The God Who Serves

It has been said that the most important thing about you is what comes into your mind when you think of God. I wonder what comes into your mind? Maybe an angry judge. Or a demanding parent, impossible to please. Maybe a dark cloud, so dense and mysterious you can’t know him at all? These ideas about God are all too common.

When John thought of God, his mind quickly returned to this scene in the upper room. John told us at the beginning of the story that no one had ever seen God, and so could not know him fully. But then he sent Jesus, the Beloved Son who had been at his side for all eternity, and Jesus made God known (1:18; 14:6–9). Jesus shows us what God has really been like all along, full of grace and truth.

On few occasions did Jesus ever paint a more vivid, or moving picture of the Father's heart. Decades later, the scene still burned in John’s memory; he must have replayed it in his mind a thousand times since he first sat in that upper room. That must be why he can describe Jesus’ actions in such precise, slow-motion detail. There, in the middle of hosting their Passover meal, Jesus arose from his seat of honor. He removed his outer garments and laid them aside. He took up a towel lying nearby, and wrapped it around his waist, like they had all seen common Gentile slaves do before. He then walked over to a basin in the corner and filled it with water. Next, he returned to the table and stood before the nearest disciple. The air then escaped the room as Jesus knelt, removed the man’s sandals, and began to wash his feet. When finished, he simply moved to the next, and quietly worked his way around the entire table. Only after he has washed every foot of every disciple does he resume his place at the head of the table.

“Do you understand what I have done to you?” Jesus asked (13:12). But of course they didn’t. It had been shocking to the point of shame to watch their “Lord” and “Teacher” perform a slave’s task: down on the ground, hunched over their dirty and smelly feet, handling and scrubbing away the filth of the Jerusalem streets. Only later would they see it clearly: Jesus had been showing them the heart of God toward them. He was a God who loved sinful people so much that he stooped down to serve them, to make them clean enough to live with him forever.

As breathtaking as this demonstration of love had been, it would pale in comparison to the true display, the next day. There, they would see the eternal Son of God who had left his seat of glory in heaven. He had stooped to take on our flesh, and to become the ultimate Servant. He did this all for unclean sinners like us, who could neither clean ourselves, nor even acknowledge that we had gotten dirty! On Good Friday, Jesus would not take up a basin and a pitcher, but a cross. Stripped of his honor and dignity, he would wrap himself in our sin. And instead of pouring out water, he would offer his own blood to cleanse us. Just as he had handled and scrubbed his disciples’ dirty feet, Jesus at the cross would identify with the lowest, foulest, most offensive and embarrassing parts of us. And, at the cost of his own life, Jesus would provide a perfect, once-and-for-all cleansing for us. Only then, when the work was finished, would he return to heaven and resume his place at the Father's right hand. In the gospel, Jesus reveals with dazzling clarity the heart of God: he is the God who serves.

What comes into your mind when you think of God? If you listen to John, you will think of a basin and a towel, of a cross and an empty tomb. You might even think of the words of this very old hymn:

My song is love unknown, 
my Savior’s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
that they might lovely be.

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church