Church Leaders Serving the People
John 13:1-11
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. 5 Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to awash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” 8 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
During my twenty-five years as a local church pastor, I never got to hold a foot washing ceremony. Never did. Anytime I brought it up to the Administrative Council, it was rejected. Being a United Methodist pastor, I had control of the worship environment. Therefore, I could have done it. I always believed that it was important to help the people of the church worship the LORD. Therefore, it was not my way but their way, unless it was not biblical. Not holding the foot washing ceremony just did not interest them.
Did the members of the churches feel it was beneath them to do this? That is a definite possibility. I never asked why because I learned from other areas of the church that people get angry when you ask them to participate in something they do not want to do. Let me prove this by saying at one church I was directly ordered by the Administrative Board to announce a Communion service three weeks in advance. Being new to the pastorate, I asked why? The answer was that there were people in the congregation who did not like to take part in Communion therefore, they would not come that Sunday. Wow, persons who say they love Christ but what not do the things he commanded us to do. That one surprised me. I acquiesced to the request. There were better hills to die on.
The usual interpretation of foot washing is the idea of humility and service to others. That works well and is a great interpretation. It also applies to leadership. The best leaders I had in my secular career and the church were leaders who would serve the people. Let me expand on this. I had a computer engineering manager named Alan. He was a great leader for the department because he blocked all the bullets and knives that were thrown at us. People loved to complain about the computer department in the 1990s. Expansive and complicated networks were being installed and things did not work perfectly all the time. It still happens today. People would get nasty when they had to wait for someone to help them. Alan protected the members of the department and always stood up for us first. It did not matter what the situation was or who the situation was with. Alan stood in front of the department to deflect the complaints.
One day, a new leadership structure was introduced and Alan had to report to the Accounting director. Ed called for a department meeting when he took over. Ed told us he would not take a bullet for us. In fact, Ed was a tyrant and hated any phone call that was a complaint about the department. With 500 PCs and miles of network cable the situations would overwhelm the department. Eventually, everything was repaired, but it took time. Needless to say, none of us in the department took the bullet for Ed. He was a terrible leader.
Then I changed careers and went into pastoral ministry. I thought that my leaders, the District Superintendent and Bishop would look out for me. You are probably not surprised to hear me say that church folks love to complain! Some will contact the bishop’s office to complain. Yeah a very not Jesus thing to do. Church folks rarely approach the pastor about a problem or complaint. They go over the heads of the pastor and the administrative board. Not all, just most.
I had one District Superintendent who tried to take the bullet, but he was overruled by the Bishop. People at the church wanted to have community people come worship at the church. I worked to make that happen. When it did, a group was angry that I did what they wanted and complained to the District Superintendent. When he protected me they went over his head to the Bishop. The Bishop did not protect me or defuse the complaints. Instead, he sat in his ivory tower and made decrees. He was not a leader and never should have been consecrated as a Bishop.
He did not learn the symbolic lesson of the foot washing story. Jesus did this to teach a lesson to his disciples. They became the leaders of the Gospel movement when he was gone. He wanted to instill in them the idea of humility in leading. They were going to lead people to the Gospel in service. These eleven new leaders were to help people find God through Jesus’ teachings. To do this correctly they needed to understand that as leaders they needed to serve the people. They needed to attend to their spiritual and physical needs.
Today church leaders sit in their ivory towers and give out orders and expect everyone to jump. I have known pastors who do this at the local church level. Being a church pastor, Bishop, or even Pope means to be like Jesus at the foot washing. Leaders in the church are called to be the humble servants of the people. Church officials forget this and exercise the power of their positions to get what they want.
The history of the church shows how Bishops to Popes have used their “for life” status to become bullies of the officials below them and of the people. Church councils are a collection of the leaders who have decided for the people throughout the centuries. Not all the decisions were in the best interest of the people, but for their hold onto power and money.
Our church leaders need to be selected based on ability and merit. Also, the “Bishop” for life is not an optimal idea. If the elected Bishop knows in a certain amount of time that he/she will leave that post, then they will hopefully be more humble and serving. Some churches require a reelection of Bishops after their term is over. This will also remind the Bishops that they need to serve the pastors and church members.
I This principle applies in the church. Every church I have been at had at least one person who held onto the power of an elected position to get their own way. Many times the local church leaders exercise control over people. The local church leaders need to be reminded that their election is so that they can serve the people. Term limits need to apply to every church position. If a person in the church is elected to a position and the person turns the position into a power play, then the person needs to be recalled. All the members of Christ’s church are supposed to be servants towards each other.
If someone cannot handle that idea, then the person needs to resign from leadership or be voted out of the office. Jesus set the example of servant leadership in the foot washing story. One last point in conclusion is that Jesus shows that servant leadership is not gender specific. It was the women who would wash the feet of a stranger, definitely not a man. Jesus showed that both men and women must learn to be servant leaders.
If you are a church leader or aspiring to be one I hope you will learn the lesson of servant leadership from Jesus and the foot washing story.
