The Servant Lord and the Lord's Servant

John xiii. 4, 5

He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. — John xiii. 4-5.

Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility to serve one another. — 1 Peter v. 5 (Revised Version).

JOHN is the only evangelist who narrates the touching incident of foot-washing, but Luke records sayings which are best interpreted by supposing them connected with it. He speaks of a contention as to which should be greatest, which probably arose from each apostle desiring to shift from himself the menial task of washing the others’ feet. Jesus is represented to have calmed the strife by laying down the great principle that the “greater “is to be •’ as the younger,” and ‘’ he that is chief as he that doth serve.” And then He goes on to ask, in words which seem to refer to the foot-washing, “Whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth? “and to add a word still more obvionsly connected with that signal instance of loving self-abasement,” But I am in the midst of you as he that serveth.” That the two narratives of Luke and John are occupied with the same set of facts, looked at from two different points of view, the one dealing with the incident, the other with its ethical significance as our pattern (which John does not omit, though he gives it briefly in a sentence, “As I have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”) is made more probable by the singular fact that Peter, in my second text and its context, combines a verbal reference to Luke’s narrative and a manifest allusion to John’s. Immediately before the text, he writes: ‘’ Ye younger, be subject unto the elder,” which echo Luke’s, “He that is chief among you, let him be as the younger”; and when he adds, “Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility,” he uses a word which occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and which means to fasten on the slave’s apron. Does not that remind us of “He took a towel and girded Himself”? So, then, we have two pictures set before us by the combination of these two texts. The one, the Lord girt like a servant; and the other, the servants girt like their Lord. Let us look at these two points.

I. The Loed Girt like a Servant.

Now, it is very remarkable to note the solemn prologue to this incident which John draws out in the preceding verses, like some great avenue leading up to a temple or sanctuary. He gives at some length an insight into the motives that impelled our Lord to this unique display, and here they are: ‘’ When Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” That is to say, to bring it down to more prosaic words, the consciousness of impending separation touched the Lord’s own heart — so human was He — and made Him feel, as no doubt you and I have often felt when parting from some one that is dear to us, the yearning to put our whole love — which, perhaps, we had shyly and embarrassedly kept in the background all the time that we were together — into some act that might, as by the withdrawal of a curtain, let out to sight for one last instant, that love which had long been hidden. I suppose that for the relief of His own heart, on which the shadow of impending separation had fallen, and had stimulated the human desire in Him to leave a last memory of Himself, more than ordinarily tender and sweet, Jesus thus made Himself the servant of the twelve. It was because He “knew that His hour had come,” that His love cast itself into this ever-memorable and heart-melting form. But there was another motive at work. For never did He indulge in any human emotion, however natural or sweet to Himself, without thinking of its effect on others. And just as we have often desired that we might leave dear ones some token which would successfully fight against the attrition of present circumstances obliterating the image of ourselves from their hearts, so Christ, by this act of unexampled self-abasement, said to the wondering apostles, “This do in remembrance of Me.” He longed to show them His love, and He wished them to remember and to imitate His love. And so, “Knowing that His hour was come, having loved His own which were in the world. He loved them to the end.”

But that is not all. John has more to say in the way of analysing motives. For he goes on, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God, He riseth from supper,” etc. The consciousness of supreme dignity, of universal sovereignty, of eternal pre-existence, and of return to the glory which He had .with the Father before the world was: these things were the reasons for the denuding Himself of His garments, girding on the slave’s towel, and taking the basin and washing the disciples’ feet. After such a preamble we might have expected something very different. “Knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God” — He did what one would have expected looking from the human point of view? “Manifested forth His glory,” flashed out His power? No; for when you take up the gospels, and eminently John’s gospel, the spiritual one of the four, you always find that two things go together — some great humiliation and some lofty manifestation of sovereign and Divine dignity. And so here, the expression of the consciousness of sovereign authority is the assumption of the slave’s ignominious garb and repulsive office. What more heart-moving illustration could have been given than that, in the realm of Christ, the true expression of superiority is lowliness, the meaning of dignity, service? What force is given to the words recorded by Luke, if we recognise in them a commentary on the act recorded by John! But let us turn for a moment to the act itself. Notice that slow accumulation of descriptive clauses, breaking up the deed into so many steps, each more wonderful than the one before it. As we listen to John telling the details one by one, do we not see him and the others sitting in speechless astonishment, gazing at Jesus, and wondering what is to come next? “He riseth from supper.” We do not know whether it was before or after the institution of the Lord’s Supper. It seems to me to be equally striking, whether you put it prior or subsequent to that solemn appointment of a permanent memorial rite. “He riseth from supper,” and as they looked He divested Himself of His garments. They gazed at one another, and thought, “What is He about to do?” He took the towel of the slave, “and girded Himself, and poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” What a sequence! And how the separation of the one complex act into its stages deepens its pathos and beauty, and increases its power upon us!

