Take the Place of a Servant

Walking with Jesus: Everyday Faith

Read slowly: John 13:1–17

Jesus knows that his hour has come and that he is returning to the Father. He also knows the betrayal approaching within the room. In that setting, John tells us that Jesus loves his own to the end.

Then the Lord rises from supper, takes a towel, and begins washing his disciples' feet. His love becomes an action they must receive and learn to understand. The final week of our series begins with this pattern: the Savior serves his people and calls them to serve one another.

Authority becomes the means of loving service

John 13:1–5

John places Jesus' knowledge of his relationship with the Father directly before his action. He knows that all things have been given into his hands, that he came from God, and that he is going to God. With that knowledge, he takes up the work of washing feet.

His identity is secure. He does not need to use his position to establish distance from the people around him. The Teacher and Lord directs his strength toward their care. The basin and towel reveal how his authority is exercised in love.

Sarah Henrich connects this act with the larger movement toward Jesus' willing self-giving in death.¹ The footwashing belongs within the love that carries him to the cross. The disciples are being shown something about their Savior before they understand its full significance.

We often measure a position by the tasks we can leave to someone else. Jesus gives authority a different purpose. Whatever responsibility or ability we have can become a means of attending to another person's need. Secure belonging to him gives us reason to serve without using the task to defend our importance.

We must receive what Jesus gives

John 13:6–11

Peter objects when Jesus reaches him. The reversal seems unacceptable: his Lord is washing his feet. Jesus answers that Peter does not yet understand, but will understand afterward. When Peter refuses again, Jesus tells him that without his washing Peter has no share with him.

The words reveal a need deeper than ordinary cleanliness. Belonging to Jesus requires receiving the cleansing he provides. Peter cannot determine the terms on which his Lord will save and serve him. His first task is to receive.

Matthew Henry draws attention to the connection between the washing and the cleansing needed for a share in Christ.² We meet a truth that has accompanied this whole series: Jesus gives what we cannot supply for ourselves. Humility includes allowing him to address our need in the way he knows is necessary.

Jesus also distinguishes the disciples who are clean from the betrayer he knows is present. An outward place at the meal is not the same as inward faithfulness. The scene holds his loving action together with his complete knowledge of those before him.

Receiving grace changes our service. We approach another person's need as people who have needed mercy ourselves. We can help without pretending that dependence is something only other people experience.

His example places a responsibility before us

John 13:12–17

After washing their feet, Jesus resumes his place and explains what he has done. They rightly call him Teacher and Lord. Precisely because he is their Lord, his action establishes a pattern they are to follow. They ought to wash one another's feet.

The example reaches the practical willingness to take a humble place for another's good. We attend to a real need, including a task that brings little notice or status. Love may take the form of helping someone with an ordinary burden, staying through an inconvenient responsibility, or using our ability to make another person's work possible.

Jesus says a servant is not greater than the master. We cannot appeal to our dignity as a reason to reject the kind of love our Lord has shown. His example questions the boundaries we draw around what we consider beneath us.

The passage ends by joining knowledge with action. Blessing belongs to those who do what they have learned. Understanding the scene is meant to change our conduct. The Lord who has served us gives us a way to recognize the next act of love: we can look at the need before us and consider what faithful care requires.

Words of Wisdom

Receiving Christ's care teaches us how to give care. We serve as people whose own lives depend on his cleansing and love. Let his example loosen the need to protect your status, and use what he has entrusted to you for the good of the person before you.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for the love with which you have served and cleansed us. Help me receive your grace humbly. Free me from guarding my importance, and teach me to recognize and do the ordinary acts of care your example places before me. Amen.

Sources Consulted