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No Servant Is Greater Than His Master

Much of the hierarchical social structure of Jesus’ time has been flattened in our context.  The concept of authority has shifted significantly since Roman Emperors saw themselves as divine and tried to act the part.

In Judea, the Roman social order was muted, but present.  Under the Roman overlords, the Jewish priestly aristocracy took a decidedly “top down” approach.  Anyone who threatened their authority was eliminated as quickly as possible.  Their treatment of Jesus serves as a potent example of this.  Capital and corporal punishments were the order of the day.  The preservation of the vertical power structure was precious to those at the top.

Enter Jesus, who expressed the antithesis of the human values that surrounded Him.  He broke the social norms of His day in the way He interacted with women and children.  He challenged the righteousness of the spiritual ruling class.  He spoke with stunning authority as He changed the accepted interpretation of the Torah.  He was compassionate with the suffering and merciless with the elite.  He was clean, but He touched lepers.  He was a holy man, yet He associated with the social lowlife of the time.  He was a teacher, but he washed His disciples’ feet.

“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them.  ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord”, and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.’”  (John 13:12-17)

Jesus knew the kind of people His disciples were, always jockeying for position; trying to get ahead of each other; trying to exert their will over others.  They were exactly the same kind of people His followers today are.  So Jesus set the bar high by stooping low.  He performed the most humble of tasks directly and personally.  Then, He challenged His followers to dare to do differently by saying:  “I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”  Charging them, in advance, with insubordination if they dared to attempt to avoid following His example.

In this declaration of truth, Jesus reminds all who claim to be His followers that they must, in fact, follow Him.  We do not have the option of adopting the aspects of Jesus’ teaching that appeal to us while setting aside the difficult and unpleasant.  Take up the challenge of responding positively to all Jesus did and  “you will be blessed if you do them.”