For though the Angels and Martha ministered to Him, yet did He not come to be ministered unto, but to minister; [marg. note: Matt 4:11; John 12:2] yea, His ministry extended so far, that He fulfilled even what follows, “And to give his life a ransom for many,” they, that is, who believed on Him; and gave it, i. e. to death.
But since He was alone free among the dead, and mightier than the power of death, He has set free from death all who were willing to follow Him. The heads of the Church ought therefore to imitate Christ in being affable, adapting Himself to women, laying His hands on children, and washing His disciples’ feet, that they also should do the same to their brethren.
But we are such, that we seem to go beyond the pride even of the great ones of this world; as to the command of Christ, either not understanding it, or setting it at nought. Like princes we seek hosts to go before us, we make ourselves awful and difficult of access, especially to the poor, neither approaching them, nor suffering them to approach us.
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).