Serving God
Jesus’ radical example
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For I have given you an example—you should do just as I have done for you. I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
John 13:15-17 (NET)
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This is Jesus talking.
The immediate example He just gave to the Disciples was washing their feet before the Last Supper.
It would have been obvious to them that this example — and the lesson He was teaching them — meant a radical humility.
Am I willing to serve my friends in this way?
Of course, here in 21st century America there’s no call for feet washing. Baths & showers can take care of that. But what about the attitude behind it?
The lowest servant in the household was the one to wash feet.
If you think feet are gross now, you don’t even want to think about all the disgusting muck they would have been through walking along the streets of a 1st century world.
Garbage. Excrement. Dirt.
Feet were F-I-L-T-H-Y.
This just makes Jesus’ act of humility stand out all the more.
We already know that His most radical act of humility was coming: giving His life on a cross to bear our punishment for sin.
And that was after giving up His divine form for three decades in order to walk like us.
No matter how many different angles you look at this, Jesus calls us to radical servanthood and we’ve got no argument against it because nothing we give up could possibly compare with what He gave up.
So, I guess I better follow His example.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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