Passover

But let’s return to the Passover celebration. When the argument about greatness broke out this time, Jesus took a different approach. Instead of talking to the disciples about servanthood, He showed them. Since no household servant was present, Jesus Himself took on that role (as the apostle Paul later explained in Philippians 2:7). The Son of God took a towel and a basin of water and began washing the dust and grime from His disciples’ dirty feet. While the echoes of the work greatness were still reverberating in the room, Jesus showed His disciples that the nature of true greatness is…humble service.

Even by the dim lamplight in that darkened room, I’m sure the beet-red faces of the disciples were plainly evident. Can you imagine anything more embarrassing than to be proclaiming one’s own greatness right before the Son of God washes your smelly, calloused feet?

But that’s why people love Jesus; that’s why Jesus was truly great. There was no pretense or presumption about Him. This humble Man was willing to lead by example and willing to put others before Himself. What is there not to like about Jesus?

Being like Jesus

It would have been convicting enough for Jesus to wash the disciples’ feet without saying a word. But when He finished, He said to them, “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 13:14-15).

It is perfectly clear that Jesus wanted His disciples (and that includes us) to be like Him. He was not calling us today to perform the same act of servanthood that was a custom in His day. Instead He was calling you and me to be people who are not above serving others. In the twenty-first century, what would such service look like? Cutting a neighbor’s grass? Changing the diapers of an incontinent, aging parent? Cleaning up the church grounds after a windstorm leaves the property littered with tree limbs and debris? Stepping up to serve in the church nursery when there is an unexpected shortage of workers? Doing a spouse’s chores when you know he or she has had a particularly hard day?

There is an infinite number of ways for us to serve as our Savior served. Some of the ways we can plan, and those are the “easy” opportunities. More challenging are those situations for which we don’t plan—those divine appointments that we find God has arranged, like the encounter my friend had with the desperate woman in the hospital emergency room. In such situations we find people desperately longing for someone to help them, to serve them, like Jesus would. In those situations we find the world hungry not for religion or Christianity, but for Jesus Himself.

David Jeremiah, Signs of Life, p. 163