The Servant Leader
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew his time with his disciples was ending. They were enjoying the final meal they would share together before the crucifixion. Judas had already set into motion the events that would bring about Jesus’ death. How could the Jesus impress upon the disciples what was needed from them? How could he get across to them what God’s kingdom was all about?
This service has, over the centuries, been known as the Maundy Thursday Service. Most people have no idea where the word “Maundy” comes from. Maundy comes from the Latin word “maundatum,” which means “commandment.” This day is called Maundy Thursday because at the end of the supper, Jesus gave us a new commandment. In verses 34 and 35 we read this, A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
Jesus then demonstrated how this new commandment is to be lived out. John tells us that while the meal was still in progress, Jesus stood up, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. This, quite obviously, was the last thing the disciples expected.
When he had finished, Jesus put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord”, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
The washing of feet was part of the hospitality which people in that part of the world offered their guests. Usually, it was done by a servant. It was not a pleasant task. People went barefoot or they wore sandals. Not only were the streets dusty and dirty, but they usually contained garbage and waste from the animals that traveled the streets. The task of washing the feet of guests was usually relegated to the person of the lowest rank. Since none of the disciples felt they fit that description they all had come to the meal with unwashed feet.
They didn’t take a meal sitting in chairs around a table. They reclined on the floor with the food spread out before them. Imagine the scene in your mind. They were reclining on the floor in a circle. The rite of washing feet was therefore essential. The problem was that each of the disciples felt they were too good to perform this ritual.
How could the master teach them that greatness comes through service? How could he teach them that it is in laying down your life that you will find it? The Lord of all the universe humbled himself before his disciples and took on the role of the humblest servant. What an example Jesus gave his disciples and us.
Gene Wilkes, in his book, Jesus on Leadership, writes: “Jesus did not come to gain a place of power. He did not come to defeat his human enemies. He did not come to overthrow an unjust government. Jesus came to show us the heart of God. His entire message and ministry on earth was to show selfish, power-hungry people what love looks like. As he knelt before Judas, Jesus showed us a love that no human can conceive on his own: a love that is brutally honest about what is going on but still kneels before us to lay down his life so we can be free. Jesus loves us as he loved Judas. If you miss that, you have missed eternal life.”
The love that led Jesus to kneel and wash the disciples’ feet is beyond our comprehension. We don’t see many examples of this kind of servanthood today. Indeed, there are many who believe that choosing to be a servant is for losers.
One of the most obvious examples of the power of servanthood was a young Albanian girl named Agnes. At the age of 18 Agnes gave in to the tugging on her heart that she had felt for many years. She became a nun.
When she announced her intention to enter a convent, her brother a soldier, reacted with disbelief. Agnes had the perfect answer. She replied that he was proud as a soldier to be serving a king who ruled over a few million subjects. She, on the other hand, would be serving the King of the entire world. Agnes entered a convent where she remained for 17 years.
In 1948, after living this cloistered life, Agnes decided to walk away from the convent, taking nothing with her. She left the convent and went into the street to serve the least and the lowest. She had to beg for money to support what she was doing. She said the goal of her life was “to be a pencil in God’s hand.” She said she was called to care for the sick, the poor, the dying, and the dispossessed, to show them the love that God had for them. She spent the rest of her life picking up dying people off the street and carrying them to shelter. She cleaned infected wounds, lovingly washing and providing basic care for people on the verge of death. And she did it all with a beautiful smile. We know Agnes, as Mother Teresa, a saint of God and one of the great people of the twentieth century.
She was the perfect example of the kind of greatness Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once talked about: “Everybody can be great,” he said, “because anybody can serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.” Dr. King was correct. Everybody can be great and you don’t have to put on the habit of a nun to do it.
Maundy Thursday is that day in the church year in which we take the bread and the cup in remembrance of Christ. But let’s not forget why it was called Maundy in the first place. It was at the Last Supper that Jesus said to the disciples and to us: “A new command I give you: Love one another . . .”
The bread and the cup are important to us as followers of Christ. But is the example of Christ washing the feet of the Disciples. Christ has called us to a life of serving others. That is how the world will know that we are Christ’s followers.