John really goes out of his way to make sure know that Jesus knows that Judas is going to betray Him...because knowing that makes what Jesus does so much more powerful.  Today we see Jesus serving the disciples by washing their feet - this is an act that pretty much only slaves performed. When the master of a wealthy household returned from a journey or a day of work, a slave would wash his feet. And, people wore open-toed sandals in the first century, which would have made this an unpleasant task.  So Jesus was really doing something here that had an obvious symbolic meaning, and that’s why Peter reacted the way He did by trying to deny Jesus the chore...it wasn’t Jesus’ place.  But Jesus was really giving us a picture of what servanthood is about.

In reality, servanthood cost Jesus.  It wasn’t like Jesus was just giving from His abundance when it was convenient.  Servanthood was part of the act of denying Himself in some way.  And that’s the example for me this morning in reading this.  Where am I doing this?  Where have I done this recently?  Where have I said no to me in order to say yes to someone close to me, in order that I might trade my comfort, my autonomy, my desire, for theirs?  That’s a great example.

And there is another important lesson here...Jesus didn’t just serve people in this scene, He served THE person who was about to hand Him over to be strung up on a cross and tortured to death.  This is a great lesson to those of us who have a tendency to write people off when they’ve wronged us, or when we’ve tried to go along with them time and time again, but they just won’t come around.  Jesus is reminding us in this act of servanthood to Judas that we need to keep going back...Jesus didn’t serve Judas for Judas’ sake, He served Judas as an act of worshipping God.  Likewise, I am to serve those around me as an act of worship to God...as nice as it is when they recognize and appreciate my service to them, it isn’t about that...my service to you is my worship to God.  That’s what Jesus is showing us this morning, and it is a powerful idea!