Slideshow image

“You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:13-14, ESV)

The sermon on this passage is called “Portrait of a Servant”.

Our world greatly values image today. Instagram, a social media platform where people post pictures of themselves, has claimed to have 2 billion active users per month around the world, with 171.7 million users in the United States alone. And that’s just one platform, not to mention TikTok, X, Facebook, or whatever your current favorite is. We care about how people see us. We want to be seen as put together, smart, attractive, popular, and influential.

In this text, our Lord models and commands the opposite. Instead of being focused on our own image, of looking good in front of people, we are to follow his example and focus on the good of others. This command challenges us today to set aside the idol of image and humbly grow in our love for others. We must do this by imitating Jesus in at least three ways:

  1. We must imitate his honesty. Jesus does not put himself down, as if washing his disciples’ feet made him somehow less than. He says that he is their Teacher and their Lord. In our service of others, we are not called to lie or make ourselves appear to be less valuable than we are. Such false humility is not what Jesus is commanding or modeling for us.
  2. We must imitate his humility. While retaining his identity as the Lord and Teacher, Jesus simultaneously takes on a role that was so far below his station that it shocked his disciples. He didn’t see the work as beneath him. He wasn’t too good or too pure to get his hands dirty in the service of others. If the messy, dirty, stinky work of cleaning feet was not beneath Jesus, no act of genuine service should be beneath us, who follow him.
  3. We must imitate his usefulness. Jesus wasn’t playacting. He wasn’t putting on a show to be seen by others as humble. He was doing something useful for people he loved. By cleaning their feet, he was blessing his disciples in a practical way that mattered, not just virtue signaling. He did real work that was difficult, and unpleasant.

This text is a beautiful picture of a theme that runs throughout the life of our Lord – the humility of Jesus. As people who have been saved by his sacrifice, and called to follow him, we can now emulate him by getting our hands dirty to love and serve others.

 

Go Deeper / Questions

  • Read Philippians 2:1-11, Matthew 20:20-28
  • How should an understanding of the humility of Jesus make our hearts respond towards him? How do you respond?
  • When you think of doing something that might feel beneath you, or like too much work, or something that you don’t have time for, what comes to mind?
  • Who can you try to love in a practical way this week?
  • The humility and humanity of Jesus is a wonderful theological topic for further study. To understand it more, I recommend the great book The Man Christ Jesus by Bruce A. Ware.