Steve Mills (California, USA)
Jesus said, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” - John 13:13-14 (NRSVUE)
When I declare Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I usually focus on the word savior because I feel grateful that Jesus has saved me. But I wonder, when I call him “Lord,” what am I really saying? I researched this, and discovered that the Greek word for lord is kyrios, which can be translated as a man with great power and authority.
In the military every person must answer to someone of higher rank and obey the orders of their commander. In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus gives his disciples a single command: “Love one another as I have loved you.” And he led by example, first serving the disciples by washing their feet and then demonstrating the greatest possible love — “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
So now when I encounter the word Lord in scripture or say it in prayer, I add Commander. This reminds me to obey my Lord’s command — to love others through service and self-sacrifice.
How will I love and serve others as Christ commanded?
Those in military service
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