Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

Imagine Someone you love, adore, admire, and trust, raising their eyes to the heavens to literally see God and commence to pray to God specifically for you!  Imagine Someone who knows you inside and out, loves you no matter what, praying on your behalf, so your life is blessed with protection, wisdom, strength, and maturity by God, the Father in ways you never dreamed possible! 

Wouldn’t that be the greatest prayer ever?! Jesus thought so…

John 17, The Message

Jesus’ Prayer for His Followers

17 ^1-5 Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:

Father, it’s time.
Display the bright splendor of your Son
So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.
You put him in charge of everything human
So he might give real and eternal life to all in his care.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
I glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do.
And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,
The very splendor I had in your presence
Before there was a world.

* * *

^6-12 I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.
They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.
For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;
They’ll continue in the world
While I return to you.
Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind
As we are one heart and mind.
As long as I was with them, I guarded them
In the pursuit of the life you gave through me;
I even posted a lookout.
And not one of them got away,
Except for the rebel bent on destruction
(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).

* * *

^13-19 Now I’m returning to you.
I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.
I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,
Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.
I’m not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I’m consecrating myself for their sakes
So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

* * *

^20-23 I’m praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them
In the same way you’ve loved me.

* * *

^24-26 Father, I want those you gave me
To be with me, right where I am,
So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,
Having loved me
Long before there ever was a world.
Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
But I have known you, and these disciples know
That you sent me on this mission.
I have made your very being known to them—
Who you are and what you do—
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for me
Might be in them
Exactly as I am in them.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This is the most powerful, loving, and compassionate prayer offered by our Savior and John records it!  Jesus prayed for that God’s glory and splendor be seen in what was about to happen on the cross He will bear for our sins. 

Jesus prayed for His beloved disciples who left everything to follow Him, learn from Him, knowing they would “do even greater things” as the torch of Truth would be grasped and carried on as they proclaimed to the godless world that God so loved He sent His Son to die for their sins.

Jesus prayed for all who would later believe from the witness of these disciples down through the generations. 

It is good now to center our thoughts prayerfully and gratefully on the specifics of what Jesus prayed for His Beloved then and now.  What Jesus compassionately prayed demonstrates the heart of God and what He wants most from His believers:

• “That they know you, The one and only true God, And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.”  (Psalm 46:10)
• “You put him in charge of everything human So he might give real and eternal life to all in his care.  (John 3:16-17)
• They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that everything you gave me is firsthand from you,  (John 12:49)
• They believed that you sent me.  I pray for them.  (Mark 1:35)
• Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life …So they can be one heart and mind as we are one heart and mind.
• I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing So my people can experience
  My joy completed in them. (John 15:11)
• I’m not asking that you take them out of the world; But that you guard them from the Evil One.  (2 Corinthians 4:4)
• Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth.
• My mission is their mission. (Matthew 28:20)
• Worth repeating…The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, (John 8:28; Philippians 2:2)
• Then the world might believe…  (John 13:35)
  
  
  

Jesus is now our supreme Advocate who goes before the Father on behalf of all who believe and call Him Savior and Lord.  

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. –Jesus, John 14:6



Lord,

How precious is your prayer for believers—and at the same time how very humbling.  You prayed for me before I was born!  I was on your mind as you willing laid down your life for me and others in need of forgiveness.  Your prayer cannot be matched by any human on earth.  You are God.  We are not.  You saved us.  You accomplished what we cannot do for ourselves.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Because of you, we have eternal life!  Because of your prayer for all of us, we have the power to become One with You!  May your goal of being of one mind be our goal in real life lived for you.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of his Spirit, washed in His blood

This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long

John 16, The Message

¹⁶ “In a day or so you’re not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me.”

Joy Like a River Overflowing

^17-18 That stirred up a hornet’s nest of questions among the disciples: “What’s he talking about: ‘In a day or so you’re not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me’? And, ‘Because I’m on my way to the Father’? What is this ‘day or so’? We don’t know what he’s talking about.”

^19-20 Jesus knew they were dying to ask him what he meant, so he said, “Are you trying to figure out among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘In a day or so you’re not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me’? Then fix this firmly in your minds: You’re going to be in deep mourning while the godless world throws a party. You’ll be sad, very sad, but your sadness will develop into gladness.

^21-23 “When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there’s no getting around it. But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth. This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. You’ll no longer be so full of questions.

^23-24 “This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he’ll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!

