The evening meal was in progress. Jesus knew that God had handed all things over to him, and that he had come out from God and was going to God. He therefore rose from the meal, and laid aside his outer garment, took a towel and fastened it round his waist. He then put water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet . . .” (John 13:2-5).
They looked at one another in mixed shame and astonishment. Before entering the guest chamber, a slave should have appeared to wash their dusty feet, but on this particular evening none had shown up. They had even had to do much of the preparation for the meal themselves They were all big men, so no one suggested doing the washing for each other. They quietly forgot the courtesy, even for the Lord, and got on with the meal and the business of discussing who among them was the boss (Luke 22:24).
So Peter, who was as good a candidate for boss as any, directed that this action of the Master was taking things too far. “You are never going to wash my feet.” The answer came back that if he refused, it would only mean that he could never be partner with the Lord. “All right then,” came Peter’s typical rejoinder, “give me a complete bath!”
But Peter, and the others too, did not need that. They had been baptized, they had been in the Truth over three years. They were wonderfully loyal. What they needed right then was to concern themselves less about getting and more about giving. Yes, less about being boss and more about service. Less about wearing royal robes and more about wearing a towel. Less about sitting on a throne and more about carrying a cross.
Everywhere around us is the spirit of getting more by giving less. That our status-ridden and class-conscious societies should give way to more just and humane ones is an excellent thing. But in so many minds equality means that everyone is a boss and nobody serves. As of this moment, the writer is locked out of his place of employment by some who will not share their power and privilege with others whom they hold in contempt, and by those others whose only concern seems to be what they can get rather than what they can give. To many people “serving” a visitor is a degrading reminder of a dark past and somehow an ignoble thing. For some, it seems that even working at all in the land of their birth is something shameful.
“I have given you an example to teach you to treat others as I have treated you.” Remember the towel, the basin and the silent figure passing around the twelve. “Behold, my Servant, whom I uphold; mine Elect, in whom my soul delighteth . . . he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.” (Isaiah 42:1, 3).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One