Humble Yourselves | John 13 and Philippians 2

4482609334_e2cba77bbf_zLove One Another the Way Jesus Loves You

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you. (John 13:34)

Just before Jesus spoke these words, he washed his disciples’ feet saying:

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (John 13:14-17)

So when Jesus commands his disciples to love one another just as he has loved them, his foot-washing example is ringing in their ears. But what does it mean to “wash one another’s feet” and “do just as I have done to you?”

Some traditions literally wash one another’s feet, but I do not think that’s what Jesus has in mind here. For one, modern foot washing bears little resemblance to John 13 foot washing, which was a regular necessity done either personally or by the lowliest servant due to the harsh conditions feet endured back then. We do not need to wash our feet every time we enter a house or eat a meal. So if we were to wash one another’s feet today it would be ceremonial, not practical. Jesus wasn’t demonstrating a religious ritual, but humble love.

Look back at John 13:14-17 and note the emphasis on status and position. Jesus is careful to highlight that he, their Lord and Teacher, washed their feet and that “a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” It’s not about feet, it’s about demotion. It’s about “going low” to love one another.

This interpretation lines up with Philippians 2:6-8. How has Jesus loved us?

[T]hough he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Loving one another the way Jesus has loved us means humbling ourselves, doing nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility counting others more significant than ourselves, looking not only to our own interests but also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-5).

Love One Another because Jesus Loves You

How can we love with such humility? By tapping into the deep reservoir of humble love we receive from Jesus. As John put it in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” If you are a Christian, a humbly loving mind “is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).

Because of the humble love we receive from Jesus we are:

  • Free from climbing the social ladder to promote others
  • Free from concern about how others view us to truly see them
  • Free from self ambition to serve without recognition or applause
  • Free from sensitivity to love vulnerably
  • Free from slavery to self-esteem to esteem others
  • Free from desire to gossip to honor others in how we speak about them
  • Free from self-righteousness to forgive
  • Free from self-justification to apologize
  • Free from the need to be right to yield to others
  • Free from the need to be seen to see others
  • Free from the need to be heard to hear others
  • Free from grasping at status and privilege to empty ourselves for others

Receive Jesus’ humble love today, and love one another humbly.

(Picture by ‘Close to Home’)

   
 
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