"Have you done your homework yet?" Dad asked Margaret one day after school.
Margaret shook her head, "Zane wanted me to do his first, so I need to do that. I probably won't have any time to do mine today."
"Who's Zane?" Dad wondered, looking at his daughter curiously.
"He's some kid in my class that always gets what he wants. If I do his homework for a month, he'll give me a ticket to a concert."
"Are you sure he will do that? What if he's lying?" Dad questioned. Margaret looked confused. "He could just be telling you to do his homework, and he isn't planning on giving you anything in return. If that was the case, would you still do his homework? Even if it meant you wouldn't get anything in return?"
Margaret shook her head, "Probably not, to be honest. I wouldn't want to do anyone's homework if I wasn't getting anything in return."
"Did you know that Jesus was a servant to everyone, even though he ended up dying because one of his disciples betrayed him? He didn't get anything good in return, yet he still helped people," Dad pulled out his Bible and started flipping the pages. "Here's what John 13:1-17 says..."
"Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 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 13:1-17
"Wow! That's really amazing!" Margaret exclaimed. "You know, Jesus cleaned his disciples' feet with nothing in return, so if Zane lied about giving me concert tickets, that's okay. I'm still gonna do his homework anyway."
"Yes, that's a good idea. Margaret?" Dad asked, "Instead of just doing Zane's homework for him, maybe try to help him with it instead. I don't want you to be putting Zane's homework in front of your own. While it's important to be a servant to others, it doesn't always mean you have to do other's homework. Being a servant goes with any good situation. Does that make sense?"
"Yes sir!" Margaret saluted. "I want to act like a servant to everyone like Jesus did. He cleaned his disciples feet even though he knew they would betray Him. That's being a good servant and serving others!"
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