October the Twentieth
The Lord as the Servant
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands,
and that He came forth from God, and goeth to God....”
—John xiii. 1-20.
And how shall we expect the sentence to finish? What shall be the issue of so vast a consciousness? “He took a towel, and girded Himself... and began to wash the disciples’ feet.”
So a mighty consciousness expresses itself in lowly service. In our ignorance we should have assumed that divinity would have moved only in planetary orbits, and would have overlooked the petty streets and ways of men. But here the Lord of Glory girds Himself with the apron of the slave, and almightiness addresses itself to menial service.
And that is the test of an expanding consciousness. We may be sure that we are growing smaller when we begin to disparage humble services. We may be sure we are growing larger when we love the ministries that never cry or lift their voices in the streets. When a man begins to despise the “towel,” he is losing his kingly dignity, and is resigning his place on the throne. “I have given you an example that ye also should do as I have done to you.”