“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 (Read John 13:31-35)

Before going to the cross to suffer and die for the sins of all, Jesus sought to prepare His disciples for the next phase of their discipleship — going out into the world and calling all to repentance and faith in Him as their crucified, risen and ascended Lord and Savior!

Their discipleship would be different because Jesus would not be visibly present with them but would ascend to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, a position of power and authority over all things that He might direct the ministry of His disciples and build and preserve His church, as promised in Daniel 2:44, a kingdom established by God that would supersede all the kingdoms of this world and endure forever.

Before returning to the Father, Jesus also gave His disciples a new commandment to guide them in their ministry, a command crucial to building the church: “As I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

How is this new? Jesus had already summarized the law by citing from the Old Testament Scriptures, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37,39; cf. Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). The difference between these commandments and the new commandment lies in the example of how we should love. Not only are we to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, but we are to love one another as Jesus loves us.

How has Jesus loved us? We see that love explained in Romans 5:6-8: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In 1 John 4:10-11, we read: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Do you see Jesus’ point? We, as disciples and followers of Jesus, are to emulate Jesus’ sacrificial, patient, and enduring love for us in our dealings with one another. In fact, Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Since the goal of discipleship is to become like our teacher (cf. Luke 6:40; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:11-16), our goal is to be more and more like Christ Jesus as we grow in our knowledge of His great love for us, love that moved Him to take our guilt and punishment upon Himself and to die in our stead that we might turn to Him in faith and be pardoned and forgiven and given spiritual and eternal life through faith in His name.

This leads to the question: Do people recognize us as Christians, as followers of Christ, by our love for one another? Do we love one another as Christ has loved us? Do we live for others? Lay down our lives for others? Deal patiently with others? Forgive others? Seek the eternal welfare of others?

Sadly, it seems that Christians are often the worst when it comes to emulating the love of Jesus in their dealings with each other. We are often quick to judge and condemn, impatient, unloving, unforgiving, and self-serving. If Jesus loved us as we love others, He would have given up on us and condemned us to the fires of hell long ago!

How thankful we can be that Jesus’ love for us is far greater than our love for one another, that we are called to emulate Him rather than He to emulate us! Despite our unloving and self-serving nature, Jesus loved us, died in our stead on the cross to pay the just penalty for our sins, and now lovingly and patiently calls us to repent of our unloving ways and trust in Him and His cross for pardon and forgiveness. And He continues to work in us, His disciples, to cleanse us from our unloving ways and make us more and more to emulate His love in our dealings with one another.

Dear Lord Jesus, my loving and merciful Savior, let me see Your selfless love for me so that I might look to You for pardon and forgiveness and emulate Your love in my dealings with others. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14

Jesus here tells His disciples that those who believe and trust in Him as the Son of God and their Savior will continue to carry out His works here in this world, even after He has ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Jesus’ work of gathering souls into His everlasting kingdom would not come to a close when He died on the cross to redeem us and then rose again and ascended into heaven. Jesus would work through those who believe in Him to carry the saving Gospel to the ends of the earth so that many would turn to Him in faith and be saved and added to His church and kingdom (cf. Mark 16:15-16).

And, because Jesus made full atonement for our sins by His death on the cross and then returned to the Father to rule over all things, pour out His Holy Spirit on believers, and intercede for them, the one who believes in Jesus is privileged to do even greater works than Jesus — to proclaim the redemption Jesus accomplished for all when He suffered and died on the cross and then rose again on the third day. And the Holy Spirit, working through the proclamation of the Gospel, raises up those who are dead in sin to faith in Christ, giving them God’s pardon and the blessings of life eternal in communion with God through faith in Jesus. Consider the mighty works done through Jesus’ disciples on the day of Pentecost when “about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41).

Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

This is not a blank check to ask anything our sinful hearts desire but, rather, a promise that when we ask in Jesus’ name — meaning that we ask in accord with Jesus’ will and to further His kingdom and bring Jesus glory — Jesus Himself, our God and Savior, will do it.

James warns against praying for the sinful desires of our hearts when He says: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:3-4). John writes in his first epistle: “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all and rose again in triumph. After many appearances to His disciples, Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. But His work goes on! He continues to build and establish His kingdom and church, made up of all who repent of their sinful ways and look to Him and His cross in faith for mercy and forgiveness.

Though we no longer see Jesus with our earthly eyes, He has not left us but dwells in those who believe in Him by His Spirit. And He works through those who trust in Him. He empowers them to proclaim salvation through faith in His name, and He works through the proclamation of the Gospel to raise up the spiritually dead to spiritual and eternal life through faith in Him and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

Dear Lord Jesus, my Lord and my Savior, grant that I see my sin and guilt and look to You and Your cross in faith for pardon and forgiveness, and use me to carry out Your ongoing work in this world by empowering me to share the Gospel that others, too, may hear and believe in Your name. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.” John 13:18 (Read John 13:18-30)

Jesus here cites Psalm 41:9, which says: “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”

While David certainly had close and trusted friends who betrayed him and rose up against him, and we may also have experienced the same, David here speaks of the fact that one of Jesus’ own disciples, eating bread with Jesus at the table, would betray Him.

When His disciples questioned which one of them would do this, Jesus identified Judas Iscariot as His betrayer by handing him a piece of bread that He had dipped.

Why would Judas, a trusted disciple and the group’s treasurer, betray Jesus? Jesus said, “I know whom I have chosen” (v.18), indicating Judas was not among those He had predestined and chosen to inherit eternal life.

