1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,
3 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 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 13:1-17

Servanthood is not a word that not everyone understands, appreciate and willing to accept in their lives. To the world, the word “Servanthood” is a belittle and degrading word. No one wants to be a servant. Everyone wants to be someone great, mighty, powerful, popular and authoritative. But to Jesus, the word “Servanthood” has a totally different meaning. It is a word filled with power and authority if you understand the true meaning behind it. We will take a look at Servanthood according to the Bible and the power it brings to those who understand and practice the acts of Servanthood in their Christian walks.

John 13:1-17 tells the event of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. In verse 3, it tells us clearly that Jesus knew He came from God and was going to God. Jesus knew what He has, who He was, and where He is going. These are the three revelations that every Christians must have. You got to know your power, what God has given to you - your gifts, your talents, your authority. You got to know your position who you are in Christ – you are the Head and not the tail, greater is He who is in you than he who is in this world. You got to know your purpose – the visions, the dreams that God has given to you where you are heading in your life.

The Bible says that Jesus was fully convinced that He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Even if it means that He is going to get demeaned, mocked at, shamed at, and crucified publicly on the cross, nothing will take away His position, power and purpose because He knew in His heart of hearts and very secured of His position, power and purpose. Jesus knew all these things and He did this amazing thing of washing the disciples’ feet – John 13:4-5. Jesus Christ became the Servant of all. Can you imagine the Creator of the whole universe, the Alpha and the Omega, the Son of the Living God, actually knelt down before His disciples – one who was going to betray him, who as going to betray Him three times, the others were going to scatter all over the place – and washed their feet. If this great Saviour can humble Himself to wash the feet of imperfect people whose love for Him was not even perfect, how did Jesus do it? How did he wash the feet of His disciples knowing they are not going to stand by Him?

You got to understand this. The washing of the feet is always done by the lowliest person in the family and that is the lowliest servant. There are rankings in the servants in the family from the highest rank to the lowliest rank. When the weary travelers of the day walked into the house for dinner after a long journey, the first thing that needed to be done was to wash their feet for they sat around the table with their feet closed to their chests and it would not be hygienic. But the very thing that the feet have to be washed after the supper tells you one thing. None of the disciples were willing to do that after the supper. To them, serving one another somehow belittle them. It was below their dignity somehow to wash the feet of others. Why? The disciples were like many of us Christians. We want to be great apostles, prophets, preachers, evangelists, and teachers but somehow if we serve one another in tasks like washing the feet make us a little lower than what we are supposed to be. But Jesus after the meal said that He came to serve and not to be served. If none of the disciples were unwilling to wash the feet, He was willing to kneel down to do it whether the disciples think He was belittling Himself. Jesus was not afraid of what the disciples have to say about His action. He was secured in Himself. He knew who He was. He knew that no one would be able to take away His position. So He knelt down and washed the disciples’ feet with no shame, no guilt but with love.

As I meditate on this, I began to wonder if Jesus was willing to be the lowliest Servant of all, what about me? And He was not serving out of guilt, fear, and not to score points to win popularity or to prove He was a good Saviour. He was serving out of love. Servanthood was in Jesus’ nature because serving people was an expression of love, a way of expressing your love. Serving is like giving. You can serve without loving but you cannot love somebody without giving and serving. My parents love me so they serve me when I was born. Now I am not talking being a maid and be called to do this and to do that. I am talking about love. My parents love me and they want to do all within their means to ensure I am well. They do it out of love. When you love somebody, you want to serve him. My wife loves me and she serves me out of love. The same goes for me, too.

Let’s look at John 13:12-17. Jesus after washing their feet, take off his garment and sat down to ask the disciples whether they knew what He had done. He told the disciples in verse 13 that they called Him a Teacher and Lord and they have said well. This verse tells us that Jesus knew who He was. Jesus told His disciples to do as He had done to them. He set Himself as an example for the disciples to follow.

We know the talents and gifts that God has put in our lives. We know who we are in Christ. We want a successful and prosperous life. Then we must decide right now to be like Jesus Christ, be the servant of all. In fact, when we get to glory, what kind of people would Jesus welcome and praise? When we get to heaven, He is not going to say “Welcome, my good and faithful Apostle/CEO/Reverend/Prophet/Teacher”. The Bible says that Jesus is going to say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant’. This is the highest aspiration! We may be climbing the ladder of success in our career or business but the highest aspiration of all, is to be like Jesus, to be a servant of all. To be someone who serves God and His purpose. To be somebody who is willing to give of himself or herself to make somebody’s life much better every single day.

We will look at part 2 ‘Three things about Servanthood’.