A Father’s Leadership Lesson
The family farm on the Prairies where I grew up was one of the larger ones in our area, and we often had hired men to help us do the work that we needed to do. When I became a young adult, I often had oversight over one or more hired men. On a farm, there are times when an unpleasant job needs to be done, like shoveling grain in a dusty grain bin, or cleaning manure out of a messy pig pen, and it is really tempting when you have a hired man to get them to do the dirty jobs you don’t want to do. But my Dad told me something which I never forgot. He said, “Don’t ask someone else to do something for you that you would not do yourself.” That was one of my first major lessons in leadership.
Being in a position of leadership tends to reveal the values we have in our heart. Being a leader means that you have power, and power can be intoxicating to our soul. We are often tempted to use our power to benefit ourselves, but when we do that, we break trust with those whom we lead, and we often harm them in the process. And we don’t even realize what we are doing. For example, as we were coming out of the pandemic there were several companies in which rank-and-file employees were ordered to return to work in corporate offices while upper management continued to work remotely. In an online article from October 2022, author Rani Molla wrote that about 80% of corporate executives were working remotely but more than half of them wanted their employees back in the office five days a week.[i]
If you are thinking to yourself, “This sermon doesn’t apply to me because I don’t have any employees working for me,” let me assure you that it does. Because God has given all of us the power to influence the people around us. But how are we using our God-given power? Are we blessing the people we influence, or are we harming them somehow, perhaps in ways of which we are not even aware? How can we be intentional about influencing others in a way that blesses them and builds them up? That’s what we are going to be thinking about today and to guide us in our reflections, let’s look at what Jesus said about leadership in John 13:1-17. If you have a Bible or a Bible app nearby, I invite you to turn there now.
Jesus’ Last Precious Moments With His Followers
As you do that, imagine that you are gathered with people whom you deeply love for a very special meal. You have gone through significant moments of your life with these people and you have shared the deepest part of your being with them. You love them and you only want what is best for them.
The meal for which you have gathered is an annual celebration of God’s mighty action to bring freedom and wholeness to humanity. And, though nobody else knows it, you know that within 24 hours you will be dead. What will you do and say in your last precious moments with your friends? What valuable knowledge or insight could you leave with them that will bless them after you are gone?
That’s exactly the situation Jesus found himself in on the night when the events of our passage took place. He was gathered with his twelve disciples to celebrate the Passover meal and he knew that, within hours, he would be nailed to a cross to suffer horrifically, and by sundown the next day, he would be dead. What would he do as he shared this very important meal with his closest friends and followers? What would he say? What could he leave with them that would bless their lives after he was gone?
Jesus Washed His Followers’ Feet
The Gospel writer John sets the scene for us: It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1) Jesus knew that the brevity and the weight of these last moments with his friends were part of his Father’s plan for the redemption and the salvation of the world. This is the way that things needed to be for God’s broken creation to be restored.
Jesus had a choice regarding whether he would step into his Father’s redemptive plan or step out of it. Jesus decided to step into his Father’s redemptive plan even though it would have been nice for Jesus to have more time with his friends, even though it would have been preferable for him to not suffer a horribly painful death. It was love that moved Jesus to leave behind his personal preferences and whole-heartedly partner with his Father and use the time and the power that had been given to him to do what God had called him to do.
With his heart filled with love for his followers, and his mind aware that the time was short, Jesus took off his outer garment, wrapped a towel around his waist, and began washing the feet of his followers. That must have been shocking to them. People wore open-toed sandals in those days and walked long distances on dirty, dusty roads. Their feet would have been filthy and stinky, and because people ate meals reclining on their side at low tables, your neighbors’ feet were within the smelling range of your nose. So this was a problem. And it became the custom that the lowest servant in the home of the host would wash all the feet of all the guests before the meal. Jesus had sent Peter and John to prepare the Passover Meal, but they had neglected to make sure that this important and necessary custom was fulfilled. Perhaps they thought that it was beneath them to perform such a demeaning task.
And so, after the meal had begun, and the food was being served, and people were about to eat with their dirty, stinky feet nearby, Jesus did what needed to be done, but no one else was willing to do. He washed the dust and sweat off his followers’ feet, then lovingly dried them with the towel that was wrapped around his waist.
At first, Peter refused to let Jesus wash his feet. Perhaps Peter was humiliated that his Lord was doing what Peter should have done, but didn’t. Jesus’ answer revealed that refusal to be served by him was not an option if you wanted to have a relationship with him. We all have to swallow our pride and let Jesus do for us what we should have done, but didn’t—or rather, should have done but couldn’t—wash the stench and the stain of all our sins completely away. Peter then wanted a full body washing by Jesus, but that wasn’t necessary. Jesus isn’t taking all of our life away from us, only our sin. We are still creatures of God who bear his image. And in Jesus, that good remainder finds its fulfillment in a new, rich full abundant life as a beloved, forgiven child of God who lives in the realm of God with Jesus as our King.
Not everyone who had their feet washed that day received the gift of forgiveness and life that Jesus wanted to give them. Judas’ love was for money, not people, and so he used the time he was given to step out of God’s plan and go his own way. His pride and self-led determination were the opposite of love, and it led to a betrayal of God and Judas’ own destruction. Judas wouldn’t let Jesus wash those things away from him.
After Jesus had finished washing everyone’s feet, so there would be no confusion, he explained why he did what he did. He said, 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:14-17)
The Choice Between the Way of Love or Pride
So what can we take from this passage and apply to our lives? Throughout our life, we all face points where we must decide whether we are going to follow the Way of Love, which is Jesus’ Way, or the Way of Pride, which is the way that Judas followed. The Way of Love is to throw our pride overboard, whole-heartedly partner with God, and use whatever time and power he has given us to humbly serve others with love. When we, with God’s help, do this, we not only bless and build up others, we also lead them to also serve others with love. We advance the cause of love in this world. This is what true servant leadership does.
The Way of Pride is to keep our pride, hide it, if necessary, keep a firm grip on the steering wheel of our own life, (that is, keep control of our own life) and use our time and power to serve ourselves. When we do this, we not only hurt and harm others, we also betray God our Creator and his love for all people, and we direct our life toward a destiny of destruction.
The Way of Love is not something that only applies in a Church. Even the secular world recognizes its importance. In his book Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek writes, “What makes a good leader is that they eschew the spotlight in favor of spending time and energy to do what they need to do to support and protect their people.”[ii]
The Way of Love is a Gift of Grace
Dear friends, the way that we use our power to lead and influence is very important, but please remember that the Way of Love is not about perfection. It’s about grace. There was room in the Way of Love for Peter, who also had pride in his heart, but he gave it to Jesus and Jesus replaced it with a greater love. So there is room in the Way of Love for you too.
Jesus has made it possible for all of us to follow the Way of Love by lovingly going to the cross to suffer and die to pay the full cost of forgiveness for all our sins. We enter the Way of Love by receiving Jesus’ grace and forgiveness, joining our one-and-only life to his, and letting his selfless sacrificial love lead and transform us into becoming more like him. Amen.
(This message was shared at Walnut Grove Lutheran Church in Langley BC and St. Luke Lutheran Church in Surrey BC on August 25, 2024. For more info about WGLC, please go to wglc.org. For more info about SLLC, please go to sllc.ca.)
[i] Rani Molla, “You’re going back to the office. Your boss isn’t.”, Vox (Internet; available at: https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/10/12/23400496/remote-work-from-home-office-boss-manager-hypocrisy; accessed August 1, 2024.)
[ii] Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t (New York: Penguin, 2017), 83.
Farewell to Shadowlands 