"13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."
John 13:13-17
What is the nature of the spiritual authority of which Jesus speaks in these verses? Jesus was obedient unto death, He submitted to the divine will for His life, and it was this that gave Him divine authority. There is a wonderful illustration of this principle in the story of the centurion who came to Jesus about his sick servant. The point in this story is that the centurion discerned the secret of Christ. 'I also am a man under authority', he said, implying, in the use of the word 'also', that Jesus was in exactly the same position. And he realised that because he was under authority, he was given authority over others, and therefore it must be the same also with Jesus. He knew that because Christ had submitted to divine authority, authority had been vested in Him, to enable Him to perform His mighty works. This is the principle Jesus illustrated in the feet-washing incident, giving His disciples an example to follow. We must remember that these were the men who were to wield and exercise authority in His Church, and they above all, must learn the true secret of authority. Jesus had said, 'I will make you fishers of men', and this was the deepest and most critical lesson they had to learn. It is an extension and elaboration of the words, 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die...'. It is a lesson that all who would follow Christ in discipleship need to learn, to submit to authority, to bow down, to stoop low. In the Christian life we die to live, and we have to submit to authority before any authority can ever be safely vested in us. There is a death that Christians must die, a submission they must make to the Lord, and to His sovereign will for their lives.