Reading:
John 13:1-17, 31-35
Devotional:
Have you ever had a dinner guest start clearing and cleaning up their own dishes? And then they keep cleaning, putting the leftovers in your fridge, loading your dishwasher and hand-washing the pots… maybe they wipe down the counters or grab a broom and sweep under the table. Very quickly, the scene and relationships transform—where there was a clear host and guest, now the lines blur, and everyone is serving and receiving. Any formality has been replaced with familiarity as your guest willingly chooses to be part of the family, getting their hands dirty alongside you.
This is the scene I imagine with Jesus and His disciples at the Last Supper. They’re in Jerusalem, observing all the very specific details of the Passover Feast that require a specific dress code and food to be prepared in just the right manner. And abruptly, Jesus takes off his formal outer coat, hikes up his robe and tucks it into his belt, and starts getting a bucket of water. As if that wouldn’t have been shocking enough, he then begins to do the work of the servants, cleaning the dirty and dusty feet of His beloved disciples sitting around the dinner table. The disciples respond as we would expect, protesting and surprised.
Then Jesus has some fun with the language of washing, bathing and cleaning. Bathing is what you would expect someone to do to their whole body, as good hygiene. Washing here is the ceremonial word, the same word the priests would have used when washing their hands to consecrate them for the work of the ministry. And cleaning is both the literal and figurative sense: hygienic, and also set apart, made pure.
So Jesus consecrates their feet, saying, “A slave isn’t greater than his master, nor the one who is sent (an apostle) greater than the one who has sent him. If you know (see) these things, you are blessed if you do them.” In other words, they’re in it together, and the formality has been replaced with familiarity. Jesus is showing and telling them that rank doesn’t rank here, encouraging them to reassess what they see or know about a Lord or Teacher.
And with that newfound sight and awareness, now, Jesus says in verse 31, is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. Now, we see Jesus for Who He really is, and through Him, we see the Father for Who He really is. He’s a Lord (or a Master) doing the work of His servant. He’s the theological Teacher learning what is pleasing to the Father alongside his pupil. And the disciples (us too) are invited to be there with Him, working as a servant, learning as the pupil. Except that He’s told them that where He is going they can’t follow.
He consecrated their feet to go, told them to do the work with Him, but then said that they won’t be able to go where He’s going. They’ve spent the last years literally following his footsteps, but now Jesus says they can’t. In a dinner of shocking reveals, this has to be the most surprising to the disciples’ ears. So what then? How will they go to continue the work of the ministry? How will people know that they are following Jesus if they cannot be with Him?
Jesus says it’s in their love for each other. Not their diligence to every religious ritual observance. Not their dedication to propriety and social hierarchies. Not their ability to explain the mysteries of God or replicate His teaching. It’s the example He’s just given them in washing their feet. It’s in their selfless, treated-as-family, preferential love for one another that picks up dishes, sweeps the crumbs, and comes alongside to carry the load.
Our love for one another tells the story of Who we follow, and this is the hope we have to share coming into Easter weekend. Having seen Jesus for Who He really is, how might we display our love in our family gatherings, our Easter dinners, our celebrations with friends?
A Prayer for Each Moment:
God Who Loves Us,
Who Sent Your Son that we might see and know You for Who You really are, lead our steps to follow after Jesus’ example, serving one another in love that those around us may know us as Your disciples and remember the work of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
A Prayer for Each Other:
Our Father,
You hear the voices and needs of Your children and respond with a life-giving inheritance. Remind us of how generously You care for us, how You rescue us from death, our eyes from tears, our feet from stumbling. Lead our steps that we may walk with You in the land of the living.
Amen
Blessing:
May today bring reminders God loves us to the utmost, listens to us, and responds to us with generosity and compassion.
John 13:1-17, 31-35
Devotional:
Have you ever had a dinner guest start clearing and cleaning up their own dishes? And then they keep cleaning, putting the leftovers in your fridge, loading your dishwasher and hand-washing the pots… maybe they wipe down the counters or grab a broom and sweep under the table. Very quickly, the scene and relationships transform—where there was a clear host and guest, now the lines blur, and everyone is serving and receiving. Any formality has been replaced with familiarity as your guest willingly chooses to be part of the family, getting their hands dirty alongside you.
This is the scene I imagine with Jesus and His disciples at the Last Supper. They’re in Jerusalem, observing all the very specific details of the Passover Feast that require a specific dress code and food to be prepared in just the right manner. And abruptly, Jesus takes off his formal outer coat, hikes up his robe and tucks it into his belt, and starts getting a bucket of water. As if that wouldn’t have been shocking enough, he then begins to do the work of the servants, cleaning the dirty and dusty feet of His beloved disciples sitting around the dinner table. The disciples respond as we would expect, protesting and surprised.
Then Jesus has some fun with the language of washing, bathing and cleaning. Bathing is what you would expect someone to do to their whole body, as good hygiene. Washing here is the ceremonial word, the same word the priests would have used when washing their hands to consecrate them for the work of the ministry. And cleaning is both the literal and figurative sense: hygienic, and also set apart, made pure.
So Jesus consecrates their feet, saying, “A slave isn’t greater than his master, nor the one who is sent (an apostle) greater than the one who has sent him. If you know (see) these things, you are blessed if you do them.” In other words, they’re in it together, and the formality has been replaced with familiarity. Jesus is showing and telling them that rank doesn’t rank here, encouraging them to reassess what they see or know about a Lord or Teacher.
And with that newfound sight and awareness, now, Jesus says in verse 31, is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. Now, we see Jesus for Who He really is, and through Him, we see the Father for Who He really is. He’s a Lord (or a Master) doing the work of His servant. He’s the theological Teacher learning what is pleasing to the Father alongside his pupil. And the disciples (us too) are invited to be there with Him, working as a servant, learning as the pupil. Except that He’s told them that where He is going they can’t follow.
He consecrated their feet to go, told them to do the work with Him, but then said that they won’t be able to go where He’s going. They’ve spent the last years literally following his footsteps, but now Jesus says they can’t. In a dinner of shocking reveals, this has to be the most surprising to the disciples’ ears. So what then? How will they go to continue the work of the ministry? How will people know that they are following Jesus if they cannot be with Him?
Jesus says it’s in their love for each other. Not their diligence to every religious ritual observance. Not their dedication to propriety and social hierarchies. Not their ability to explain the mysteries of God or replicate His teaching. It’s the example He’s just given them in washing their feet. It’s in their selfless, treated-as-family, preferential love for one another that picks up dishes, sweeps the crumbs, and comes alongside to carry the load.
Our love for one another tells the story of Who we follow, and this is the hope we have to share coming into Easter weekend. Having seen Jesus for Who He really is, how might we display our love in our family gatherings, our Easter dinners, our celebrations with friends?
A Prayer for Each Moment:
God Who Loves Us,
Who Sent Your Son that we might see and know You for Who You really are, lead our steps to follow after Jesus’ example, serving one another in love that those around us may know us as Your disciples and remember the work of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
A Prayer for Each Other:
Our Father,
You hear the voices and needs of Your children and respond with a life-giving inheritance. Remind us of how generously You care for us, how You rescue us from death, our eyes from tears, our feet from stumbling. Lead our steps that we may walk with You in the land of the living.
Amen
Blessing:
May today bring reminders God loves us to the utmost, listens to us, and responds to us with generosity and compassion.
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