day 13
Closer to Jesus
Embedded Files
📖 read JOHN 13
📖 read JOHN 13
Jesus washes his disciples’ feet
1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist.
5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’
7 Jesus replied, ‘You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’
8 ‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’
9 ‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’
10 Jesus answered, ‘Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.’
11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them.
13 ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord”, and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Jesus predicts his betrayal
18 ‘I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfil this passage of Scripture: “He who shared my bread has turned against me.”
19 ‘I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.
20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.’
21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.’
22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.
23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.
24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ‘Ask him which one he means.’
25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’
26 Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, ‘What you are about to do, do quickly.’
28 But no-one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.
29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor.
30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
Jesus predicts Peter’s denial
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.
32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 ‘My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: where I am going, you cannot come.
34 ‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’
36 Simon Peter asked him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus replied, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.’
37 Peter asked, ‘Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’
38 Then Jesus answered, ‘Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the cock crows, you will disown me three times!
Apostle John begins this chapter by saying that having loved his own, Jesus loved them to the end. When He took a basin and a towel during their last meal together, He wanted to give them one last lesson about true love. He told them that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. This truth was hard to grasp, as the disciples were still thinking about who was the greatest among them. The word Servant was not in their vocabulary. The perspective of being a servant was not on their horizon. That is why Jesus took out His festive clothing, wrapped a towel around His waist, and kneeled to wash their dusty feet.
By the middle of the chapter, while describing how they found out there was a traitor in their midst, John started calling himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. This attribute could have gone unnoticed. But John repeated it three more times in the last chapters of his Gospel. What was the moment when John got it? What convinced him that he was loved? Was it arrogance on his part to consider himself more exceptional than others?
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know you are My disciples if you love one another.”
Only John included the washing of feet in his Gospel. Only John wrote about the new command. He got it and he wanted to help us get it too. We are loved and we are called to love.
What do you feel when you read how much God loves you? Do you identify as a disciple whom Jesus loves? How does being loved enable you to love others, even those who betray you? Ask Jesus: ”What do You have in Your Word for me today?” Listen and pray.
📖 INTERCESSION
"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”
2 Cor. 5:14,15
🙏 PRAYER
Pray for Jesus’ disciples to be strong in their identity as God’s beloved.
Pray for Jesus' disciples to be a strong testimony of God’s love.
Pray for Jesus' disciples to model servanthood the same way Jesus did.
Continue praying for the people on your list. Continue praying for the miracles on your list.
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