^25-28 “I’ve used figures of speech in telling you these things. Soon I’ll drop the figures and tell you about the Father in plain language. Then you can make your requests directly to him in relation to this life I’ve revealed to you. I won’t continue making requests of the Father on your behalf. I won’t need to. Because you’ve gone out on a limb, committed yourselves to love and trust in me, believing I came directly from the Father, the Father loves you directly. First, I left the Father and arrived in the world; now I leave the world and travel to the Father.”

^29-30 His disciples said, “Finally! You’re giving it to us straight, in plain talk—no more figures of speech. Now we know that you know everything—it all comes together in you. You won’t have to put up with our questions anymore. We’re convinced you came from God.”

^31-33 Jesus answered them, “Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God is unstoppable in the ways of Love.  God, our Father, is relentless and powerful as He demonstrates His Love and care for us.  When we ask for help in Jesus Name for living life on God’s terms, God responds.  When we pray in Jesus Name, with hearts fully committed to Him, asking for wisdom in understanding God at work in our lives, He responds!  God is always work. God is always with us. God always hears us and responds to us.

This gift of a responding God is made possible by Jesus, His Son.  Jesus provided The Way for each one of us to go the Father humbly and boldly, in Jesus Name, and talk with Him—about everything!  There is no longer a priest or middleman between God Almighty and His beloved children.  Jesus became sin, who knew no sin, for us.  He died in our place of punishment for our sin.  This act of God’s Love for us by the sacrifice of His One and Only Son torn down all the barriers between God and mankind.

They say this mountain can’t be moved
They say these chains will never break
But they don’t know You like we do
There is power in Your name

We’ve heard that there is no way through
We’ve heard the tide will never change
They haven’t seen what You can do
There is power in Your name
So much power in Your name

Move the immovable
Break the unbreakable
God we believe
God we believe for it

(“Believe For It”, Writer(s): Cece Winans, Dwan Hill, Kyle Lee, Mitch Wong)

Do I really believe what John says about Jesus and the relationship I can have with God to be really real? 

Pause to pray.  Be still and know that He is God.  Be still and know God. Be still. Be.

Believe and be saved from all sins for eternity. 

Be blessed, unshakable and assured as we live Life to the full in Jesus Name! Peace follows assurance.

I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”—Jesus

Lord,

Thank you for Your Word that not only convicts us but assures us to confidently come before you with all that is on our minds.  Thank you for listening to our cries for help along with our praises to You for always being there. Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole. Make us holy by daily cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, refreshing our souls with new mercies, and restoring the joy of your salvation at work within us.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!  I believe!

The greatest blow to new believer’s lives in Jesus is when the first hint of trouble comes or calamity happens that robs our joy and wipes the smile off our faces.  Our first thought is nearly always, “Why is this happening to me (or us)?” This comes because of not remembering or totally ignoring the warnings Jesus told us would occur in this imperfect, sin-filled world of people who do not know or believe Jesus and are led by the coach of the other team—the team of demons.  We must choose whose team we are on before troubles come.  Troubles will come and go.  When we least expect it, expect it.  “Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”—Jesus, John 16:33

Jesus knew his beloved humans seated around the Passover Meal would need help to understand what was about to happen to Him and then to his disciples who would follow Him in Kingdom of God teaching and living.  They will suffer what Jesus is about to suffer from those who want to put a stop to the Way, Truth, and Life.  Imagine what the disciples are going to face when their Compassionate, Wise Teacher, whom they have relied on to be the Spokesperson for God in their midst, leaves them to go back to his Father in heaven?  What then??  What must each man be thinking as Jesus is speaking of “things to come” very soon?

Try to put yourself there at the Table with Jesus.  Try to imagine the fear, anxiety and wondering that is growing in their minds as Jesus talks about things that will happen that are far worse than they can wrap their brains around.  Imagine hearing all this for the first time!  We have read the outcomes; they are just now trying to understand it.  “I’ve told you these things so that when the time comes and they start in on you, you’ll be well-warned and ready for them.”  Wait, what?!

John 16, The Message

^1-4 “I’ve told you these things to prepare you for rough times ahead. They are going to throw you out of the meeting places. There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he’s doing God a favor. They will do these things because they never really understood the Father. I’ve told you these things so that when the time comes and they start in on you, you’ll be well-warned and ready for them.

The Friend Will Come

^4-7 “I didn’t tell you this earlier because I was with you every day. But now I am on my way to the One who sent me. Not one of you has asked, ‘Where are you going?’ Instead, the longer I’ve talked, the sadder you’ve become. So let me say it again, this truth: It’s better for you that I leave. If I don’t leave, the Friend won’t come. But if I go, I’ll send him to you.

