Sacrificial Love
The most extreme example of the love that Jesus had for his people was that he suffered the punishment of death for the sins they had committed.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
However, another example of that extreme love came the night before he was crucified. While he celebrated a Passover meal with his closest disciples, the reality of his coming suffering was weighing on him.
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
John 13:1
The Needs of Others
Confronted with the horrible reality of what he would endure in order to save his people, anyone could forgive him from being a little distracted during the feast. Not only did he know that the sins of those around him were the reason he would suffer, but one of those present would even be the one to betray him!
We struggle enough with the idea of serving others when we’ve had a bad day. I know the last thing I want to hear after a stressful day is that someone needs my help with something that afternoon! How much more if we were sitting in a room of people who needed us to give more than any one of us (not being perfect) could even give, and worse, one of them is going to betray you?!
When Jesus sat down for the feast that night, however, he wasn’t focused on the unfairness of the situation or how those around him were directly responsible. Instead, he looked around and saw those who did not yet understand how he expected them to lead his church when he went to be with his father.
His time to instruct them directly was coming to an end and they still needed another lesson. Putting the needs of his people first, he did something that his disciples did not understand at the time but needed to learn.
He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
John 13:4b-5
Jesus not only sacrificed his life on the cross but also gave his whole life to serve his people, instructing and encouraging his disciples as they needed. In this case, they needed to understand that his service to them did not make them greater than he was. Rather, because he was greater than them he served them!
Servant Leaders
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
John 13:14-17
This had been a lesson taught in many ways to his disciples. He had discussed how the last would be first. He had given a similar message to many in the Sermon on the Mount. Yet even after all of these admonishments, his disciples still had argued about who would be greatest.
Jesus’s point was not that he was not their Lord or was lesser than them. Instead, it was that his kingdom is one of servant leaders. Those who are truly great are those who use their position to serve those who are under their authority.
Peter was shocked by this lesson, believing they ought to be serving Jesus rather than the other way around. One can only imagine how much more unbelievable he would have found it had he known the circumstances of that night!
Jesus, on the very doorstep of the greatest sacrifice a person could ever give for those they loved, humbled himself to teach them still more that they had yet to learn about loving others.
Way of the World
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:25-28
The worldly way is that the one in authority should expect for those under their rule to cater to their every whim. Jesus, throughout his life ministry and all the way to the night before he was betrayed, demonstrated that his kingdom would be the exact opposite. He demonstrated a love for those under his authority as an object lesson for how we ought to act as well.
To the level we find ourselves in authority, we should seek always to use that as an opportunity to provide and care for those under our charge. Husbands, love your wives. Parents, your children. Employers, serve your employees. Politicians, care for the citizens.
Life is naturally hierarchical and that isn’t something we should seek to avoid. Instead, we must love as Christ loved and serve as he did!
