"It's All About the Service"

“I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” 2 Corinthians 12:15

Perhaps you have a couple of friends like this. You go out to coffee, talk, laugh and share stories. Then, getting up to leave, he reaches for the bill without allowing me even a courteous attempt at paying it myself. Then, a few days later I visit another friend for lunch. We talk about mutual interests, catch up on old times and tease the entire wait staff. Without a moment’s thought she sweeps up the check with sleight-of-hand dexterity. I didn’t have a chance. Or, maybe we are going to a movie and the same friend is impatiently keeping his place in line ahead of me. Of course, I understand why once we are at the ticket booth and he is saying, “Two, please.”

I do not have many rich friends. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I have any rich friends. I don’t think I’ll be able to count on my children for wealth either. My oldest son is finishing his doctoral work in 19^th century English Literature, my middle son is near the end of a tour year tour with the Peace Corps, and my daughter wants to teach kindergarten. No riches there, I’m afraid. Oh, and my daughter-in-law has a Masters in Theater Education.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m the dad that raised three those four young adults! I am more than delighted they have chosen paths that make them feel alive, no matter the financial gain, or lack thereof. And, aside from my inept handling of assets, I believe they have a wiser view than I did when I was young.

What does make me happy is that all my children have a true generous streak. More than their chosen vocations, I suppose that is what makes me truly proud. I hope that my own life can mirror the lifestyle of unconditional love that Jesus modeled for us.

For Jesus, this sort of giving was not something He did while away on a mission trip, and then go home to drink cocktails and lounge in the sauna. Giving is His very nature. After eating the Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus put on the robe of a servant, laid a towel across his arms and filled a basin with water. He then knelt in front of each of the men, washing dirt from their feet. Each disciple experience the Son of God Himself cleaning away the dust from between their toes.

It was beneath the dignity for a rabbi’s followers to do servant work. In the view of both the culture and religious thought, they were preparing for God’s work. Menial tasks were for the hired hands. It made sense, really. If a student was not bogged down with doing dishes, sweeping porches and washing laundry, he would have more time for study and prayer. And, if the student was exempt from servant work, how much more so the teacher!

Someone had not done their job. Perhaps there was no one available, no servant of the house on the clock. Foot washing was not only a courtesy, it was a matter of hygiene. People did not eat at a table sitting on individual chairs. They reclined on their sides in close proximity, so close that John records the “disciple Jesus loved” laying his head on Jesus’ breast. After having walked everywhere they went along the dusty roads and streets, sandaled feet exposed all day to the sun and elements, a foot washing was an absolute necessity.

But, this time, no one did the job. Perhaps the servant had the day off. Since custom made it beneath their dignity, not a single disciple rose to the occasion. No one volunteered to take the servant’s task. So, imagine their surprise when the Teacher begins to wash the feet of the disciples who should have been exempt. As Peter said, “How can I allow You to wash my feet!”

It is important to realize that this is standard operating procedure for Jesus. You can almost hear Him say, “Why Peter, back home we do this all the time.” God’s nature is giving. God’s nature is to serve and to supply. God is generous as the most compassionate human parent and infinitely more so. Jesus did not wash their feet as a mere object lesson. He was illustrating what is par for the course in God’s kingdom.

Hadn’t He already told them the requirements for kingdom leadership? Question #1 on the “Application for Leadership”: “Yes” or “No”. “Are you willing to be the slave to everyone?” Question #2. “Do Leaders in God’s kingdom lord it over the others and exercise authority over them? Please support your answer.” Of course, Mark 10:42-44 records Jesus’ answers.

We are so used to leadership that exercises authority, that mandates action and requires those further down the chain of command to follow the leader’s rules. When we have such a clear demonstration of servant-leadership from Jesus Himself, how has the church taken the other route? Why do so many “authorities” in church structure use tactics that come very close to “lording it over” others? Why visions of hierarchy when Jesus has said the kingdom is all about servanthood?

Paul understood what Jesus was saying? He tells the Galatians that, even if they never love him back, he is going to continue. “If I love you more, do you love me less?” he asks. Yet, he continues to love them, continues to encourage them, and continues to give of himself. He says that he would gladly spend and be spent for their very lives.

There you have it. Institutions are worried about the continued existence of their “group”. Authority is used to force a sort of false unity that has very little soul to it. On the other hand, when we are committed to people themselves, unity thrives. An atmosphere is cultivated where people use their gifts, not to be recognized, promoted and slapped with a name and position. Instead they are visiting the sick, feeding the poor, serving the homeless and any other of numerous tasks that, well, slaves do.

Because, back home in heaven, there is no forced hierarchy, there is the simplest and most profound of all relationships. The mystery, the glory is the mutual giving and service of the Father to the Son, and the Spirit to the Father, the members of the Trinity in mutual service to each other. That is why washing the disciples’ feet was a natural act for Jesus. I pray I can be trained to spend and be spent, to continue to love, even if I may be loved less.