“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.  Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded”.” – John 13 : 3-5

Today was a good day for our congregation.  During our assembly the elders thanked three of our deacons for their service as they stepped down from their roles for various reasons, presented four new deacons to the congregation, and thanked our nine other deacons for their past and continued service.  We presented all 16 deacons with a towel embroidered with “John 13:3-17” (from which the scriptures above were taken) as a token of our appreciation and gave various charges to our 13 remaining deacons, ourselves, and the congregation.

I decided my comments during today’s service would come from the passage on our towels.  A reading of the other gospels reveals not long before Jesus’ amazing example of humble service the Twelve argued over who would be the greatest in the kingdom.   The mother of James and John had even requested her sons receive the chief seats in the kingdom. 

It is possible the jealousy and arguing led to none of the Twelve taking any steps to wash each others feet.  After all, that was servant’s work at the time, not the work of self-appointed great men of the kingdom.  Therefore, the Lord rose up from reclining for the meal and put on a towel like any common slave.

The following leadership lessons occured to me from this passage: 

First, and this is definitely a no brainer, we should lead by example.  If we see something needs doing, no matter how menial, it is not beneath our attention and we need to do it as Christ did, not for recognition, but because it is the right thing to do. 

Second, notice verse 3 and then the verbal exchange between Jesus and Peter in verses 6 – 11.   In verse 3 we read Jesus is fully aware of what is coming, that He is going back to God.  The Bible tells us Jesus’ return was not going to be an easy path and he knew it.  But he did it anyway.  He is about to be betrayed, beaten savagely, and then hung on a cross to die like any common criminal.  Yet He doesn’t hesitate to keep serving.  In other words, he is all in, fully committed to fulfilling God’s will. 

It is easy for us to sit back and say to ourselves he is the Son of God after all, of course He is going to be all in.  But notice how Peter responds to Jesus.  Peter is also all in, asking Jesus not to just wash his feet but essentially his whole body.  

So what is the point?  We too should be fully committed to do all God requires of us, fully committed to serve Him and His church, and fully committed to do it no matter how difficult the road ahead.  A literal cross may not be in our future, but the possibility of some form of persecution most likely is.  So, as servant leaders let us also be “all in”.

Third, in verses 12 – 17 we see Jesus knows these are His final days of ministry and He is training these men to lead the Church.  He states in verse 17 “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them”.   He is teaching the apostles it is not enough to know what is the right thing to do, but we have to also do it.  

We’ve already learned this lesson from the first part of John 13.  What I took from verses 12 – 17 is Jesus is turning His act of humility into a teaching opportunity.  Therefore, as we lead by serving God and His church we should also look to turn acts of service into teaching moments as well.  After all, we are teaching and training our next generation of church leadership in both word and deed.

May the Lord bless you as He has me.