Observe that the Lord was a servant down here. According to John 13, He becomes a servant on ascending to heaven, an Advocate, to wash our feet. In this place He makes Himself a servant for our blessing in heaven. In Exodus 21, if the servant who had fulfilled his service did not wish to go out free, he was brought to the judges, and was fastened to the door by an awl, which bored his ear in token of perpetual bondage.
Jesus had perfectly accomplished His service to His Father at the end of His life on earth. In Psalm 40, His “ears were digged” (that is, a body prepared, which is the position of obedience; compare Phil. 2). This is the incarnation. Now His service was finished in His life on earth as man, but He loved us too much—He loved His Father too much in the character of servant—to give it up; and at His death His ear, according to Exodus 21, was bored, and He became a servant forever—a man forever—now to wash our feet; hereafter in heaven (Luke 12:37), when He shall take us to Himself. What a glorious, picture of the love of Christ.