In the Gospel of John, during the washing of the feet, Jesus told his disciples that just as he has washed their feet, they too must others’ feet. Jesus was telling them to serve others as they have been served. For many of us, we try to keep this command by serving others to the best of our ability. But what about being served?
Yesterday, I finished my reading of a book written by Paulo Coelho titled “The Devil and Miss Prym”. A very interesting book indeed, as all of his books are. In one of the stories told by one of its characters (a priest), his Bishop offered to serve everyone water after dinner. Everyone declined except the priest. Everyone present criticised the priest for accepting the Bishop’s offer. The Bishop, upon hearing this, then remarked, “You, who think you are holy men, were not humble enough to receive and so denied me the pleasure of giving.”
This hit me quite hard because I, too, am guilty of this. Very often, I “deny” others of the pleasure of serving me. I thought that by accepting the service of others, I would not be humble enough. After reading that line, I came to the realisation that I was wrong. Just like Peter, who refused Christ’s offer to wash his feet, I was refusing the service offered by others, who also wants to serve and to be served.
I also realised that what Jesus did to his disciples was something to be followed i.e. to serve and to be served. It goes both ways, not just one. We cannot just want to serve and not want to be served. We may think that we are being humble that way, but sadly, we are not. By refusing to let ourselves be served, we are actually saying “You’re not good enough to serve me.” Perhaps this is not our intention. But by refusing, we are unconsciously sending that message out.
To be true disciples of Christ, we must come to the awareness and realisation that we need to be served as well. Some may say that “Yes, I allow myself to be served, in restaurants etc.” I don’t mean that kind of serving. I’m referring to services rendered to us by our fellow Christians, our fellow pilgrims who are also on the same journey as we are.
The question is, do we have the courage, humility and wisdom to allow others to serve us? That is a question only we ourselves can answer.
