Lesson 84 · Unit 13 · The Body of Christ
Wrap the Towel Around You
Serving does not begin with a gifts test. It begins with a towel.
Open
You took the spiritual gifts test: a hundred and twenty questions, and out came a radar chart - teaching 82, mercy 74, administration 41. You saved the report as a PDF, thinking you would start serving once you could see your gifting clearly.
That same week, the notice on the church board - "Children's Sunday school urgently needs teachers" - entered its third month, the corners curling.
On one side, self-knowledge precise to the decimal point. On the other, a classroom nobody will take. Which side does serving actually start on? On the night before he suffered, Jesus answered that question with a towel.
Scripture
The Lord with all things in his hands picked up a piece of linen. (John 13:4-5, 12-17, WEB)
4arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
12So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
13You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am.
14If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.
16Most certainly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither is one who is sent greater than he who sent him.
17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
13For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
See
Watch the whole scene
Read John's camera slowly and skip none of the verbs. Jesus "arose from supper" - he put down the place of honour. He "laid aside his outer garments" - he took off his dignity. He "wrapped a towel around his waist" - that was the uniform of the lowest servant in a household; Jewish disciples served their rabbi in many ways, but foot-washing was specifically excluded from the duties, because it was too degrading. He "poured water into the basin" - he poured it himself, ordering nobody about. Then pair by pair he washed, and pair by pair he dried them with the towel at his waist. Peter's feet. Thomas's feet. And the feet of Judas, who within hours would sell him. The most astonishing thing is the setup in verse 3: he did all this because he knew "the Father had given all things into his hands." Only someone secure in who he is can bend that low; the steadier the identity, the more naturally the towel comes to hand.
An example, not a performance
When he had finished he put his garment back on, sat down, and asked one question: "Do you know what I have done to you?" (13:12). Then he answered it himself: "I have given you an example" (13:15). An example exists to be copied: "a servant is not greater than his lord" - a servant has no grounds for walking around the place his master knelt. Paul writes the same thing as a principle: freedom is not a permit for self-indulgence, "but through love be servants to one another" (Gal 5:13) - the freedom we were called into comes out at somebody else's feet. So the first lesson in serving is not "what is my gift" but "where is there a pair of feet nobody is washing?" Gifts are real, of course (lesson 91 takes them up properly), but you do not discover a gift with a questionnaire; you discover it by trying it on. Start where the need is greatest - setting out chairs, greeting at the door, the children's room, clearing up after the meeting - and you will know whether it fits only once you have worn it.
Two sicknesses, one prescription
The waiting type says, "When I'm ready, when I can see my gifts clearly, then I'll step up." But Jesus reverses the order: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (13:17) - the blessing is not in the knowing, it is in the doing. The performing type only picks the front of the stage: the pulpit yes, a microphone yes, the sink no thank you. But the example the Lord left is precisely a job with no applause: while you are washing feet nobody claps, and when you are done the water goes cold. Two sicknesses, one prescription - pick up the towel nearest to you.
Deeper
The towel at his waist (John 13:4)
the working dress of the lowest household servant; the Son of God took the one position nobody was fighting for.
Example (John 13:15)
the word means a pattern, a template - not a painting to admire but a drawing to build from.
What freedom is for (Gal 5:13)
the freedom the gospel gives is not exemption from serving; it is finally being able to live for someone other than yourself.
Know, then do, then blessed (John 13:17)
the blessing of serving is hidden in the verb; stop at "know" and it never reaches your hands.
Story
D. L. Moody was seventeen and apprenticed in a Boston shoe shop when his Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball, led him to Christ between the stock shelves. After he moved to Chicago he did not wait to be ordained by anyone - he first rented four pews in a church and went out into the streets every Sunday to fill them, one wandering young man at a time. Then he went straight into the slums and gathered street children into a Sunday school of his own. Lighting the stove, sweeping the floor, knocking door to door - all of it was his own work. When people laughed at how little theology he knew, he said he did know the children's names.
That Sunday school, which began with a broom, grew into a church; that shoe-shop apprentice ended up preaching to queues on two continents. But the way people saw him most often in those early years was carrying chairs and collecting children. Towel first, pulpit later - the order never once ran backwards.
(Historical; see the life written by his son, W. R. Moody, 1900. Details condensed.)
Respond
Reflect — alone, or talk it through together
1John 13:3 joins "knowing all things were in his hands" to "taking up the towel." In you, what is the relationship between a settled identity and the ability to stoop?
2Which sickness are you closer to - the waiting type or the performing type? What service has it been shielding you from?
3Where is your church shortest of people right now? How far away from you is that pair of unwashed feet?
Saved on this device only — visible to no one but you.
Pray together
Lord Jesus, who laid aside your garments, wrapped a towel around you and washed your disciples' feet: my feet were in that basin too - you did not skip even Judas, so what right have I to pick and choose my jobs? Forgive me for treating service as display and "getting ready" as delay. You said the ones who do these things are blessed; move me into the doing. Show me the corner of the church that is shortest of hands, and give me a heart that picks up the towel without feeling hard done by. A servant is not greater than his lord - Lord, I will not walk around the place where you knelt. Amen.
Walk
This week's actionabout 10 min
Find the coworker or pastor who arranges service in your church and say one sentence, in person or by message: "Where are you shortest of people? I can do that." Whatever they say, start there and try it for four weeks.
Mark it when it happens — this week, at your pace.
Spiritual practice
Do one small piece of service this week that nobody knows about (clear the cups after the meeting, straighten the crooked chairs), tell no one afterwards, and settle the account quietly with the Lord.
Memory verse · Galatians 5:13
Foryou,brothers,werecalledforfreedom...throughlovebeservantstooneanother.
Walk further
The King who knelt with a towel, Moody's life which began with setting out chairs, lesson 24 on becoming a companion, the theme of discipleship, and a prayer for serving others.