Luke 22:27

“For which is greater, the one who sits at meat, or the one who serves? Is not he who sits at meat? But I am in the midst of you as he who serves.”

And this is the reason why. It is because they were to take up His own attitude. He was here as the Servant in order to serve both God and man. He was not here seeking greatness, otherwise He could have ensured it. He was here to do God's will and serve others in any way that He could, without seeking honour for Himself. He was indeed the One Who had the right to be honoured (John 5:22). And yet He had not sought it for Himself. He had sought only to be as good a servant as He could be. There can be little doubt that behind these words He saw Himself as the Servant of the Lord of Isaiah, whose ideal was to serve, and Who committed Himself to serve, and would do so even when He came in His glory (Luke 12:37).

This was the opposite of the way in which all mankind thought. To mankind the important person was the one whom others served. They assessed their prestige by how many people served them and bowed down to them. The man who could sit and eat while others served him was the one who was most important. But the disciples were, like Him, to take up the opposite position. They were to find ‘greatness' by being true servants of others, not in ostentatious hypocrisy, but genuinely. They had to have the heart of servants. For the more they truly served, not in order to later obtain reward, but because they had the hearts of servants like He had, the more they would be honoured in the eyes of God. They could take as an example what He had told them earlier, that when He came in His glory they would sit at table while He genuinely served them (Luke 12:37). That was the attitude to be continually followed in the Kingly Rule of God. Even in His glory He would be a servant, Whose sole purpose was to genuinely serve and reveal love to others. For that is the attitude that prevails in Heaven. If He had not already done so He would shortly illustrate it by washing their feet (John 13:2).

His words here repeat the thought contained in Mark 10:42, although with sufficient difference for us to recognise that it is a repetition of the same idea rather than the same statement given in a different place (see also Matthew 23:1 for a similar idea). But the identification with the idea of the Servant of the Lord is the same in each case.

Note, however, the particular illustration here in terms of a household servant. This ties in with Jesus' parables about the servants. It is a repetition of what He has already taught them, but emphasising the lowliness and position of servitude they are to seek. They are to see themselves as the slaves of all. It is not therefore restricted to church ministry, but applies to Christians in all aspects of their lives (even to kings). The true sign of the Christian who is doing the Lord's will is that he enjoys being the servant of all, and desires no acknowledgement for what he does. Nor does he consider that it puts him in any special position. He does only what it is his duty to do, to serve his Lord, and to serve others. He seeks only to be pleasing to God.