Serving One Another

by Chris Simmons

Throughout time, conventional human thinking has been that great men are to be served by those less important. In many respects, the law of Christ came and turned conventional human wisdom on its ear. In Jewish society, as in ours, people of stature and prestige have expected recognition, honor and service by others. So when we read that Jesus “rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel… began to wash the disciples’ feet” (John 13:4-5), it was undoubtedly a shocking and confusing thing to those who were present.

Because of the footwear at the time (i.e., sandals) and the dusty and dirty conditions in which they traveled, it was common for a host to furnish water for common guests to wash their own feet (cf. Luke 7:36-50). However, in the homes of the wealthy, the washing of feet would be done by a slave and “it was looked upon as the lowliest of all services” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). Jesus needed to teach His disciples an important lesson to overcome the ungodly mindset that great men don’t serve others and that “a man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will bring honor” (Proverbs 29:23). Luke 22:24-28 addresses this same time frame as John 13 and indicates that just prior to Jesus washing their feet, the apostles were disputing and fighting amongst themselves “as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.” Hierarchy and preeminence appeared to be important concerns of the twelve as we read in Mark 9:34-37 of another discussion they had on their way to Capernaum regarding “which one of them was the greatest.” Jesus’ response in Mark 9 was, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.” Perhaps this mindset of preeminence amongst the apostles could be traced to their families as we read of the mother of James and John approaching Jesus with a request to “command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left” (Matthew 20:21). This request became known by the other ten apostles who became “indignant” (Matthew 20:24) and undoubtedly fueled more competition for greatness. As long as being regarded as the greatest and most important matters to us, strife and factions will persist and we will have no portion with our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus washed the feet of the twelve as an “example that you also should do as I did to you.” Jesus taught by example and what a powerful example Jesus provided. Would they – will we – learn how Jesus truly exemplified greatness?

The fundamental lesson is that great men serve others with true humility. Certainly, we need to humble ourselves before God (I Peter 5:6; James 4:10) but we can’t please Him without obeying the command for all to “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (I Peter 5:5; cf. Colossians 3:12; I Peter 3:8). As Jesus observed people seeking the place of honor at a feast, He taught that we’re instead to seek true humility and not seek our own honor (Luke 14:7-11; cf. Proverbs 25:6-7) but allow God to exalt us “at the proper time” (I Peter 5:6). “Humility goes before honor” (Proverbs 18:12). We’re called upon to look to Jesus as our example, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). We are taught to “do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves” and to “not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” just as Christ did for us (Philippians 2:3-5). Pride becomes the barrier that so many just aren’t willing to overcome in order to be pleasing and acceptable to God.

A second lesson perhaps is that great men allow others to serve them on occasion too. When Jesus “came to Peter” to wash his feet, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” What Jesus was doing was almost incomprehensible to Peter since he truly understood who Jesus was (“the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Matthew 16:16). Due to the fact that Peter’s perspective was that kings and rulers of the stature of Jesus simply don’t serve others in this manner, he emphatically declined and said in John 13:8, “never shall You wash my feet.” Jesus’ response in verse 9 is chilling, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Human pride can also manifest itself in refusing to allow others to be of service to ourselves. To refuse to allow others to perform acts of service for ourselves will destroy our fellowship with God and His Son. There is another way to take Jesus’ statement, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” That is, if out of pride, self-sufficiency, rebellion or simply neglect, we fail to be cleansed or washed by the blood of Jesus Christ through baptism and repentance, then we have no part with Him and we can’t “draw near” to Him (Hebrews 10:22; cf. Acts 22:16; Revelation 7:14; Ephesians 5:26). Either way, this is about overcoming selfish pride and arrogance before God and our fellow man.

There are some today who believe that foot-washing is to be practiced by Christians today. To focus on the specific act of washing someone else’s feet is missing the point. The point is that with humility and meekness we need to seek for that which is of service to our brethren. We are to be “kind” to one another (Ephesians 4:32). It’s interesting to note that the word “kind” comes from the Greek word “chrestos” which means “serviceable” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words) or “useful” (Strong’s Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary). It means to humbly be of service to others and add value to their lives. If washing feet isn’t useful or doesn’t add value, find another way to humbly serve one another. That’s simply what God expects of His children.