Servant King--Passion Week

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" 7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." 8 Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." 9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you." 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, "You are not all clean." 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13:3-17 (NKJV)

When I entered the room my nose was assaulted by an overpowering odor. I was getting ready to teach a room crammed full of about 50 youth and it seemed as if someone needed a bath. I sat on my stool, looked around the room--everyone looked fairly clean--and opened in prayer. When I was through, I looked up and one of the girls was raising her hand. She was a refreshingly truthful person who often spoke the truth before she thought about the effect of her words. She went after the elephant in the room. She said, "Something or someone really stinks in this room--it is really bad!" Everyone burst out laughing and then they began to smell one another. (This is not the recommended way to start a youth service at church) One of the guys yelled, "I found the source! It's Mark's shoes...they are really bad!" Mark's sister then spoke up, "I told him that his shoes smelled bad--if fact, they have made our home smell bad." Mark just laughed... And we promptly threw his shoes out of the room!

Shoes...socks...feet, not generally the body part that we spend much time lavishing care upon. Over time, warts, bunions, fungus, calluses make our feet fairly undesirable. Before Jesus shared the last supper with his disciples, he made sure that there were no underlying smells coming from His disciple's feet. He took the towel, the bowl of water and knelt before His disciples and began to wash their feet. PLEASE UNDERSTAND--this is God knelling before men tending to a very lowly task. Jesus washed the feet of Judas who would betray Him--the feet of Peter who would deny that he knew Jesus--and the feet of the rest of the disciples who would scatter and hide.

What lessons can we learn from our Servant King? That we should serve the needs of others even if they haven't earned the right. That there is no ministry beneath us. That God's grace is greater than our sins. That it is better to eat with clean feet! Jesus set a high standard for leadership in His Kingdom. "If you want to be great in God's Kingdom, learn to be the servant of all!"

Prayer: "Dear heavenly Father, Your Son, Jesus, set the bar high for all who say that they want to be like Jesus. He washed the feet of His disciples with the full knowledge that they were not going to stand up for Him. Even in the circumstances leading up to His death, He was putting the needs of others before His own needs. Lord, create a servant's heart in me--that I would unilaterally serve the needs of others--even those that do not like me. May I bring glory to Your name by following the example of Your Son. Thank you for Your love. Amen"