Yes! There is Good News! 3.17.18

Slightly past the mid-point of the Book of John we have, what may arguably be called, some of the most important chapters in the Bible. Chapters 13 through 17 contain the final instructions of Jesus to His apostles while He walked this earth in the flesh. They take place during His last Passover meal. In fact, He tells them in Luke 22:15-16, “With eagerness have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” This is an interesting statement for it tells us that He will partake of the Passover again and that it will find a final fulfillment in the kingdom!! So when we call it the “last supper” we must realize it was actually the Passover and also, Jesus will partake of it in the kingdom of God. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves.

In our previous article we were talking about Jesus washing the disciple’s feet and how that might be quite significant for us. There are lessons that our Savior is continually striving to teach His followers and here we are 2000 years later, striving to be those followers.

First lesson: Jesus is exampling for us humility and taking upon Himself (our Lord and Teacher) the servants’ role of washing the feet of those invited to a banquet. But He goes further than this in that He specifically tells us that we should do “as I have done for you.” I know that many people will reason this away and apply it to how we should be humble servants in our daily lives. There is nothing wrong with serving our brothers and sisters in Christ, but He did say we would be blessed if we did as He did.
Lesson 2: Peter in his first epistle, tells us, “You as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.” Later on he says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” Did you get that? There is a priesthood that awaits the called out ones of God!! What does this have to do with washing the feet of our brethren? Moses (a type of Christ in the Old Testament) is told by God to wash the newly ordained priesthood (a type of those called out ones in the Old Testament) and then later tells this priesthood to wash their hands and feet as they minister at the sanctuary. (Paul tells us that these things were written down as examples for us. – 1 Cor. 10:11.) Today, we are that sanctuary and we are the servants/ministers of God!!

Lesson 3: Perhaps a much deeper lesson than humility and cleansing is also intended. When Jesus told Peter that he did not now realize what He was doing and then said, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me,” Jesus was referring to the cross. In fact, Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him (Jesus).” Our participation with Christ is a relational thing. Jesus told us to, “Pick up our cross and follow Him.” In all things that He did, He wants us to do likewise. “He humbled Himself, obediently, even to death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8).

Whew!! Lots to think about here; until next time, keep your eyes on the good news.