Servant of All

Occasionally my children will demand something of me that they are perfectly capable of doing themselves. For example, one child will sometimes bring me their laundry late at night and insist that it be washed for them by morning before they go to school. Or, as happened on Sunday getting ready for church, my younger son might yell at me to put his slip-on shoes on him. In these instances I sometimes explain to them, “I am not your servant,” telling them they can do these things for themselves. I thought about this statement this morning as I read the account of the Savior humbly washing the feet of His apostles. We read, “He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded” (John 13:4-5). He certainly was the servant of His apostles in this instance and in many others. He summarized what He had done for them with these words, “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. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him” (John 13:14-16). We are to be His servant, and if He was also a servant to those around Him, so should we do likewise. This certainly does not mean that my son shouldn’t learn to put on his own shoes or that we shouldn’t encourage others to do things for themselves whenever possible, but as followers of the Savior we should try to live with the mindset of a servant like He did.

                Other scriptures highlight our need to be a servant to others. The Savior taught this after describing how the Gentiles act with the greatest being served by the least: “But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28). He emphasized again, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11). Greatness in His eyes is to be a servant to others as He described in our dispensation: “He that is ordained of God and sent forth, the same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:26). In the Doctrine and Covenants one of the most common titles that He gave to those He spoke to was servant such as in these verses: “These commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness…. And now, concerning my servants, Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, Jun., and Oliver Cowdery…. And again, verily I say unto you, let all my servants in the land of Kirtland remember the Lord their God (Doctrine and Covenants 1:24, 61:23, 117:16). To follow Him is to be His servant, just as He was a servant when He condescended to come the earth: “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). The attitude of Isaiah is what we should have: “And now, saith the Lord—that formed me from the womb that I should be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him—though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength” (1 Nephi 21:5). We were formed to be His servant, to bring His children back to Him.