Scripture: John13:12-17
In this evening’s service,
we celebrate several of the aspects in the Life that Jesus lived.
First, His servant’s heart –
when He took up the basin and towel before the Passover dinner, and knelt
before each of His disciples to wash their feet, His followers were shocked! After all, this was the responsibility of a
servant, as a sign of welcome to the home.
But still, all apparently accepted this gesture except Peter. He objected at seeing his LORD in this lowly posture,
until Jesus told him “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (John13:8-9), He was telling us that unless we follow Jesus in servanthood, and
are prepared to do for others as He has done for us, we can’t be welcomed in
Him.
Second, Jesus initiated the
gift of Communion, and called all believers to do this “in remembrance of Me.” And what are we to remember?
All that Jesus has taught and done for us, that we will discover His
gift of eternal life through the life He lived and surrendered at the Cross,
and that we can know forgiveness and worthiness and cleansing through the
atoning gift of the Blood He would shed at Calvary. And what are we to do in return for all He
has given? Simply believe and accept His
truth and way.
And Third, the word Maundy
is taken from the Latin word for “command” – for on that night, Jesus gave us this
- “A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have love you, so you must love one
another. By this all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) Only a life that lives in the love and servanthood
of Jesus will ever be seen as His disciple.
Read John 13:12-17
Jesus has, in all things,
set the example for believers. And if we
are to call ourselves by the name Christian, we must be prepared to follow in
the way that He has set down. No one is
greater than anyone else, no one is more important than the next person, and no
one is more valuable than anyone else on the face of the Earth. Jesus never claimed these attributes for
Himself, and always acknowledged His Father as the only one who was
greater, more important, and of superior value than anyone else.
Jesus the servant has set
the standard – a servant receives no glory or adoration for what they do, and
therefore, our servanthood should never be offered to show others just how
faithful we may be. Remember Paul’s
words in Romans 5:8 – “8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus never sinned, and we have to remember
that we do! We are not only less than
our LORD, but will
always be equal to each other. Our responsibility
is to help each other, to teach others by example, and to learn, each
and every day, how to be a better and more humble servant to all.
The final verse of this passage
is our challenge to be the Church to this lost and seeking world – now that we
know what Jesus has told us, now that we know that we are to follow in the same
way that Jesus lived, we had better be doing it if we expect to receive the
blessing of our Almighty God.
One last quotation from John Wesley’s “The
Character of a Methodist” – “Let us strive together for the faith of the gospel; walking worthy
of the vocation wherewith we are called; with all lowliness and meekness, with
long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and endeavouring to keep the
unity of the spirit, in the bond of peace: remembring, there is one body and
one spirit, even as we are called with one hope of our calling: One Lord, one
faith, one baptism; One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through
all, and in you all!”
Amen
