One Anothering

It has been said that greatness, in Christian terms, is not measured by how many people are serving you but by how many you yourself are serving.

Jesus astonished his disciples when he disrobed and washed their feet (John 13:1-17). This was a menial task for a low-ranking servant. But Jesus knew his place: “He had come from God and was returning to God.” God takes delight in humbly serving his people and has done so supremely in and through Jesus, the Son of Man, who came not to be serve but to serve and give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Jesus could not have stooped any lower than the cross in order to serve us. Wow, what a Saviour!

If you’re feeling musical, why not sing to yourself Graham Kendrick’s ‘The servant King’?

Created, and now being re-created in the image of God, we are called to serve one another. On that Thursday, for the disciples in their day and culture, it was through the washing of one another’s feet. For us it’ll be different, but putting into practice the call to ‘love one another’, the New Testament gives us lots of ideas about how to do it – I’ve compiled a list which you can access here:

Of these ‘one anothers’ which will you take up and act on today?

By the way, ‘maundy’ comes, from the Latin “mandatum”, meaning command or mandate. It is linked especially with John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”