Jesus was the greatest leader in history, and in this passage he demonstrates his divine method of servant leadership. He knew, John tells us, that his time on earth was coming to an end. We know from the Garden of Gethsemene that he had a real level of fear and anxiety around the crucifixion. He also knew that he loved his disciples, and would love them through all of what would come.
This included the one who he knew would shortly betray him to torture and death. He knew he was the second person of the Trinity, and was shortly to reclaim his place among the godhead – and yet his final acts were those of service to those far below him. And so he washed his disciples’ feet.
Keep in mind that this was a culture that wore sandals and walked along roads lined and caked with feces. A servant might be asked to wash your feet, just like a janitor might unclog a disgusting toilet, or a hospice nurse might clean bedsores.
And so when Jesus wraps the towel around his waist and goes to wash Peter’s feet, Peter rejects it. Someone so high doing something so low for someone so low offended Peter’s understanding of leadership. But Jesus explains that to reject his act of service is to reject his very self. This is a direct parallel with the cross – those who reject the service of Christ on the cross are rejecting Christ himself.
So Peter, who wouldn’t know a metaphor if it hit him in the face, begins to strip down to get washed from head to toe. (Ultimately, Peter will take the image of Jesus wrapping himself in a towel for this act of service and make it core to his image of the Christian life – “clothe yourself in humility.”)
Jesus forestalls him, and instead notes that all of them are clean because they have (or will have) accepted his act of service, with one exception. Judas will reject that offer of service and this remains unclean.
He then moves farther ahead in time, speaking to the church era when these men will found and lead congregations around the world. He calls on them, when they find themselves in positions of leadership, to lead as servants, to take the picture he has painted of servant leadership and replicate it down through the ages.
Within the Christian life, leadership is serving. The distinction between ruler and scavenger is non-existent in Christ. If we refuse to serve our wives, for example, by changing diapers or washing dishes because that is “her job” then we have already missed the point. If we serve from a selfish motivation, picking those services that are enjoyable or that let us claim special status, then we are not truly serving.
True Christ-like service draws no distinction between public and private service. Nor does it have a need to calculate results, whether external or internal. It is not driven by feelings or whims. It is action-oriented and Christ-focused. Once you have the right mindset, the challenge is actually doing it, without those external motivators.
It is difficult to give up the power and control that worldly leadership offers. Serving rarely pays off from a material point of view. Serving may well mean you perform worse, whether in a job or wherever else. Serving means making sacrifices to make those around you succeed, not you yourself.
– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA
John 13:1-16
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