Servants receive little praise in our culture. In thankless silence, they clean, remove trash, or chop vegetables each day. Rare and few are those who recognize nobility in service. The world casts off the hard-working helpers as if they comprise a lower class. One claims these children of His as royal descendants.
The King strode into the modest room, where all His subjects had assembled to share a special feast. He removed his robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and washed their feet. The King of Kings took on a task assigned to the lowliest servant. Twenty-four calloused soles reeked of foul alley grime. Christ bent into those grimy toes, rinsing away the stench and filth of their past journeys.
Jesus cleansed the heels of those who misunderstood Him. Rubbing and rinsing, the King knew those who would soon desert Him. Pulling Judas close enough to use the towel on his waist, He patted dry His betrayer’s feet. The Lord modeled unconditional service as a mark of divine royalty.
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11)
See also John 13-14.