Servant of Servants
557
Like Peter and his brethren, we too have been washed in the blood
of Christ, yet often through contact with evil the heart’s purity is soiled.
We must come to Christ for His cleansing grace. Peter shrank from
bringing his soiled feet in contact with the hands of his Lord and
Master; but how often we bring our sinful, polluted hearts in contact
[647]
[648]
[649]
with the heart of Christ! How grievous to Him is our evil temper, our
vanity and pride! Yet all our infirmity and defilement we must bring to
Him. He alone can wash us clean. We are not prepared for communion
with Him unless cleansed by His efficacy.
Jesus said to the disciples, “Ye are clean, but not all.” He had
washed the feet of Judas, but the heart had not been yielded to Him. It
was not purified. Judas had not submitted himself to Christ.
After Christ had washed the disciples’ feet, and had taken His
garments and sat down again, He said to them, “Know ye what I have
done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I
am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also
ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example,
that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater
than he that sent him.”
Christ would have His disciples understand that although He had
washed their feet, this did not in the least detract from His dignity.
“Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.” And
being so infinitely superior, He imparted grace and significance to
the service. No one was so exalted as Christ, and yet He stooped
to the humblest duty. That His people might not be misled by the
selfishness which dwells in the natural heart, and which strengthens by
self-serving, Christ Himself set the example of humility. He would not
leave this great subject in man’s charge. Of so much consequence did
He regard it, that He Himself, One equal with God, acted as servant to
His disciples. While they were contending for the highest place, He
to whom every knee shall bow, He whom the angels of glory count it
honor to serve, bowed down to wash the feet of those who called Him
Lord. He washed the feet of His betrayer.
In His life and lessons, Christ has given a perfect exemplification
of the unselfish ministry which has its origin in God. God does not
live for Himself. By creating the world, and by upholding all things,
He is constantly ministering for others. “He maketh His sun to rise