Prayer: We are growing in your likeness, O God, as our faith grows in you. May we be ever so humble as your servants. Amen.

Here we are, on the journey toward the Last Supper and the inevitable cross. We’ve been traveling with Jesus, learning from him. He is our Lord, our Teacher, our role model of faith, our Christ.

We call Jesus the Christ for several reasons, one of which is that we believe that God’s Holy Spirit was living within him so completely that everything he said and did reflected that Holy Spirit within him.

We also have affirmed this Lenten season that God’s Holy Spirit is living in us… regenerated in us as we acknowledge our faith in God and in Jesus as the Son of God. So, as we can look to Jesus and his experiences, we can examine his words to see what qualities and traits we can emulate which would reflect God’s Holy Spirit within us.

Tonight, I want to explore Jesus’ trait of “humble servanthood” with you. Perhaps the most vivid example of this trait is the story of him washing the disciple’s feet. Very deliberately, our Lord and Teacher, the one whom we call the Son of God, took a basic, common, and not quite so pleasant task, and transformed it into an act of worship. It became a symbol of humility, self-giving, and servanthood.

He then said, “What I have done for you is to set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” We who have Christ’s Holy Spirit regenerated within us are to watch Jesus exemplify humble servanthood, which is what he does for others, and do likewise.

That message applies not just for foot washing, but for several other examples. To help illustrate what Jesus did as a humble servant and what we can do, I’ve put together a mini-slide show for us. Let’s take a look at what Jesus did as a God-filled servant of God.

Let’s start with an obvious one… remember how Jesus welcomed the children? Here is the highest, holiest human being who ever lived welcoming the kids around him! He could have felt that he was too important to have unruly kids goofing off around him, but instead he said the kids were too important not to be right there with him. He served God by blessing them (Mark 10:13-16).

Do we show that welcoming trait with our children? Do we cherish their playful side? Do we bless them? Do we follow Jesus’ example? As humble servants of God we recognize the blessings of our children.

Remember how Jesus welcomed other people, especially the outcast of society? He touched the diseased leper (Matthew 8:1-4) and blind people. He took time to respond to people wracked with psychological demons (Luke 8:26-39). He got right in there with the sick and the lame, people who lived in tombs, and wasn't afraid to humbly be God’s servant (Matthew 17:14-18). We have Jesus’ example for us to follow.

We can reach out to ostracized people. People with AIDS, with mental illnesses, with Alzheimer’s or dementia, with crippled legs and arms, with grieving hearts, with social ineptness… we have all these in the life of our congregation. We can follow Jesus’ example as God-filled, humble servants.

Remember the story of how one day Jesus was near the pool of Bethesda? An invalid man had been there for thirty-eight years! This man believed that he would be healed if, when the water got stirred up, and he got put in it, but no one put him in it fast enough. Remember how Jesus confronted his nemesis of mental paralysis, and told him to stand up! Pick up your pallet. Walk! In other words, stop whining about your problem and do something about it! (John 5:2-9)

Sometimes as servants of God, we have to confront mental nemeses, such as lack of confidence, lack of belief, lack of clear thinking, overwhelming responsibilities. Sometimes, even at our own expense we, out of a powerful love for an individual, have to confront the paralysis that comes with substance abuse, death, divorce, disease, etc.. We have Jesus’ example for us to follow.

We have Jesus’ example as a humble servant of God who recognized how important it is to give thanks to God for the blessings we have. Do you recall how Jesus was walking along one day and ten lepers came to him, but not too close? They wanted to be healed. Jesus told them to go to the priests, and on the way, all ten were healed. Only one, however, returned to give thanks. Jesus wondered why the others did not come back to give thanks (Luke 17:12-19).

In humbleness and servanthood, we are taught that God provides. We are taught to give thanks. We have Jesus’ example for us to follow.

Another example of humble servanthood that Jesus showed us was when he was faced with the woman caught in adultery and was about to lose her life because the crowd of self-righteous Pharisees was ready to stone her. Jesus, as God’s humble teacher and servant, got front and center, and at his own peril, confronted the hate-filled, obsessively legalistic Pharisees (John 8:1-11).

As servants of God learning from Jesus’ example, we might, in all humility and respect of the laws of our land, need to confront law-makers by advocating better laws, or by endeavoring to resist the creation of laws that are unjust, oppressive, or restrictive of basic human rights. With Jesus as our example-setter, we may need to seek ways of advocating for the little guy who is caught between an unjust law and obsessive law-abiders who don’t believe in challenging the unjust law. We have Jesus’ example for us to follow, and we can do so with humility and dignity.

That reminds me of what Jesus did on Palm Sunday. He entered into Jerusalem as God’s servant, humbly riding on a donkey. It wasn't a big parade, like the ones held for big time political leaders, like governors, kings, and princes. It was, though, an arrival into the holy city whose religious leaders had gone off the track with legalism. There, Jesus stood up against the legalistic Judaism, much to the annoyance of the legal higher-ups (Luke 19:28-40). We have Jesus’ example to follow.

There you have it… some stories and images of Jesus as a devoted, humble servant of God. You also have some ideas and images of how Jesus’ trait of humble servanthood can be our trait as well, emulated in our lives, on our journeys of faith. It is true… when the Spirit of Christ is alive in us, we feel its inner nudges to follow his example. May the Lord strengthen us and help us be faithful servants. Amen.