^8-11 “When he comes, he’ll expose the error of the godless world’s view of sin, righteousness, and judgment: He’ll show them that their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin; that righteousness comes from above, where I am with the Father, out of their sight and control; that judgment takes place as the ruler of this godless world is brought to trial and convicted.

^12-15 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you.’

¹⁶ “In a day or so you’re not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND TODAY?

The disciples, who lived and worked with Jesus, had been his close friends for three years. They were saddened and afraid to hear him talk of leaving them. Jesus tried to help his friends see the bigger picture—that God had a purpose and a plan. But he also comforted them by promising to be with them through his Spirit.  The “Friend” Jesus is talking about is His Holy Spirit who comes to live within our souls that nano second we say yes to Jesus!  God-Jesus-Holy Spirit, Three-In-One, leading us to victory over sin, through all the troubles of this imperfect world.  His Holy Spirit is always with us providing wisdom, comfort, conviction and resolve in power, the same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave!

Our Father has no intention of letting us fall. We may fail but we will not fall.  We can’t see Him, but He is present and is always at work in us. We are “shielded by God’s power” (1Peter 1:5). And He is “able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24).

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Romans 8:15-17, NIV

May we center our thoughts on this Truth. God is able to keep us from falling! Does He want us living in fear? No! Just the opposite. The Spirit we received does not make us slaves to sins any longer, so that we live in fear again; rather, the Spirit we received brought about our adoption to sonship—We are family! And by Jesus we cry, “‘Abba, (Daddy in Hebrew) Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

We have been well-warned and made ready.  Jesus died for our sins, removing them as far as the east is from the west.  Three days later, Jesus defeated the Enemy, Death, and rose again to declare the glory and power of God over the Enemy. 

Eternal Life is the Gift is for ALL who believe in Jesus!  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17 

Power is the gift of His Holy Spirit to endure suffering for a little while through the troubles of this world and with the promise to share in His glory as “joint heirs with Christ” when we leave earth to be with Him forever.

Lord,

Thank you for the warnings with words of readiness to prepare us for the troubles of this world.  Troubles come and go, but most of all we remember that you are with always—even until the end of this age.  With us means we are given the power and strength to endure momentary sufferings here until we see you there.  The power to endure also restores the joy of your salvation work within us! Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

To you be the glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen

I know not why God’s won­drous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, un­wor­thy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

But I know whom I have believed,
And am per­suad­ed that He is able
To keep that which I’ve com­mit­ted
Unto Him against that day.

Even as a child, I was an inquisitive “people watcher.”  In elementary school, I watched and wondered why the leader of a group of kids would suddenly decide for the rest of the class which kid to hate, exclude from the group, and to mock cruelly. The ring leader even developed an invisible spray invented to disinfect the cooties from us if we were touched by them, came near to them, or their things touched ours. Hate is ugly.  Hate tortures, maims, and kills the spirit of its victims.

As we grow to be adults, we mature, putting away such childish ways, right? 

John 15, The Message

Hated by the World

^18-19 “If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me. If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you.

²⁰ “When that happens, remember this: Servants don’t get better treatment than their masters. If they beat on me, they will certainly beat on you. If they did what I told them, they will do what you tell them.

^21-25 “They are going to do all these things to you because of the way they treated me, because they don’t know the One who sent me. If I hadn’t come and told them all this in plain language, it wouldn’t be so bad. As it is, they have no excuse. Hate me, hate my Father—it’s all the same. If I hadn’t done what I have done among them, works no one has ever done, they wouldn’t be to blame. But they saw the God-signs and hated anyway, both me and my Father. Interesting—they have verified the truth of their own Scriptures where it is written, ‘They hated me for no good reason.’

^26-27 “When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes—the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father—he will confirm everything about me. You, too, from your side must give your confirming evidence, since you are in this with me from the start.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Hate develops within us to cover up our ignorance.  The religious leaders became Jesus’ worst enemies!  They did not know Him.  They did not want to know Him.  Most of them had lost touch with God so they did not recognize God-in-the-Flesh when He came to save them and teach them.  Most were happy with status quo, going about their days of being known as “in charge” of all things of God—without knowing God!  This led to a godless life who chose to hate the One sent from God.

When we decide to know God, believing His Son, Jesus died for our sins and rose again to instill hope of eternal life within us; hate rises up from the dark world whose leader is the enemy of God.  Called the “chief of all Liars,” “the prince of darkness,” this enemy orders his army of demons to attack as soon as our decision to “live on God’s terms” is solid.  Jesus said, “If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me.”  Remember the enemy of God is the fallen angel who was kicked out of heaven for trying to BE God, demanding to take God’s place, rising up against God to do all things not of God. 

