Living Victoriously
Read John 13:1-35
“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
The Context of the Chapter
This Passover feast was hosted on the night before Jesus was betrayed, arrested and crucified. There were also rivalry among His disciples about who was the greatest. It was in this context that Jesus demonstrated what it is like to be a servant-leader.
Will you still Love?
Will you still love if you know that one of your disciples will betray you or all of your disciples will abandon you? The people you come for would prefer to free a criminal and wanted you crucified and a group of people who welcomed you in what was described as a triumphant entry looked helplessly. The expression - Jesus loves them till the end” - is an expression of the pain that Jesus was going through. A love that never changing, a steadfast and consistent love that the Master has demonstrated for His servants to steward - the unconditional love for one another.
The Hallmark of a Disciple
In Luke 22:24, a dispute arose among the disciples during the feast, as they debated which of them should be considered the greatest. Similarly, in Matthew 20:20-21, the mother of James and John asked Jesus to grant her sons the honor of sitting at His right and left hand.
Jesus, however, demonstrated that greatness is not about lording over others, but about being willing to serve. His act of washing the disciples’ feet speaks volumes about having a servant’s heart. Sanctification comes through loving the imperfect unconditionally. The application of this lesson is found in verse 14, where Jesus says, "I, your Teacher and Lord, have washed your feet. You should also wash one another’s feet."
Application
It is not about what we acquire, but about what we give. Discipleship is rooted in loving God and others. The last night Jesus spent with His disciples could be seen as a time of deep pain, yet in that moment, He prayed, "that they may be one, just as the Father and I are one" (John 17:4). The ultimate expression of His unconditional love, fulfilling John 3:16, was at the cross. This is my Savior’s love for me! Therefore, we choose to love one another.
Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for the unconditional love that you have shown to me. I recognize the disciple’s calling is to love you and others. Teach me to practice loving others the way you love me. Guide me that I will continue to look to you as my author and perfecter of my faith. Amen.
John 13:1 -35
13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus' side, 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”