When Jesus gathered his disciples for the last time before his death, something unexpected happened as recorded in John 13:
“Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.”
John 13:3–5 (CSB)
If you believe, as I do, what Jesus claimed about himself, you understand that when John talks about Jesus coming from God and returning to God, it refers to his divinity and his rule from Heaven until he returns. Elsewhere Paul writes this about Jesus:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.”
Colossians 1:15–17, CSB
Suffice it to say that Jesus is a very important person. The most important person that ever walked the earth.
Why, then, is he washing the disciples’ feet? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? They should be serving him, not the reverse. This goes against the normal social structure where the lesser serves the greater.
But Jesus predicted this during his ministry, saying that if you want to be first in Jesus’ kingdom you must be a slave or a servant (see Mark 9:35 and Mark 10:44). The way to greatness (and effectiveness) in Christ’s kingdom is through serving others.
But we don’t always see such humility in church leaders.
A friend recently showed me a video of a well-known, and I assume popular, preacher who was strutting back and forth on stage saying outrageous things that did not convey servanthood but conveyed swagger and self-centeredness. This preacher’s behavior is so unlike Jesus that I hesitate to call him a Christian preacher because his message contradicts what Jesus promoted.
When you encounter this brand of “Christianity,” the only response is to walk or run away as fast as you can.
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