Symbols for Servanthood

Maundy Thursday

April 20, 2000

John 13:2-5

This passage in John 13 can be properly understood only in the broader context of verse one which says, “Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (NAS95) In other words, what Jesus is about to do is a divine display of what love means. Even so, this might be one of the most anticlimactic passages in Scripture.

Consider for a moment what Jesus already knew. He knew betrayal was knocking at the door. He knew the cross was eminent. He knew the betrayer was amongst the twelve. Jesus also “knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” But, those he loved still did not understand the fullness of divine love. “So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and”—get this—“wrapped a towel around his waist. … poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet.” Now, isn’t that just a bit anticlimactic!

Because of what he knew we might expect the Scripture to end in a different manner. We might expect to see Jesus taking his seat at the head of the table and now having his disciples attend to him. We might expect to see Jesus turning aside from his disciples to be alone, so that he could focus his thinking on himself and his task. We might even expect that Jesus, so cognizant that he was destined for glory, could never condescend to perform such a menial task. Who would have faulted Jesus if he had reacted in any of those ways?

But that is not what happens, is it? Instead we see the King of kings and Lord of lords, the very God of very God assuming the duties of a slave and washing his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel. What an anticlimax! And so we see the symbol of servanthood in a towel the Savior used.

Christ and the Towel: Of course, Jesus did not consider his act of love an anticlimax. What Jesus did with that towel was wholly in keeping with what he did and said elsewhere—that serving one another is the compelling goal of a Christian’s life. Moreover, as far as Jesus was concerned, such an attitude of servanthood is not belittling, but is what makes a person great in God’s sight. Did not Jesus himself say, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Mt 20:26-27)?

I’m sot sure I want to accept this symbol of the towel and the compelling goal of service that it represents. What about you? I would prefer to be served than to serve. Let someone else wash my smelly feet. Let others run an out-of-the-way errand for a needy neighbor or assume some irritating task that interrupts a busy schedule. Is it not just like us to expect someone else do this—not me?

Do you ever respond like that? I suspect I am not alone here. But how similar we are to the disciples in our self-concern. That night, at that sacred meal, the disciples squabbled among themselves about who was the greatest. Servanthood does not come easily to us because we do not fully grasp the fullness of love.

Not one question is raised by the disciples about who should take up the towel and wash the dirty feet.” That was not the question anyone considered or the task for which anyone volunteered. No one, that is, except Jesus.

Today, Christ asks us to follow his example. He asks us to reject popular standards for success and urges us to take the towel and go to work with it. The many and varied servant tasks of life await us. They may be menial tasks from which we instinctively turn, but menial tasks we can accept without loss of self-respect or sense of personal worth.

So Jesus, the Christ of God, still performs his task of washing his disciples’ feet. Did he not also say to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me?” Therein is the way Jesus expects us to love. The way is servanthood. Being the head of the Church, His body, means serving, not being served.

Consider the symbol of the Cross: Jesus’ authority is more than an example for people to follow. We also need more than that. The ultimate act of service Jesus did was to take up the cross for us. You see, it’s not just a matter of doing some task. It is a matter of life and death, for us. For, apart from the cross, His act of washing feet is only a pattern for us to follow. Unfortunately, there is no power in an example to help us. But there is power in the cross that energizes us to follow his example—that kind of power is our gravest need.

Think about this for a moment. Imagine how it would feel to have Christ as an example and nothing more. We would then be challenged to match his humble, self-sacrificial servanthood with our own. That would be like attempting to match the brilliance of the noonday sun with a battery-powered flashlight. It isn’t going to happen!

Now, think what it means to have the power of the cross at work. There is cleansing power in his cross that can wash clean the pattern of self-concern. There is forgiving power in his cross that wipes clean the record that has been marred by our grasping for greatness. There is power in his cross that can make us stand in utter righteousness before God’s judgment.

My friends, that doesn’t happen with a towel, but with the bloody sacrifice of the cross. And, that power comes when the cup of his grace presses against our lips. It comes when the bread of life is given to us according to his promise. This is what Jesus did that first Maundy Thursday with his disciples. It is no small thing that He became a servant, even unto death by the cross. Since he was willing to serve in such a way, what the apostle John says is true also for you and me, “The blood of Jesus, … purifies us from all sin.”

There we have it, the Cross, and the Towel: We need both symbols to be empowered as Christians. The cross, telling us of Christ’s saving sacrifice, and the towel, reminding us that love serves. We cannot have one without the other. To accept the cross is to receive the towel. To accept the towel is to confess the need for the cross.

Even so, there was among the twelve one who would not believe the Savior because he accepted neither the cross nor the towel for what it meant. Likewise, there are some who will say that being a servant is not a satisfying symbol of success. You know what? They’re right. It isn’t, except for those whose standard for success is doing the will of God who says, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” Amen.