by J. Flanigan (Northern Ireland)
For three years and more our Lord had been teaching His disciples the secret of true greatness. It must not be with them as it was in the world. In the world men would strive and conspire for power, and by almost any means, fair or foul, would seek to attain their aims to be greatest. In the kingdom it was not so. To be truly great in the spiritual realm one would have to become little. To be greatest, one would have to become least.
It is sad, that on His last evening with them, in the very shadow of His cross, these men should dispute among themselves as to which of them was the greatest, Lk.22.24. How slow they were to learn. Or unwilling? In the sadness of that Upper Room the Saviour will now demonstrate to them, in such a practical way, just who really was the greatest.
The little company had walked across the dusty Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives to the Mount Zion where all the residences with upper rooms were located. It is a wearying walk in the heat of the day, and how welcome it would have been if there had been someone there to attend to the bathing of their feet, as was the custom. Had they been guests in another man’s house then a servant would have been summoned immediately and at once the refreshing basin of water would have been brought and the necessary courtesy attended to.
But these men were not another man’s guests. They were a little company of friends who had borrowed the room for the evening. There was no servant in attendance. Who then would stoop to bathe the feet of the others?
The basin was there, and a pitcher of water. The towel was there, a slave’s apron, probably hanging on a peg on the wall. As the basin, the water, and the towel waited, all that was needed was for someone who was great enough to become little enough to wear the apron, go down on his knees, and wash the feet of his colleagues and friends. But none moved.
Doubtless each man would have his reason for not attending to the task which waited. It was such a menial task indeed. Did Peter think to himself, "Well, after all, I am the eldest, it is not really up to me"? Did others think, "We knew the Master before Peter did, and we brought him to Him. Are not we therefore greater"? Whatever their individual reasons may have been for not rising from the table, no one did. The Saviour waited for them. Had they but realised it, He was giving them opportunity to become great, but they missed it.
Then, in the full and conscious knowledge of His own greatness as the Son, into whose hands the Father had committed everything, and equally in the knowledge of His past, present, and future glory, He vacated His seat and walked toward the towel. He laid aside His outer garment, He took the towel and wrapped it about Him. He poured the water into the basin, and began to wash the feet of His disciples.
Girded to serve the Lord of Glory stands,
The basin and the towel in His hands;
Pours out the water, bondman-like, and then
He stoops to wash the feet of fallen men.
What an amazing spectacle it was! The Lord of glory upon His knees, in meekness bathing the feet of His followers. There can be no doubt that even the feet of Judas Iscariot the traitor, were gently bathed by the tender hands of Christ in that Upper Room! The towel, the slave’s apron, had become a garment of humility, but He wore it in splendour on that last evening and showed them by example who really was the greatest among them.
During the days of His sojourn with them, the Saviour had taught them humility, and He had illustrated it. In answer to their question, "Who is the greatest?" He had once taken a little child and set him in the midst of them, Mt.18.1-4, and had exhorted them to childlikeness if they wanted to be truly great. It has been said by another that "the greatness of voluntary humility is a greater greatness than official greatness"! But it is not easy for the natural man to accept this, and so, repeatedly, our Lord had to teach His disciples this principle of the kingdom, that true greatness was humility and humility was true greatness.
Humility was perhaps a despised word until Jesus came. The Pharaohs of Egypt, the Kings of Babylon, the Princes of Persia, and the Caesars of Rome, had no time for humility. To them greatness was power, and power was greatness. Humility was equated with subservience. Meekness was weakness. Then He came who could say, "I am meek and lowly," and He was the greatest!
Of course, the swaddling bands of His nativity were garments of humility at the beginning, as were the humble garments of the carpenter from Nazareth who had moved in gracious ministry among men. It was humility indeed when He humbled Himself and was found in fashion as a Man. It was an immeasurable stoop of condescension. But this, in His last hours in the Upper Room, was the supreme example of humility. The Master wearing the apron of a slave! The Lord of all girded with the towel of the servant!
Perhaps it is not to be wondered at that Peter should object. "Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?" he asks in amazement. "Thou shalt never wash my feet", he protests. The pronouns are emphatic "Thou!" "My feet!" Poor Peter! How often, like so many of us, he said the wrong thing. The Saviour explains, and then adds, "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." The word "example" is elsewhere rendered "pattern", Heb.9.23. He had given them a pattern on which they should model themselves as His disciples. The servant was not greater than his Lord. They would be blessed indeed if they would follow His example of humility, for this was the very greatness to which they aspired.
The principle has not changed. Paul exhorts, in that great treatise on the Saviour’s condescension, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." "In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." "I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ," Phil.2; 2Cor.10. What a happy company is that, where the only strife is for the lowest place! There the brethren have learned from the example of the Greatest that the way up is really the way down!
Would’st thou be chief? Then lowly serve.
Would’st thou go up? Go down.
But go as low as e’re you will
The Highest has been lower still.
Oh for grace to follow the example of Him who voluntarily wore the slave’s apron, the garment of humility.
—to be continued (D.V.)