Passage
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Guide Questions
1. Jesus washed the feet of men He knew would deny Him, doubt Him, and betray Him, and John says He loved His own to the end. Where has your service quietly come to depend on being noticed or repaid, and what would it look like to keep serving someone you already know will not thank you?
2. Peter tried to set the terms of his own cleansing, and Jesus answered that a share in Him comes only on His terms. Where are you still bargaining over how much of you needs washing, and how does the full bath you have already received in Christ change the way you deal with the daily dirt your feet pick up on the road?
3. The Lord pronounced blessing not on those who admire the towel but on those who take it up. Which lowly task in your home, your church, or your work are you most tempted to consider beneath you, and what would obedience look like there this week when no one is watching and no credit is given?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You knew that all things had been given into Your hands, and You used that authority to take a towel. We confess that we have used our small authority to be served rather than to serve, and that we have measured our dignity by how far we stand above the basin. We have wanted to be admired for humility while quietly refusing its cost, and like Peter we have argued about the terms of our cleansing instead of receiving it as a gift. Forgive us. Thank You that You loved Your own to the end, that You went from the towel to the cross, and that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Wash us where the road has soiled us, keep us from the pride that will not be washed and the pride that will not wash others, and make us servants who do the things we know, in Your name and for Your glory. Amen.