Ramblings of a Believer

Tonight I was reading John 13:3 where it says,  “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God”.  As I read, I started to think about the fact that Jesus is truly God and He knows it.  He knows the power that He has over everything and everyone around Him.  I started thinking about how he could have commanded or directed anything for His service.

But, as I continued to read I hear the screeching brakes fire off in my head.  In the very next verses, John 13:4-5 I read, “so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”…. WHAT?!?!?  The very Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the One who could have called down a legion of angels to rule the world chose to wash His disciple’s feet?  Why would He ever do this?  This is akin to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company showing up one night after the office has closed and washing the janitor’s feet in front of the entire cleaning crew during their snack break.  It’s not normal.  But there it is, modeled for all of us to see.

It is the model of a servant leader; one who is willing to lead as he serves his followers by meeting their basic needs.  How can I serve others like this?  How can I take care of the basic needs of the people I lead, like my family, people at work, or my friends?  God has blessed me with the ability and desire to lead others and I need to make sure I remember his example of leadership before I look at the example of so called normal leaders.