John13:1-17

Theme: Servanthood

THE BASIN AND THE TOWEL

The other night, Jay Leno said that now there is a company that you can hire to protest for you. You call them and they will make a sign of your choice and walk in front of the White House and protest for you on behalf of your cause. Then he said, how fat and lazy have we become when we hire someone else to do our protesting?

Protesting is a time-honored American tradition, an act of free speech. I am not so sure if it is laziness, however, that makes it possible for someone to hire out as a protester substitute. I think it is worse than laziness, it is an attitude that does not care to be bothered. This attitude prevails across all kinds of important human activity. We can hire someone to cook our food, clean our house, cut our grass and care for the kids. We have too many fishing holes, too many golf courses, too many games and races to watch, too much shopping to do to be bothered by most of the things of life.

It is also true when it comes to the subject of servanthood. Servanthood is one of those ideals that people give lip service to with no intention of being a servant. No one wants to be a servant. About the only time one hears about servants is either the subject of riches or politics. If we want to portray a rich family, we will show a scene at a mansion with servants answering the door, waiting on the tables and caring for the house. Successful people have servants, poor people are servants. The other time we talk about servants is in our references to civil servants. These are those elected officials who, with a wink and a nod, tell us that they only want to serve the people. And, most of the time, we know better. No one wants to be a servant.

It’s nothing new. We can fully identify with Mrs. Zebedee The mother of James and John, had ambitions for her sons. Undoubtedly, she knew that Jesus and John were good friends. She sensed that Jesus was going places. He would be a ruler one day. She asked, "When you come into your kingdom, let one of my sons be the second in charge and the other third in charge." She wanted her sons to succeed!

It was a part of their culture. Everyone wanted to be the greatest. They lived in the Roman Empire and that is the way the Romans were. The emperor set the style that the people would follow. Tiberius was the emperor. He was described by Suetonius the historian as large and strong of frame and of a stature above the average. He strode along with his neck stiff and bent forward, usually with a stern countenance. He was described as arrogant and bigger than life.

The disciples never saw Tiberius, but they saw his governors, Herod and Pilate. They saw the arrogant Pharisees and Sadducees with their presumptuous noses in the air. Humility was not a part of their culture. Power, arrogance, even crudeness marked their society.

However, Jesus was counter cultural. He said "whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave." What a point of view! Servants and Slaves! Servants and slaves were the ones who emptied chamber pots, washed dirty feet, did the laundry, scrubbed the floors, cleaned the barn and fed the live stock.

Jesus said if we want to become great then we must become a servant, even like a slave. Not only is this counter cultural, it is counter intuitive. This is not how we think. Our brains are not wire up this way. Great leaders have servants don’t they? Unsuccessful people serve the great ones! But Jesus said that the kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of this world. In every century, in every era, servants occupied the bottom of the ladder. But in the kingdom of God, the servant is the greatest. The servant is the leader. If we are Christians, then we are part of this kingdom and the call to be a servant is issued to us one and all.

This issue was disturbing to the disciples. They had trouble getting the hang of it. And Jesus had to address it often. It is true that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. But he also came to give us an example of how we should live. In fact, Jesus was explicit, we are to serve one another. Our text is a supreme example of Jesus' teaching about servanthood. Jesus taught that being a servant to each other was the highest calling.

It was during the Last Supper. Jesus stood up and stripped himself to a loin cloth as if he were a slave. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. He poured the water into a basin and he began to wash the disciple's feet and drying them with the towel.

This was one of the most incredible moments in the lives of the disciples because Jesus himself was washing their feet. It was the lowest job imaginable. It was an act of great humility.

The air became electric as Jesus, their master and teacher, rose up and washed their feet. Jesus washed the feet of John, as loving as he would his own. He came to James and James being one of the sons of Thunder wanted to cry out in surprise but he kept quiet. Jesus came to Peter. Peter begins to twitch and He asks Jesus "you want to wash my feet?" "Never shall you wash my feet!" Jesus responded that "if I do not wash you, you have no part with me."

He went on to the others and when he had finished and put on the rest of his clothes, he asked, "do you know what I have done to you?" Jesus explained. If I am your Lord and Teacher and I wash your feet, your ought to wash one another's feet. "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you." What did He do to them? He humbled himself and served them.

It stuns us doesn’t? You mean when the call goes out for teachers of babies and children, I ought to do it? You mean that if I am asked to serve on a committee, I should do it? You mean that I should volunteer to clean the bathrooms at church? You mean I should visit the sick and the home bound? You mean I should give my money to help the needy or to spread the Gospel? And worst of all, you mean I should give my time to the cause of Christ and actually do something? Of course the answer to all of these and more is a resounding YES! We are called, in the most practical way, to be servants.

Deacons are called to be servant leaders. The word for "deacon" in the original Greek means "to wait tables." Their job is to model before the church what a servant is. They do not rule the church, they serve. Deacons teach us how to serve so that we all can become better servants. C. Gene Wilkes, in the study course, Jesus On Leadership (Published by Lifeway) lists seven principles of Servant leadership. These seven principles are drawn from Scripture and they are all counter cultural and counter intuitive.