THE KING’S BUSINESS
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an example, that ye (add , also) should do as 1 have done to you." They called Him Lord and Teacher, but they did not act as if He were their Lord and Teacher. If we call Him Teacher and Lord, let us not play the hypocrite, but rather let us make Him in our lives what we call him with our lips! If He, our Lord and Teacher, performed the lowest and most disagree able service for others, for those far beneath Him, we too must stand ready to perform the lowliest service for all others. Are we ready to do it? Oh! how some of us rebel if men do not give us the honor and respect and place and rank that we think are our due. Let us not be con cerned about the; honor and respect paid to us, nor the place and rank given to us, let us rather seek to do service for others; then, and only then shall we have the right to call Jesus Teacher and Lord. But if we seek honor rather than seeking to be humbly useful, we have no right to call Jesus “Teacher and Lord.” The disci ples had not known what the Lord had done to them, but here He explains it. What He had really done was to set them an example whereby He would remove the dirt of pride and self-seeking from their sin-stained souls. At this very time they were having a quarrel among themselves as to who should be counted greatest (Luke 22:24). Greatly did they need to be taught to take the lowly place of service rather than to seek their own honor, and greatly do we also need to be taught the same lesson. There is nothing that those who call themselves followers of Christ so per sistently forget as the lesson that He so often emphasizes of seeking for themselves the lowly place of service rather than the lofty place of honor. This incident left a deep impression upon the mind of Peter.. This is evident from his striking allusion to it in his first epistle (1 Peter 5:5; note especially the words “gird yourselves with humility” Revised Version; cf. v. 4). “The servant is not greater than his Lord” (v. 16) : so every Christian should be satisfied
certainly ought to be very patient in deal ing with those in our churches, the genu ineness of whose regeneration we ques tion. Of course, this does not mean that there shall not be discipline, for the Word of God explicitly teaches us that there should be such discipline in known cases of evil (1 Cor. 5:9-11). : v. 12.' “So after (when) He had' washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and sat down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?" The Apos tles ' must have sat in wonder as Jesus washed their feet. Each of them had been too full of pride to undertake to wash the feet of others. It was a servant’s work and not one of them was ready to admit inferiority to any one else, and here thé Lord and Master had done for them all, even for Judas, what not one of them was ready to do for the others. He asked them, “Know ye what I have done to you ?” They certainly did not. Indeed, it was some time before they understood the full meaning of His act, and little do we under stand oftentimés what it is the Lord has done to us. Oh, that we would study more prayerfully and carefully to know and understand the Lord’s 'dealings with us. v. 13. “Ye call me Master and (, and) Lord: and ye say well; for so I am." The word translated “Master” here means “Teacher,” and is so translated in the American Standard Version. They did well to call Jesus “Teacher and Lord,” for He is the Teacher of Teachers, the only perfect Teacher,1 and He is Lord. The word translated “Lord” is used of Jehovah God throughout the Old Testament in the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Old Testament. It means in Bible usage a Divine Lord, aud one who has a right to the absolute control of our lives, and that Jesus is, He is our Divine Lord and He has a right to the absolute control of oUr lives. vs! 14, 15. “I f I then, your Lord and Master (, the Lord and the Master,) have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you
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