J. Oswald Sanders, “The Revolutionary Leadership of Jesus:”
The fundamental lessons that greatness comes only by way of servanthood, and that first place in leadership is gained only by becoming everybody’s slave, must have come as a great and unwelcome shock [to the disciples].
It is noteworthy that only once did Jesus say that He was leaving His disciples an example, and that was when He washed their feet (Jn. 13:15). And that example was servanthood.
Words of Grace 