At the establishment of the Lord’s Supper, the Lord Himself occupied the position of the server. Who is greater, He asked, the one who sits and eats, or the one who serves? And yet, He, the Lord, was the one who served.
More than this, He has done the same thing at every celebration of this Supper since then. The Lord binds the apron of a waiter on, and brings us the meal of the new covenant. It does not matter how deficient the elements have been, or how quarrelsome and unworthy the recipients have been. He serves those who are unworthy to be served.
He did this in order to establish His kingdom. He said that He appointed unto them a kingdom – but the lesson must never be forgotten. The princes of this kingdom – apostles, prophets, ministers, elders – must be as the king of it. If He stooped to serve, what must we do?
We are strengthened by this meal of the new covenant, but it nourishes us to grow up into nature of it. Our bones are strengthened by this humility, and God does it to strengthen us to humility. Serve one another, therefore. Feed one another.
It is through this gospel humility that God will continue His upside-down conquest of the world.