But, mark that the purpose of it all is service. Because “the Father had given all into His hands,... He took the basin.” Because “He had come from God, and was going to God, He girded Himself,” with the slave’s towel. Service — that is the key-word for life, for Christ, and for all His followers. And mark, further, that it is service in order to cleanse. The episode which follows as to Peter and his reluctance is by no means an excrescence upon the story, but the ideas that are expressed there in symbolical form were part of the ideas which were present in our Lord’s mind from the beginning of the incident. He took the basin — for, after all, the highest thing that He does for us, or, at least, the initial act, without which He can do nothing else for any of us, is that He serves us by cleansing us.

And so, this picture that is here of the Lord girded like the servant may be taken, not fancifully, but in sober exposition, as a symbol, or a parable, if you like, of His whole work. ‘^ He riseth from “— not “supper,” but the throne that He filled from everlasting; “and laid aside His garments” — “the glory that He had with the Father before the world was “; “and girded Himself with a towel” — “being found in fashion as a Man, and putting on the vile vesture of our poor humanity,” and “becoming obedient.” “He took a bason” — what is in the basin? Not water only, but water and blood — “and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” All which He did in outward form, and for one brief hour in that upper chamber, was but the picture of what He did when He stooped to earth, and of what He is doing when He has ascended where He was before; and taken His garment, and seated Himself on the throne again. He says to us, “Know ye what I have done to you? I have given you an example. If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

II. The Servants Girt like their Lord.

As I have said, the Revised Version, in its rendering, brings out more distinctly than the Authorised Version does, Peter’s allusion to the incident in John. Instead of rendering, as the Authorised Version does, “Be ye clothed with humility,” it gives, “All of you gird yourselves with humility to serve one another.” I have already said, and so

I need not do more than just in a sentence reiterate it, that Peter uses here a very remarkable and expressive word, which describes the putting on of the white apron which was the slave’s badge, as to some extent it is amongst ourselves the mark of servitude. Surely he was thinking about the incident recorded by John!

May I say a word about that often-epoken-about and not often-practised virtue? “Gird yourselves with humility.” That does not mean, “Be blind to what you can do.” It does not mean, ‘’’ Pretend to think very lowly of your own power.” A man may be perfectly humble and yet have a very clear conception that he can do certain things much better than his brother at his side. There is nothing contrary to the spirit of Christian humility, but it is an essential part of that grace, that a man should know his own worth, his own faculty, his own capacity. And if he can do a thing better than other people, there is no reason in the world why he should not think so, though it may not be always a wise thing to say it. Humility does not consist in undue depreciation of myself, but in a lowly estimate of myself, joined with as lowly and accurate a knowledge of myself as I can get. Granted that you are superior to me in something or other. Well, what does that matter? One molehill is a little higher than another; they are all about the same distance from the snn. I remember a friend of mine who, when a child, being told that the sun was ninety-five millions of miles off, asked whether it was from the upstairs window or the downstairs. And that is about the difference between men, if they will bring themselves into comparison with the only true standard.

There are two things that Christian people ought always to have before them; and either of them will pull down all self-complacency. One is, what they have within their own hearts, as they know, along with all the excellences that may be there; and the other is, what they ought to be, as they know, namely, what their Master was. These two thoughts will clip the wings of high-flying complacency, and prune the rank growth of self-conceit. Every one of us knows that if we were turned inside out before the world, we could not look the world in the face. And every one of us knows that if we put ourselves by the side of that dear Lord, all that would be left to us would be to fall upon our faces, to put our hands upon our mouths, and our mouths in the dust, and cry, “Unclean! unclean!” Such, then, is the medicine for high thoughts of self.

But there is another thing I would like to say. Christian humility is not a mere lowly estimate of myself, but it is such an estimate as leads to lowly service. Peter puts it, “Be ye girt with humility”

—the white apron over all the rich dress, be it as rich as it may, over velvet skirts, over emblazoned garniture — ‘’ to serve one another.” True humility is not a mere sentiment, still less is it self-depreciating talk, which is too often but a trap to catch flattery from the hearer. If it is genuine, it will show itself in counting no office too lowly that may help a brother. “Thy soul was like a star and dwelt apart,” says Wordsworth of Milton, the austere poet, whom many would think of as by no means eminent for humility, but yet, as the sonnet goes on to say, “Thy soul the humblest duties on herself did lay,” and that is the token of genuine humility. It will usually be found that people who think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, are slow to use the powers, of which they are so proud, for their brethren, and you may be sure that people who think very humbly of themselves are generally the most ready to help all that need help. Humility and service will go together.

There is a kind of humility very common, and altogether spurious — that which shirks service on the plea of incapacity. “Oh! I am not fit for work of that sort. I cannot undertake such responsible occupation.” That is Laziness or Indifference masquerading in the robe of Diffidence. The humility that is genuine is ready to serve, and do its little possible, for the brotherhood.

Let ns be awed and stimulated by remembering that As I have done to you “is at once the pattern and the motive for such a life. Ah! brethren, it is in the measure in which they submit themselves to that cleansing grace, and take into their hearts what Jesus Christ has been, and done for them, that the servants will gird themselves like their Lord. To such a servant is given Christ’s wonderful promise: “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you. He will make them to sit down to meat and will gird Himself” once more, “and come forth and serve them.”