提要
我想我們大部分人都可以直覺的辨認出逢迎諂媚和純粹的利他行為。我的意思是，當一個人表面上在服事我們，事實上卻是在為自己著想，我們通常可以看得出來。我們也看得出一個人純粹是為了我們的緣故幫助我們，完全沒有隱藏的動機。在大部分的情況裡，利他的人擁有服事的力量──不一定是肉身、心智、或經濟上的力量，而是發自道德的力量。不論他們看起來是多麼羞怯，內向，或謙遜，他們的內心都有深厚的安全感。他們堅固的道德纖維是由靈裡的平安織成的。
注意，本章描述耶穌的服事就是出於這種內在力量的基礎──「耶穌知道父已將萬有交在祂手裡，且知道自己是從上帝出來的，又要歸到上帝那裡去。」（3節）。耶穌並不需要藉著洗門徒的腳來證明或得到什麼；但祂的確有件功課要教祂的門徒。耶穌是他們的主，尚且服事他們，祂的門徒就再沒有理由對後來即將接受基督教的群眾採高人一等的姿態。耶穌自取卑微，為門徒洗腳，在以後的世界歷史裡，沒有一個基督教領袖能不照主的榜樣而行。
我們不是為有所得而服事，我們是為付出而服事。我們也不是靠自己的努力，乃是深信我們蒙上帝所愛。上帝已經全然向我們委身，祂絕不會失信於祂的兒女。
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Overview
I think most of us have the instinctive ability to discern between the merely obsequious and the purely altruistic. Huh? How’s that again? What I mean is, we can usually tell when someone is being self-serving even while appearing to be serving us. And we can tell when someone is helping us purely for our sake, with no ulterior motive. In most cases, the altruistic person is ministering from a position of strength; not physical, mental, or financial strength, necessarily, but from moral strength. However shy, retiring, or self-effacing they may appear to be, there is a deep inner security characterizing their private world. They have moral fiber rooted in spiritual peace.
Notice the foundation of inner strength out of which Jesus ministered in this chapter – He “knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He “knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God…” (v.3). Jesus had nothing to prove and nothing to gain by washing His disciples’ feet; but He did have a lesson to teach. Because He was their Master and Lord, His disciples would never be able to justify a superior attitude to the masses that would embrace Christianity over the succeeding centuries. Jesus had assumed the lowliest posture in washing His disciple’s feet; for the remainder of the world’s history, no Christian leader could afford to do less.
So we don’t serve to get; we serve to give. Rather than striving, we rest in the confidence that we are loved. God has committed Himself to us, and He never backs down from what He has promised His children.
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