We can speculate further as to why Judas wasn’t among the chosen (perhaps a love for money as we see in John 12:6, expecting Jesus to establish a worldly kingdom, etc.), but we can only say with certainty that Christ died for all (cf. John 1:29; 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:15; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:1-2) and that God desires all (including Judas) to be saved (cf. 2 Pet. 3:9; Ezek. 33:11) but that Judas did not let the Word of God, which he heard continually from the lips of Jesus, sink into his heart and produce the fruit of true and enduring faith in Jesus as the Son of God and His Savior from sin.

Jesus was troubled over what Judas was about to do, not that He would be betrayed and go to the cross but that His disciple Judas would turn against Him and then remain unbelieving and hang himself in despair (cf. Matt. 27:3-10).

We remember that Jesus’ disciples fled in fear and that Peter denied Jesus three times, but they later acknowledged their sins and trusted that Jesus forgave them and accepted them as His disciples and apostles. Judas, on the other hand, despaired of God’s mercy and took his own life rather than trusting in God’s mercy and partaking of Christ’s forgiveness. How sad!

While it is easy to point the finger at Judas, we must also ask ourselves how often we have betrayed Jesus by disobeying God’s Word, hiding our faith in Jesus from those around us, and failing to hear Jesus’ Word and follow Him. Have we ever let our desires for worldly goods and recognition get in the way of faithfully following Jesus? How sad!

God also desires that we repent by acknowledging our sins and shortcomings and looking to Him for mercy and forgiveness for the sake of the blood Jesus shed on the cross for the sins of all. Indeed, Christ died for our sins, and God reaches out to us in mercy, offering us pardon and forgiveness through faith in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

Don’t let your love of money, earthly goods, or earthly fame keep you from hearing God’s calling and receiving in faith God’s love and mercy in Jesus! Don’t despair and die in your sins. Turn to Christ Jesus for mercy now, before it’s too late!

Have mercy upon me, O God, for I have oft betrayed Your Son and my only Savior by my words, thoughts, and deeds. Wash away my sins in the blood of the Lamb, whose blood was shed to take away the sins of all. In His name, I pray. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“‘If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.’” John 14:7-11

While it may be hard for our minds to grasp, to know God, one needs to know Jesus; and to know Jesus is to know God the Father.

Philip, a disciple of Jesus, didn’t grasp this truth, prompting Jesus to say to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Jesus had just told His disciples: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And He told His disciples: “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:7). This is what prompted Philip’s request that Jesus show them the Father.

Jesus is “the brightness of [the Father’s] glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3). “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:15-16). The Gospel of John tells us of Jesus: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. … No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:14,18).

And so, to see and know Jesus is to see and know the Father, and one cannot know God the Father without knowing Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God in human flesh and blood! Or, as Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

This, of course, has many implications for us yet today. Those religious faiths that deny Jesus is the Messiah and the only-begotten Son of God in human flesh and blood not only deny Jesus but the Father who sent Him into the world. Those who claim to worship and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but do not know and trust in Jesus as the Messiah and their Savior do not know the God they claim to serve.

Of much greater importance to all of us who wish to know and serve the true God who created us and will be our judge on the last day is the truth that Jesus is the only way to know God and be acceptable in His eyes. Only in Jesus can we know God, and only in Jesus can we be acceptable in God’s sight (cf. Eph. 1:6-7; Col. 1:19-23). Jesus’ teaching and His works reveal that He is God and that the Father dwells in Him and works through Him.

Remember the simple truth: “No Jesus, No God; Know Jesus, Know God.” Another version says: “No Jesus, No Peace; Know Jesus, Know Peace.” If you wish to know God and know peace with God, know Jesus and what He has done for you so that you might have peace with God through faith in Jesus and His cross.

Dear Lord Jesus, grant that I learn of You through Your Word that I might know You and place my faith in You and thereby know the Father who sent You into the world to be my Savior. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He came from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside His garments, and took a towel and wrapped Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was wrapped.” John 13:3-5 (Read John 13:1-17)

What would you have done if you had been there in the upper room when Jesus began to wash His disciples’ feet? Would you have been like Peter, who initially refused and said to Jesus (v. 8), “You shall never wash my feet!” Peter was not about to let Jesus stoop to do the job of a servant and wash his feet. Yet, when Jesus pointed out that those who would not let Him wash them had no part in Him, Peter was ready to have Jesus wash his hands and his head, as well (cf. v. 8-9).

Today, too, many are unwilling to let Jesus do the work of a servant and cleanse away the filth of their sin. But those who will not let Jesus wash away their sins and cleanse them in His shed blood have no part in Him; they remain lost forever!

What about you? Jesus suffered and died on the cross for your sins. He paid in full! Will you let Him wash you and cleanse you from the filth of your sin? Are there yet some areas in your life that you refuse to let Him cleanse?

Jesus also told His disciples that He was giving them an example. As He humbled Himself to serve them, they should also humble themselves to serve each other. If Jesus, God’s own dear Son, could humble Himself to wash His disciples’ feet — if He could humble Himself and bear on the cross the punishment for the sins of the world that He might grant to all who believe God’s pardon and forgiveness — certainly we are not above humble service to our brethren, nor are we above forgiving those who have offended us (cf. Phil. 2:5ff.; Gal. 6:1-3; Eph. 4:32).

While we are not required to observe the ancient custom of foot washing, we can learn much from Jesus’ example. As Jesus came into this world not to be served but to serve us and give His life a ransom for many (cf. Mark 10:45, Matt. 20:28), so we, as His disciples, and especially those called to be His ministers, are not here to be honored and served but to serve others. No needed service is beneath our dignity.

O dearest Jesus, wash away my sins and cleanse my heart with Your shed blood. Move me also to humbly serve the needs of others and share with them Your grace and forgiveness. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, Modern English Version, Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.]