Leadership Is Service in Action

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” — John 13:14

There are moments when leadership is explained with words.

And then there are moments when leadership is demonstrated.

John 13 gives us one of those moments.

Jesus knows who He is. He knows where He has come from. He knows where He is going.

And then He gets up from the table, takes a towel, pours water into a basin, and washes the feet of His disciples.

It is difficult to imagine a more powerful picture of leadership.

The One who is called Lord and Teacher takes the position of a servant.

And then He tells His disciples:

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”

Jesus does not merely teach service.

He demonstrates it.

When leadership picks up the towel

The washing of feet was not glamorous work.

People travelled on dusty roads in sandals. Feet became dirty.

Washing someone's feet was the kind of task associated with a servant.

Yet Jesus takes the towel.

That detail matters.

He does not stop being Lord because He serves.

He does not become less authoritative because He kneels.

He does not surrender His identity.

Instead, He shows us what His authority looks like when it is expressed through service.

This connects directly with the lesson from the previous post.

In John 10, Jesus identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd.

In John 13, we see that identity expressed through action.

Identity becomes visible through service.

Leadership is not about being above people

One of the temptations of leadership is distance.

As responsibility increases, it can become easy to separate ourselves from the people we lead.

We can become more concerned with giving instructions than understanding experiences.

More comfortable being served than serving.

More interested in maintaining status than carrying responsibility.

But Jesus gives us a different picture.

He had every reason to be conscious of His authority.

Yet His awareness of who He was did not make Him too important to serve.

In fact, His security in who He was made service possible.

That is an important leadership lesson.

You do not have to become smaller to serve others.

And you do not have to become insecure about your position because you are willing to serve.

Secure leaders can bend down.

Secure leaders can listen.

Secure leaders can help.

Secure leaders can do necessary things that may never appear on a leadership résumé.

The towel is a test of leadership

It is easy to serve when the assignment is visible.

It is harder to serve when the task is ordinary.

It is easy to stand before people and speak.

It is harder to sit with someone who needs to be heard.

It is easy to accept applause for a successful project.

It is harder to do the unnoticed work that makes the project possible.

It is easy to occupy the front.

It is harder to ask:

“What needs to be done, and how can I help?”

The towel represents those ordinary acts of responsibility that may never attract attention.

Sometimes leadership looks like making the difficult phone call.

Sometimes it looks like staying behind to finish what others have left undone.

Sometimes it means helping someone who cannot repay you.

Sometimes it means listening when you would rather speak.

Sometimes it means giving another person the opportunity to shine.

And sometimes it simply means doing what needs to be done.

The towel reminds us that leadership is not always glamorous.

But service does not have to be glamorous to be meaningful.

Jesus did not merely tell them to serve

There is something especially powerful about Jesus' approach.

He could have given His disciples another lecture on humility.

Instead, He gave them an example.

He picked up the towel.

He poured the water.

He washed their feet.

Then He explained what He had done.

“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” — John 13:15

This is leadership by demonstration.

And it raises an important question for anyone who leads:

What am I demonstrating to the people who follow me?

People may forget many of our speeches.

They may forget individual instructions.

But they often remember what they saw.

They watch how we treat people who cannot benefit us.

They watch how we respond when things go wrong.

They watch whether we accept responsibility or look for someone to blame.

They watch how we treat people with less authority than ourselves.

They watch whether our values are visible in our behaviour.

Leadership is therefore more than what we tell people to do.

It is what we show them is possible.

Service is not weakness

Sometimes service is misunderstood as weakness.

A leader who listens may be considered weak.

A leader who admits a mistake may be considered weak.

A leader who gives credit to others may be considered weak.

A leader who helps with ordinary tasks may be considered weak.

But Jesus challenges that assumption.

He demonstrates that strength and service are not opposites.

The question is not whether a leader has authority.

The question is what that leader does with authority.

Authority can be used to elevate oneself.

Or it can be used to lift others.

Authority can create distance.

Or it can create access.

Authority can demand service.

Or it can make service possible.

Jesus shows us the latter.

Service does not mean having no boundaries

There is another important balance.

Christlike service does not mean allowing everyone to exploit you.

Jesus Himself did not meet every demand placed upon Him. He withdrew to pray. He sometimes refused the expectations of crowds. He confronted wrongdoing. He knew His mission and His appointed time.

So biblical service is not the same as people-pleasing.

It is not saying yes to everything.

It is not allowing unhealthy behaviour to continue in the name of humility.

It is not abandoning wisdom or responsibility.

Service is using what God has entrusted to you for the good of others.

Sometimes serving someone means helping them.

Sometimes it means correcting them.

Sometimes it means empowering them.

Sometimes it means saying no.

Sometimes the most loving thing a leader can do is refuse to make someone dependent on them.

The towel is therefore not a symbol of passive leadership.

It is a picture of purposeful, responsible service.

Who is beneath your leadership?

The foot-washing scene invites us to examine our own leadership.

Who are the people we are responsible for?

Who benefits from our leadership?

Who depends on our decisions?

Who may be overlooked because they have little influence?

Who performs the work that makes our own work possible?

And perhaps most importantly:

How do we treat people when there is nothing they can do for us?

That question can reveal a great deal about our leadership.

It is relatively easy to be courteous to someone who can promote us.

It is more revealing to be respectful toward someone who cannot advance our interests at all.

Jesus did not wash feet because His disciples had earned the privilege.

He served because that was consistent with who He was.

From the platform to the basin

Leadership often draws attention upward.

We think about the person at the front.

The person with the microphone.

The person signing the documents.

The person making the decisions.

The person whose name appears on the programme.

Jesus draws our attention downward.

To the towel.

To the basin.

To the feet.

To the people.

He reminds us that leadership is not validated merely by how many people stand behind us.

It is revealed by how willing we are to serve the people entrusted to us.

A leader who is unwilling to serve may eventually use people.

A leader who understands service seeks to develop people.

And that distinction matters.

The leadership question

Perhaps the question is not simply:

“How many people do I lead?”

Perhaps we should also ask:

“How many people are better because I lead them?”

That is a different measure.

It shifts our attention from position to impact.

From recognition to responsibility.

From being served to serving.

From asking, “What do I get from leadership?” to asking, “What can my leadership give to others?”

Jesus takes the towel and changes the picture.

He shows us that leadership is not diminished by service.

Leadership becomes more like Christ when service becomes part of its expression.

The towel and the leadership journey

In the previous reflection, we considered that leadership begins with identity.

Jesus' identity as the Good Shepherd shapes the way He leads.

Now, in John 13, that identity takes the form of a towel and basin.

The lesson is simple, but it is not easy:

If I claim to lead like Jesus, I must be willing to serve like Jesus.

Not only when people are watching.

Not only when service brings recognition.

Not only when the task is convenient.

But in the ordinary, inconvenient and sometimes unnoticed places where leadership is tested.

The towel asks us to come down from the platform and get close to people.

It asks us to exchange entitlement for responsibility.

It asks us to remember that leadership is not ultimately about how high we can rise.

It is about how faithfully we can serve.

A question to carry

If my leadership were measured by the people I serve rather than the position I occupy, what would it say about me?

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Teach me to lead with the heart of a servant.

Keep me from becoming so conscious of my position that I become disconnected from the people I am called to serve.

Give me the humility to listen, the courage to serve, the wisdom to know what is truly helpful, and the strength to use whatever authority I have for the good of others.

May my leadership not only speak about You, but demonstrate something of Your character.

Teach me to pick up the towel.

Amen.

This post is part of the Leading Like Jesus series. Read the complete series on the Faith & Life page.