In the last chapter, we spoke of the Lord’s right to demand and expect that His redeemed ones follow His example. Now, we will more deeply consider in what it is we have to follow Him. “Ye also ought to wash one another’s feet,” is the word we want to fully understand. The three main thoughts are:

·        the form of a servant in which we see Him,

·        the cleansing which was the object of that service, and

·        the love which was its main power.

Firstly, the form of a servant. All was ready for the last supper, down to the very water to wash the feet of the guests, according to custom. But, there was no slave to do the work. Each one waited for the other: none of the twelve thought of humbling himself to do the work. Even at the table, they were concerned with who should be greatest in the kingdom they were expecting (Lk. 22:26-27).

All at once, Jesus rises (they were still sitting at the table), lays aside His garments, girds Himself with a towel, en begins to wash their feet. O wondrous spectacle, on which angels gazed with adoring wonder! Christ, the Creator and King of the universe, at whose beck legions of angels are ready to serve Him, might have said, lovingly, which one of the twelve must do the work. But, Christ chooses the slave’s place for His own, takes the soiled feet in His own holy hands, and washes them. He does it in full consciousness of His divine glory, for John says, “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God, rose” (Jn. 13:3). For the hands into which God had given all things, nothing is common or unclean. The lowliness of a work never lowers the person. The person honours and elevates the work, and imparts his own worth even to the most meagre of service.

In such deep humiliation, as we men call it, our Lord finds divine glory, and is in this the leader of His church in the path of true blessedness. It is as the Son that He is the servant. Just because He is the beloved of His Father, in whose hands all things are given, it is not difficult for Him to stoop so low. In thus taking the form of a servant, Jesus proclaims the law of rank in the church of Christ. The higher one wishes to stand in grace, the more it must be his joy to be the servant of all. “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Mt. 20:27). “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Mt. 23:11). The higher I rise in the consciousness of being like Christ, God’s beloved Child, the deeper I will stoop to serve all around me.

A servant is one who is always caring for the work and interests of his master. He is ever ready to let his master see that he only seeks to do what will please or profit him. Thus Jesus lived: “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45). “I am among you as He that serveth” (Lk. 22:27).

Thus I must live, moving among God’s children as the servant of all. If I seek to bless others, it must be in the humble, loving readiness with which I serve them, not caring for my own honour or interests, but only to be a blessing to them. I must follow Christ’s example in washing the disciples’ feet. A servant is not ashamed or humiliated by being regarded as an inferior: it is his place and work to serve others.

The reason why we so often do not bless others is because we want to show that we are superior to them in grace or gifts, or at least their equals. If only we would learn from our Lord to associate with others in the blessed spirit of a servant, what a blessing we would become to the world! Once this example is restored to the place it ought to have in the church of Christ, the power of His presence will soon make itself known.

Secondly, the work that the disciple is supposed to perform in this spirit of lowly service. The foot washing speaks of a double work – for the cleansing and refreshing of the body, and for the saving of the soul. During the whole of our Lord’s life on earth, these two things were ever united: “The sick were healed, to the poor the gospel was preached” (see Lk. 7:22). Blessing to the body was the type and promise of a life given up to the Spirit.

Although the salvation of the soul is the first object in the disciple’s holy ministry of love, he should remember that the external and bodily is the gate to the inner and spiritual life. He should seek the way to the hearts of people by the ready service of love in the little and common things of daily life. It is not by reproof and scolding that he shows that he is a servant. No, it is by friendliness and kindliness with which he proves, in daily activity, that he is always thinking about how he can help or serve. He thus becomes the living witness of what it is to be a follower of Jesus.

From someone such as this, the word, when spoken, comes with power and finds easy entrance into the hearts of those who listen. And then, when he comes in contact with the sin, perverseness and contradiction of men, instead of being discouraged, he perseveres because he knows how much patience Jesus has borne with him, and still daily cleanses him. He realises himself to be one of God’s appointed servants, to stoop to the lowest depth to serve and save men, even to bow at the feet of others if this be needed.

Thirdly, the spirit which will enable one to live such a life of loving service can be learned from Jesus alone. John writes, “Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end” (Jn. 13:1). For love, nothing is too hard. Love never speaks of sacrifice. To bless the loved one, however unworthy, it willingly gives up all. It was love that made Jesus a servant. It is love alone that will make the servant’s place and work such a blessing to us that we will persevere in it at all costs. We may perhaps, like Jesus, have to wash the feet of some Judas who rewards us with ingratitude and betrayal. Only love, a heavenly unquenchable love, gives the patience, the courage, and the wisdom for this great work the Lord has set before us in His holy example: “Wash ye one another’s feet.”

Try, above all, to understand that it is only as a son that you can be truly a servant. It was as the Son that Christ took the form of a servant. In this, you will find the secret of willing, happy service. Walk among men as a son of the most high God. A son of God is only in the world to show forth his Father’s glory, and to prove how Godlike and blessed it is to live only and at any cost to find a way to offer love to the hearts of the lost.

O my soul, your love cannot attain to this. Therefore, listen to Him who says, “Abide in My love” (Jn. 15:10). Our one desire must be that He may show us how He loves us, and that He Himself may keep us abiding in His love. Live every day as the beloved of the Lord, in the experience that His love washes, cleanses, bears, and blesses you all the day long. His love flowing into you will flow out again from you, and make it your greatest joy to follow His example in washing the feet of others.

Do not complain about the lack of love and humility in others, but pray much that the Lord would awaken His people to their calling. Pray that they would follow in His footsteps, that the world may see that they have taken Him for their example. And, if you do not see it as soon as you wish in those around you, let it only urge you to more earnest prayer. In you, at least, the Lord may have one who understands and proves that to love and serve like Jesus is the highest blessedness and joy, as well as the way, like Jesus, to be a blessing and a joy to others.

Prayer: “My Lord, I give myself to You to live this blessed life of service. In You, I have seen it. The spirit of a servant is a kingly spirit, come from heaven and lifting up to heaven, the Spirit of God’s own Son. Your everlasting love dwell in me, and my life will be like Yours, and the language of my life to others as Yours, ‘I am in the midst of you as He that serveth.’ O glorified Son of God, You know how little of your Spirit dwells in us, how this life of a servant is opposed to all that the world deems honourable or proper. But, You have come to teach us new lessons of what is right, to show us what is thought in heaven of the glory of being the least, of the blessedness of serving. O You who not only gives new thoughts, but implants new feelings, give me a heart like Yours, a heart full of the Holy Spirit, a heart that can love as You did. O Lord, Your Holy Spirit dwells within me. Your fullness is my inheritance; in the joy of the Holy Spirit, I can be as You are. I do yield myself to a life of service like Yours. Let the same mind be in me which was also in You when You made Yourself of no reputation, took upon You the form of a servant, and, being found in fashion as a man, humbled Yourself. Yes, Lord, that very same mind be in me, too, by Your grace. As a son of God, let me be the servant of men. Amen.”