Knollwood Community Church: Burke, VA

At Your Service - Part II

by Brian Conaway on September 3, 2010

“When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘we are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’” [Luke 17:7-10]

Jesus was a king, but no one recognized Him as such during His earthly ministry with maybe the exception of Pontius Pilate during His trial. He didn’t act like the earthly kings discussed in the previous blog entry. No, Jesus came serving, not to be served. He modeled for His disciples what He wanted them to do upon His departure back to the Father. Once again He turned an accepted cultural practice upside down. To be greatest, one had to become the least. To be a leader, one had to become servant of all. And Jesus practiced what He taught. I don’t think the disciples understood this fully until they received the Holy Spirit during the Festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) that occurs annually 50 days after the Sabbath after Passover.

His best illustration of this was recorded in the gospel of John. During the Passover dinner (aka the last supper) we are told that Jesus got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist and took a basin of water and began to wash the disciples feet. They were stunned, aghast that their rabbi, their master, would lower Himself to do such a thing. The washing of feet was a chore usually assigned to the lowest slave or servant in a household. Israel is a dusty place in the dry season and sandaled feet got very dirty. It was a custom and sign of hospitality to provide guests with water to wash their feet upon entering a house or if the host was wealthy enough, to have a servant wash the guests feet. Jesus’ disciples knew this, of course, and thus the reason for their shock when He did it for them. Peter initially refused to have his feet washed for this very reason and asked Jesus why He was doing it. Jesus told him and the others they didn’t understand why now but they would later and that if he refused to have his feet washed he could no longer be His disciple. Peter was so upset by that possibility that He asked Jesus to wash not only his feet but his hands and head, as well.

Afterwards, Jesus explained why He did it. “After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.”

We, as disciples of the Rabbi, are called to a life of Christian service. It is a tremendous privilege to serve in the Kingdom of God and our response when we do should be, “…we are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.”