Lead with the towel
A teaching for husbands · John 13:12–17
12When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His outer garments, He reclined with them again and asked, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. 16Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Context
On the night of the Last Supper, just hours before the cross, Jesus does the work of the lowliest servant in the house: washing the guests’ dusty feet. John makes a point of saying that He knew the Father had put all things into His hands (v. 3). It wasn’t a lack of authority; it was authority used to serve. When the gesture is done, Jesus sits down and explains to the disciples what He has just done.
What the Bible teaches
Jesus doesn’t deny that He is Lord and Teacher: “and rightly so, because I am.” But He shows what someone with real authority does: He picks up the towel. Many men hear about leadership in the home and picture the head of the table, the last word, the remote control. Jesus shows the basin and the floor. Whoever leads like Him bends down first.
Washing feet was invisible, repetitive, unglamorous work. Peter even resisted. Some husbands, too, only agree to serve when they are seen and praised. At home, today’s towel might be the dishes after dinner, the night shift with the baby, the doctor’s appointment no one wants to book, the grocery list, patient listening at the end of a hard day.
Verse 17 ends with a promise of happiness: “you will be blessed if you do them.” Blessed means happy, favored by God. Knowing isn’t enough; the blessing comes from doing. And for those who grew up without a father who served, there is good news: you are not doomed to repeat the model you received. Jesus has given you another example.
In practice
Pick a household task that almost always falls to someone else and take it on for the whole week, without announcing it and without asking for recognition.
To talk about
What small task, if I took it on, would make the biggest difference in your day-to-day?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you had all things in your hands and still knelt down to wash feet. Heal my pride and my wish to be served. Give me joy in serving my family in the small things no one sees. Amen.
See also: The Last Supper.