¹³ “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.

Meekness does not negate objective acknowledgment of one’s status. Christ had no problem acknowledging that He was in fact Teacher and Lord over the disciples. He provides the perfect example of true humility. False humility denies reality. The “ah shucks, I’m nothing” persona brings self-aggrandizing, prideful attention to one’s self. The most humble thing a person can do is to confidently serve in the capacity of his giftedness and purpose. Jesus is the prime example of humble confidence.

Consider for a moment some of the titles and descriptions Jesus had. Besides being Teacher and Lord, He was Emmanuel (God with us), Son of God, and Son of David. In the book of Revelation He takes on the names: First-born from the dead, The Alpha and Omega, Lord God, The First and the Last, Living One, Creator, Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Root of David, The Lamb, Shepherd, Christ, Faithful and True, Word of God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Elsewhere He is The Only Begotten, My Beloved Son, Rabboni, Rabbi, Master, I Am, Son of Man.

Here in John, Jesus centers on two titles which His disciples mainly used. The first refers to His role in teaching them about God and life, and the second refers to His relationship to them and all of creation. He is Teacher and Lord.

Jesus is our Teacher as well. He teaches us through the recorded words of the gospel writers. There we have preserved the greatest teaching of all time, for it comes straight from the mouth of the Creator God who inhabited His creation in the form of a human being. Jesus taught using questions, stories, illustrations and life experiences. He taught using parables, proverbs and propositional logic. He modeled what He taught, and did not call His disciples to do anything that He Himself didn’t already do (except for confessing sin, Heb 4:15). Paul used the Lord as His model: “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). We do well, then, to listen and follow the teaching of the Lord.

He is also Lord. He has authority over not only believers, but also unbelievers. One day, “… at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” (Phil 2:10–11). We believers acknowledge and bow before Him now. We join with the apostles in following Jesus, not just because He is a good teacher, but because He is Lord. And we want to grow in increasingly seeing Him that way in our lives.

I call You Lord because I humbly submit to Your authority in my life in every area. There are no hidden places that I keep back for myself.