the servant king

The story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples (John 13:12-16) is one of those that hits me in the gut every time. Jesus' act of humility throws a glaring light on my own unwillingness to be humble. I have to sit there and watch my Savior and Lord act as a slave and wash feet. Stinky, smelly, dirty feet. And then I have to hear him when he says, "I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you."

We all know Jesus was not a 'king' in the traditional sense of the word. Jesus did not want power over otherh people. He wanted influence. His desire was to influence us to serve each other. To think of others before ourselves. No one achieves power that way - not even 'benevolent' kings. That's not how the heirarchy functions.

In some ways, top-down leadership is easy for those that follow. You do what the main guy says and that's that. No questions, no nothing. Do it or else.

Jesus' leadership is not like that. He shows the way and then says, my child, it's up to you. I have shown you my example. Follow it or don't. My kingdom is about love.

I think, like the Jews at the time, there's a part of us that wants Jesus to be the knight in shining armor who takes down the enemy with unprecedented skill and aplomb. We love the resurrection because it's victory! Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o're his foes! Jesus comes back from what seemed like utter defeat to reign supreme!

That is part of the story. What we miss is that Jesus allowed his defeat. He didn't have to sit there and take the accusations thrown at him. He didn't have to let the guards so easily arrest him. He didn't even have to let Judas betray him. He had many opportunities, even apart from being God, to put an end to what was going on. But he didn't. He willingly suffered. He willingly died. He willingly washed his disciples feet. He conquered, but it wasn't by the sword or even an advanced heavenly form of martial arts. It was by submitting to defeat. It was by deliberately losing.

He suffered so that we could never say, 'You don't know what it's like.'

He endured God leaving him so we could never say, 'I feel so alone.'

He accepted defeat so we could never say 'You've never been there.'

He walked the road to the cross so that he could tell us, 'I know what it's like. I've felt that alone, I have been there. I endured for you and I ended up conquering! Put your hope and your trust in me.'