Servanthood
"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments." John 13:3-5
The rest of the passage says, “and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet".”
Some have explained this passage: “Even though Christ was perfectly conscious of His noble birth high destiny, He nevertheless submitted Himself to perform this act of humiliation.”
I wonder if this interpretation is correct. It seems to make this act something foreign to Jesus’ nature, something alien to His heart. I think the opposite is true. Jesus, conscious that He came from the land of love, and returning to it, felt no humiliation in washing His disciples’ feet at all. It was an act of love. He didn't feel that He was stooping below Himself any more than a mother bathing her infant. He had no sense that He was doing anything beneath His dignity or disparaging His Sonship. It was not, strictly speaking, an act of condescension because it came naturally to Him. The spirit of ministry was in His blood, both symbolically and in fact. It inherited from His Father, His native air, His natural movement, the necessity of His being, and the law of His life.
Have we considered this argument for serving others? It is not because the believer must be humbled that he is called to serve, but rather because he is humble. It is because loving service is a divine trait that comes from God, and returns to God, and lives in all His children. “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Is service natural to our heart? Is it native to our being?
We might take John the Baptist's words to our lips in this respect: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” In that way, we reflect Christ’s servanthood.