The Servant

We're meditating on the reality of God's Lordship. What comes to mind?

For me, it leads to an attitude of worship, fear, reverence, obedience, exaltation, and praise.

That's fitting, right?

The Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II liked to describe himself in rather grand ways. He was the "...great king, king of the world, the valiant hero who goes forth with the help of Assur; he who has no rival in all four quarters of the world, the exalted shepherd, the powerful torrent that none can withstand, he who has overcome all mankind, whose hand has conquered all lands and taken all the mountain ranges."

As noted in the World History Encyclopedia, historian Stephen Bertman tells us, "The sadistic cruelty he inflicted upon rebel leaders was legendary, skinning them alive and displaying their skin, and cutting off the noses and the ears of their followers or mounting their severed heads on pillars to serve as a warning to others."

This is how kings rule, right? You're either an obedient subject or an enemy to be defeated.

Their rule is defined by being supreme over their subjects.

But you know where I'm going. We're talking about our First Love.

Consider what we read in John 13:

"When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, 'Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.'"

What's unique about the lordship of our First Love is that he defines and demonstrates that his lordship is about service.

This reverses our expectations.

For instance, as a PBS program explains about Roman households, "The paterfamilias had absolute rule over his household and children. If they angered him, he had the legal right to disown his children, sell them into slavery or even kill them."

But as Paul writes in Ephesians 5, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… husbands should love their wives as their own bodies."

Wait, what? It is so different from our expectations that it is hard to understand.

Imagine a Roman man asking a Christian pastor about this. So, if I become a Christian, will I still be in charge of my family? The pastor explains, yes, we believe that husbands are to lead their families. The Roman man feels satisfied, ok, good. Then the pastor says, "and by leading their families, we expect husbands to love their wives so completely, exclusively, and thoroughly, that they only and always act in her best interests, even if it causes them to die in the process of serving their wives."

Now, do you see how the potential convert might be confused? The whole idea of authority has been redefined in a way that reverses the sinful inclination of the human heart.

And so we struggle to see these ideas as connected. They seem so obviously divergent. How can Paul's job description for husbands be accurate? How is a husband loving his wife to the point of death the same as being the head of the household? It doesn't make sense.

But consider how God leads his family. Jesus washed the dirty, stinky feet of his disciples. And he said that this humble service revealed his lordship.

Yes, our First Love is the Lord of lords. But he is also the servant of servants.