Read John 13:1-17

As we get back into John’s Gospel, we pick up as Jesus withdraws from public ministry. From here on, his teaching is focused on His disciples. There is an air of exclusivity. These are ‘His own’, whom He loved (13:1). With that comes a sense of urgency and relevance for the Bride. This teaching is not for ‘the world’, it is for us. Christ discriminates as He hides Himself from those who would not believe in Him (12:36-37). And the first item on His agenda, as He withdraws, remains as destabilizing as it is familiar.

The whole episode of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet is an enacted parable, a drama that captures the dynamics of the Incarnation (see Phil.2:1-11). He has humbled Himself, come to serve, and through His service to bathe and to wash those who will be served by Him. The two are interdependent, and we can’t have one without the other. We are ‘bathed / clean’. The death of Christ achieves for us an absolute and gloriously irreversible sanctification. We are united with Christ, and His work is categorical. But we continue to live in a fallen world, and ongoing patterns of sinful behavior continue to find expression alongside out irresistible impulse to Christ-likeness. ‘No servant is greater than their master…’. We must love as He has loved, serve as He has served. Our Lord and Teacher has set us an example and called us to follow it. There is a tragic irony when we call Him Lord but do not do what He says. But, to be loved is to be called to obedience.

Many Christians desire to know the blessing of God. It would appear that the way to do so is the way of sacrificial service of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Questions:

Do you think we should have ‘foot-washing ceremonies’ as part of our worship? Why / why not?

Why does John make the point that this happened ‘just before the Passover’?

Why do you think we are so reluctant to be served? What can we do to overcome that reluctance?

How is Jesus’ love for the Church different from His love for the world? How comfortable are you with the idea that there is a qualitatively different dynamic at play in Jesus’ (covenant) love for the Church and His love for the world?

How does this moment in the Upper Room, contrast with what had happened less than a week ago at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (see 12:1-10)?

How can we commit to loving and serving the Church afresh in the light of this passage (see also e.g. I Pet.4:10)? Do you think we should love and serve everyone in this way, or just the Church?

How can you support each other as a group to do those things which we know Jesus has taught us?

From this passage, how would you encourage and support a Christian who was finding it difficult to adopt an attitude of service in the Church?