Wash One Another’s Feet

"For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves."
~ Luke 22:27 (NKJV)

"You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you."
~ John 13:13-15 (NKJV)

"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' "
~ Matthew 25:40 (NKJV)

Though Luke’s Gospel doesn’t include Jesus washing His disciples’ feet, it records the disciples disputing yet again who shall be greatest and Jesus’ reply. John’s Gospel omits the dispute, and simply relates that at supper’s end (when the disciples were surely relaxed with wine and full stomachs), Jesus the Master becomes the One who serves in the most menial capacity.

Jesus left behind a profound image as a last act of service before His death. He strips off the elite robe for which his mockers will soon cast lots. He washes from feet the street mire and dung into which His face will soon be pressed. He bows down before the men sitting at the table as if they are greater than Himself—men about to deny, betray and abandon Him.

We’ll be tempted to see some task as beneath us—to see ourselves as better than the man or woman who does it. There are some people we can’t imagine bowing before in menial service. Jesus asks us to put not ourselves in their place, but to put Him there, and recalculate the measurement we use for one who serves.

O Lord, we’re ever inclined to think too much of ourselves. Please give us a bigger view of Yourself. Enable us to exalt You in our lives so highly that after we’ve praised You on Sunday morning, we live throughout the week in Your example of One who serves.

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