Beware of False Pride and Entitlement

Beware of False Pride and Entitlement | John 13: 16-20

John 13 opens not with a sermon but with a gesture; one of the most staggering gestures in all of scripture. The master had tied a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and went from disciple to disciple, washing the dust and filth from their feet. He did it without announcement. He did it without requiring their worthiness first. He did it fully; to every man in that room. And here is where the scene reaches its most devastating depth: he did not skip Judas. He did it with total generosity and magnanimity, zero partiality, and at full knowledge of the cost. He knew what those feet had already been plotting, where those feet would walk before the night was through. And still, he knelt; still, he washed. There was no partiality in his mercy, no calculation in his generosity, no precondition on his service. The magnanimity of the master was total.

This is the context in which the words, “a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him” must be heard. Here is the danger of being greatly blessed. When the Master is generous; and he is extravagantly, unreasonably generous, something quietly shifts in the heart of the recipient. They begin to think, I have been given much because I deserve much. I have been trusted because I am worthy of trust. My gifts are mine because I earned them. The grace that was freely given becomes, in the receiver's imagination, a confirmation of their exceptional status. Entitlement is grace that has forgotten its origin. The most dangerous moment is not when God withholds. It is when he gives; generously, lavishly; and we begin to mistake his generosity for our own deserving—being entitled. We must declare in humility, I have received everything, I am grateful; I am sent with a message, I am accountable to the one who sent me. To truly know that you have received is to be automatically oriented toward the giver. When gratitude dies, entitlement is born; and entitlement is a life that has appointed itself greater than its master.

John 13 in fact gives us two postures: one of the masters, another of the servants. Masters must look at what Jesus does at the beginning of John 13. He is the Master; the one who has given everything: life, calling, commission, friendship, miraculous signs. He is the source of every grace in that room. And yet he is the one on his knees. He does not leverage his generosity into authority over them. He does not remind them of what he has done as he washes their feet; he simply serves without condition. He being the master and savior washed his disciples feet; by doing it 'he showed the posture of authority,' that is to bend down to wash another’s feet.

The servants, having receive from the master; the messenger sent by the master, must not get into false pride and entitlement, but be grateful, and that is the posture of servants, messengers, of discipleship.

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