Dear Beloved Church,

Please join me now as we look at John 13 and The Last Supper.

John 13 stating at verse 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.

The washing of one’s feet was always left to the servant, a Gentile(non-Jewish) servant at that. This was a task that the Jewish people looked down on. Now we see the Lord disrobing and kneeling before his students, the disciples, and begins to wash the smelly, dirty feet of fishermen, and sinners.

The question was asked, “Do you understand what I have done for you”? What is the Lord teaching through His Words and Actions on this last night with those He chose? Simply this, He is setting an example for you and me. Not that we would just wash each other’s feet, but that we would serve one another even when the job is menial or dirty, out of love for Him. Jesus loved us to the point that nothing was beneath Him. Is Jesus truly your Lord? Is He above or beneath you? “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”. 

How far did Jesus go to serve us and make the disciples and us clean? How much have we come to know that He has loved us so? Well, we are clean, and we are loved only because Jesus got down and dirty on Good Friday. He was tortured, blasphemed, and put to death on the Cross! He became a curse for you and me. For it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'” (Galatians 3:13) His blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness.

The teachings of Christ are radical, and what He teaches is what He expects. Being a part of Jesus’ life is no cakewalk! After all, He tells us to pick up our cross and follow Him. The things He asks can be fearful but are not impossible. The scriptures tell us we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So…

Where is the blessing? The blessing is not a free pass or an easy healthy and wealthy life. It is Jesus Christ the Son of God. He is the blessing, It’s Christ’ teaching and examples in life that we have come to know as true and right. What makes us trust or believe that serving our fellow man is one of the highest acts of love? Without Christ, we can not do what He asks or expects. The disciples could only carry on because they knew the “way and the truth and the life”. They did more than carry on, Through the power of the Holy Spirit they changed the world. The fruit of what we believe and do is Christ in us, that same blessing stands today, and the world is still being changed today. Can you think of anything more precious in a person’s life than to have God himself with you? (Emmanuel) I think not… since all authority lies with Him, and He has victory over death and holds the keys to the door of heaven itself. You see, all things started with Jesus and all things end with Jesus. Won’t you trust in his teaching and receive the ultimate blessing? Receive Jesus today.

Love, Pastor Jeff