Daily Verse
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Serving with Humility
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Tuesday's Reflection
John 13:14-15 — If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
It was the night before He was crucified. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew that one of the men in the room would betray Him within hours. He knew that another would deny Him three times before morning. He knew that almost all of them would scatter when the arrest came. And knowing all of that, He got up from the table, wrapped a towel around His waist, poured water into a basin, and began washing their feet. Not one of the disciples had thought to do this. It was the lowest servant's job in any household. Nobody had volunteered.
When He got to Peter, Peter pulled his feet back. "Lord, you're not going to wash my feet." He couldn't handle it — the Son of God on His knees at his feet. But Jesus said simply: if I don't wash you, you have no part with me. Peter immediately swung the other way — then wash all of me. Jesus said no, just the feet. The point was not the washing. The point was the posture. The Teacher on His knees before the student. The Lord with a towel in His hands doing a slave's work.
Then He stood up, put His robe back on, and said: do you understand what I just did? I gave you an example. You call Me Lord and Teacher — and you are right, that is what I am. So if I washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet. The greatest person in the room had just done the lowest task in the house. Not as a one-time gesture for the story books. As a pattern. As the way things are supposed to work in the Kingdom. The one with the most to offer gets down the lowest to serve.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You showed us that greatness in Your Kingdom looks nothing like greatness in the world. Help us to take the towel — to serve the people around us in practical, humble, unglamorous ways. Amen.