of a Nazareth carpenter in lowly Galilee.
If I were God and chose to become human, I’d at least come as an adult. Not Jesus. He came as a helpless newborn.
If I were God and chose to become a human baby, I’d be born somewhere clean and nice, surrounded by a huge, loving family. Not Jesus. He was born in a barn surrounded by cows and sheep.
The message to us is that true service is not selective. Once we adopt the attitude of a servant, no privilege is sacred. We will lay aside our perceived privileges and go to whatever point is necessary to meet the need. Nothing is beneath us. Nothing is too low for us to do in order to serve.
Philippians 2:8 tells us that Jesus did not take the servant approach for a brief period and then resume His rights and privileges as God when the serving became uncomfortable. No! He willingly abased and humbled Himself still further and carried His obedience to the extreme of death—and the worst kind of death imaginable to a Jew: crucifixion.
The application for us is that service is not a temporary activity we do to appease a guilty conscience or to make ourselves look better. It is a lifestyle we live out every day of our lives.
Jesus also did not take the servant mind-set based on how others received it. Jesus would have gone to the cross even if no one responded, because He was doing more than an act of service. He was obeying His Father’s will.
Ultimately we serve to please God, whether our service is received by the person being served or not. We do it anyway, because being a servant is who we are and such an approach pleases God. In fact, as Jesus modeled servanthood for us, God the Father was so pleased that He gave Jesus the highest position possible.
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus ever knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
PHILIPPIANS 2:9–11
God exalted and blessed Jesus after—and because—Jesus chose to be a servant. God will ultimately honor us and bless our relationships as we truly live as servants to others.
How do you stack up as a servant? Do you serve confidently as one who has nothing to hide, nothing to lose, and nothing to prove? Do you express your love and take action? Do you lay aside your rights and privileges in order to meet the needs of others? Are you becoming a servant by lifestyle or do you merely do occasional acts of service?
Notes
1. Charles R. Swindoll, Improving Your Serve (Nashville: W, 1981), 12, emphasis added.
2. Mother Teresa, www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mother_teresa_2.html.
3. Ibid.