Although we think otherwise, our real enemy is not each other, not flesh and blood.  (See Ephesians 6:12).  Our real enemy seeks to distract, deceive, deconstruct our relationships with God and others, with the final goal of eternal death.  THIS is our enemy who invented hate as a weapon against God!

“They hated me for no good reason.”  Jesus gave the religious leaders every reason to believe but they refused.  They could not and would not lose what they thought they had and controlled in exchange for their souls—”because they don’t know the One who sent me.”  To know God is to know Love!  (1 John 4:7-8) 

Hate is the opposite of Love.  Hate is the sin of self who demands our own way, seeks power and glory, and sits on a “throne of lies.” (Yes, this is an Elf reference.) Hate tempts all people (unbelievers and believers) to gossip about people they do not know, assume the worst, and presume they might take their place of importance if they don’t first bring them down. Truth and Love are pushed aside so that our sin-selves can be in control.  In the church, we try to dress it up with “bless their hearts” as prayer requests are said in ways that tear down the reputation of others in judgement and assumptions. (Sigh)

Proven medically, hate affects our physical health!  Hate makes us bitter that affects all our internal organs.  The prescription for this diagnosis is the Love of God.  Love makes us better. 

Do you know what the originator of Hate hates most? 

Our enemy hates it when believers of Truth fall to their knees before God, repent of the hate in them, choose life on God’s terms, while calling out for power in Jesus Name.  Ooh, he really hates all of that! So, let’s do exactly what the enemy hates instead of falling for the enemy’s childish and selfish ways of tearing each other apart!

The benefits of God’s Love far outweigh the dark deeds of hate.  Love or hate.  It’s a decision of life or death.  See 1 Corinthians 13 for more benefits! 

The gospel of John along with his later letters to the church, as well as the Revelation of things to come, is all about the love of God as demonstrated by His Son, Jesus.  John’s writings are known as the “love chapters.”  John was also known as Jesus “beloved.”  It was John to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His earthly mother Mary as He hung on the cross for the sins of the world.  (John 19:25-29)

This is Love—the opposite of hate.   

Lord,

You warned us “in this world you will have troubles” along with “the godless will hate” us because of You in us.  It’s hard but doable because of your power in us to love our enemies who hate us for knowing you.  You have already overcome this enemy.  You, dear Jesus, will continue to be with us, helping us to overcome the skirmishes in a battle already won. 

When hate is at its worst, Your Holy Spirit reminds us that “greater are YOU in us than he that is in the world.”  You enter in, piercing the darkness with the glorious Light of Your pure Love.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I am forever grateful.  And I’m praying for my enemies to know you so they will know love and not perish in hate.

In Jesus Name, Amen 

As a young child, whose mom and dad both worked, I was often cared for by my grandparents who lived on a farm just outside the city.  Grandpa and Grandma’s farm was heaven to me.  I adored them both.  I watched Grandma make biscuits daily, skim cream off the fresh milk to make butter later, along with other normal to her things of life on a farm.  But it was Grandpa who I followed so closely it was as if we were joined at the hip. 

Everything Grandpa did fascinated me.  I loved and admire the way he would call the cows to eat—in French, the language he had as a boy.  I remember his singing while he did his work.  I also remember hugging and loving on him as often as possible which made him smile.  I remember asking incessant questions about everything as he did his farm chores before going to do his carpentry work for clients.  While he was gone, I waited on the front porch when it was close to the time of his return.  I longed to be with him.  I had questions!

So many questions…so much love—real love.

My grandparents’ love and devotion to God, believing that Jesus died and rose again to redeem them from their sins, was unwavering and evident as they lived meager but victorious lives that attracted others to Jesus.  I am grateful for the fruit bearing behaviors of this couple who pointed me to Jesus as the only way to live life in an intimately loving relationship with God—our Father in Heaven. 

Jesus explains again the Love God has for all who believe.  While possibly walking through a vineyard, fingering the vines and branches, seeing the grapes producing, Jesus tells of the Help He gives us so luscious, spiritual fruit will appear in our lives.  Jesus then teaches about the consistent nourishment we receive as we live joined and attached to Him, “The Vine,” who gives Life!  Without Him—nothing.

John 15, The Message

The Vine and the Branches

^1-3 “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

⁴ “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

^5-8 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

^9-10 “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.

