Editor’s note: This is a work of fiction about the servant in the upper room. Hopefully the text makes us think deeply about our serving.
I Tergundas,[1] missed work that day for the first time in my life. My master sent me to the city gate and instructed me to carry a clay pitcher filled with water, a strange token, but I obeyed. I met two men, Peter and John, who seemed delighted to see that pitcher. They followed me back to the master’s house. I showed them the large upper room above the master’s living space where they planned to prepare the Passover meal. Ordinarily I would have arranged the room, and served the meal to the guests, but Peter urged me to leave them in solitude. I surmised that they, too, were servants, and their Master had sent them on a task.
Marketplace
Before I could investigate further my master sent me to the marketplace. The Roman soldiers scoured the vendors’s booths for able bodied men to conscript for Herod’s purposes. Romans had the power to upend plans and change anyone’s day as they saw fit. Along with other such “volunteers” I was forced to transport materials to Herod’s fort for one of his many construction projects. That rigorous work took the remainder of the day and night. It was only at daybreak that I’d been released. I rushed home to my master before he reported me as a runaway.
Alas, his countenance reflected one who had lost a close companion. Tears streaked his cheeks as he pointed me to the stairs and instructed me to clean up after the previous day’s feast. I did not know the identity of the strangers who dined there that evening. As I surveyed the room, cast in the gloomy shadows painted by the dim light of early morning, I wondered what had transpired.
Room Logistics
The room was arranged as a triclinium, something we learned from the Romans. Three long couches covered in the finest purple cloth and trimmed in gold were butted together in an inverted “u” shape. That way all the guests could see each other’s faces. The center of the room remained open to allow access for the servant though I was not there that evening. I do not know who served the thirteen guests.
Guests reclined on the couches while supporting their upper body on the left arm with their heads raised with cushions along the back to add comfort. The lower body was stretched out behind. When a guest desired to speak with the one directly to his left he leaned back and rested against the other’s body so that they might hear each other. Might sound uncomfortable or invasive of personal space but no one minded.
Servant’s responsibilities
Part of my role was to wash the feet of my master’s guests as they arrived in the upper room. The dusty streets surrounding our home were often littered with animal droppings. Sandals provided little barrier, and who wanted to dine with the aroma of dirty feet? The basin I used for washing had been moved that evening. The towels were soiled. I knew Someone had washed the dirty feet. But who? Did the group travel with their own Servant?
I recall that the room appeared as though at dinner’s end the guests had departed in a hurry. What appointment drew them to abandon the cheerful fellowship of the lighted upper room and the closeness of a feast to venture out into the night?
The sounds of shouting in the streets interrupted my thoughts that morning. As I peered through the curtain I witnessed scores of people running toward the center of town. My master called for me to join him, shouting something about an arrest and trial, and we joined the throng.
Jesus the Servant
I am an old man now, and those events changed my life forever. The Criminal, though declared innocent by the governor’s investigation, was sentenced to crucifixion to appease an unruly mob. But His story did not end on that cross. His tomb, a prominent grave which countless numbers of witnesses have visited, stands empty today. He rose from the dead!
I know Him now as Jesus, and yes, He is God’s Son. He is the One who took my place in the upper room that evening. Jesus borrowed my towels and basin, and washed the feet of twelve men who each thought himself above that task. He took my place on the cross also. Though sinless and not deserving of that horrible punishment Jesus died in my place to pay for my sins.
I have determined to stand content in my role as a servant. I will minister in any way I might to anyone I happened to encounter. After all, Jesus, God’s own Son, lowered Himself into my role and left me an example to follow.
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
John 13:14-15 NASB
[1] Fictional name assigned for clarity.