^11-15 “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.

¹⁶ “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

¹⁷ “But remember the root command: Love one another.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

FIRST:  Love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls.

SECOND, which is attached to the FIRST:  Love one another the way I loved you.

The fruits we bear as we love God first then love others the way Jesus taught us to love are these: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23

“Those who belong (joined and attached) to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:24-25.

Allow God to prune our branches of all that is not pleasing to Him and cause spiritual diseases and decay in our relationship with Him and others such as “…sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”  Galatians 5:19-21 

Be still (Let go of all you think you know) and know that He is God.

Be still (Let go of all you are clinging to tight-fistedly that is not of God) and know God.

Be still. (Let go of hate and be filled with His Love)

Be. (Seek His love as the root of all you think, say, and do.)

Above all, Stay joined to the Vine, attached to His love so tightly that His love becomes our way of life and bears the fruits of His holy character growing abundantly in us.  So much love…real love…that produces a joy in all circumstances and that is eternal.

Since my grandparents have long ago passed, that desire to be with Grandpa is very similar to my longing to always be with Jesus; listening, watching, asking questions, waiting expectantly.  I think that’s how His love in us works.

Lord,

Thank you for consistently cutting away, pruning all that is not of you in me.  Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul, restore the joy of your work within me.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I know you love me.  I want to love others like you love me.  Guide me in your love.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

Today in our world it is the day called Valentines Day.  Many will show their love with candy, flowers, a fine meal, and other demonstrations of affection, placing attention on the one loved while hoping for the same ways of love to be returned.  There will also be discontentment because of the great expectations of some with the words, “If you really loved me, you would give me, ____.  You can fill in the blank. The day will end with smiles or frowns depending on how love was expressed according to our human judgement of what love is.  Is this really love at all?

The world’s advertised way to love is not perfect and is very unreliable.  This kind of love keeps score, makes lists of wrongs and holds it against others forever.  This love produces grudges, hot tempers when we don’t get our own way, and can become loud and arrogantly obnoxious.  This love expects the best while giving back the least.  This kind of love expects reward and payback and is conditional on the response of others.  When this kind of love fails us, and it will, it shakes us to the core, rattles our sense of being, and rolls us into dead-end thinking and living. 

“Is this all there is…”; “I wanna know what love is…” are passages of love songs by those who long to be loved.

Our attempts to love are most often the opposite of God’s love for us who gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17  Only Jesus saves us but we are commanded to love like He loves us.

In this passage, Jesus will fulfill the mission God sent Him to complete in a few hours.  Because of His great love for his disciples, He goes over what love really is a few more times.  His words are meant to soothe and comfort even though He is about to go through the most excruciating pain no human should bear.  His words; “Don’t let this rattle you.”  “Trust Me.”  “I am the Way, Truth, and Life.”  “I’m coming back.” “In the meantime, the Spirit of Truth will be with you always” are meant to teach and challenge his beloved to love like He loves them.  It is written by John “so that we might believe”, too.

John 14, The Message

The Road

^1-4 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

⁵ Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

^6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

⁸ Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.”

^9-10 “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

^11-14 “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.

The Spirit of Truth

^15-17 “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

^18-20 “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

²¹ “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

²² Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”

^23-24 “Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.

^25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

²⁸ “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.

^29-31 “I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.

“Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

What kind of love is this?  It is the relentless, unconditional, unfailing, overwhelming love of God who loved us so much He sent a part of Himself to earth to die for our sins so that we would not perish but instead have eternal life with Him forever. So, this is what love is.  God wants us to love Him back.  That’s what His Word, chapter by chapter, story by story, one glorious miracle after another has been trying to convey…God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. We love Him because HE FIRST loved us.  (1 John 4:19)  We cannot earn His love because we can be easily boastful and full of pride.  For this reason, also, we do not perform great acts of goodness so that He will love us better than someone else.  (Ephesians 2:9)

God loves “the world.”  He created all, knows all, and longs for us to love like He loves us.  Whoever believes will not perish.  Whoever loves Him back desires to do what He says knowing that His love is perfect and that God provides what is best for us.  We don’t choose who to love, God clarifies: Love others like I love you.

Jesus prepares hearts for what happens before it happens by His Spirit living in us.  That’s the kind of love and help He provides for believers.  So, don’t be rattled.  Don’t be upset or distraught when challenging events test our faith.  Don’t be worried—even by the attacks of evil against us!  Trust Jesus.

“…the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me.”  Wow! 

What blessed assurance for all who believe and follow Jesus!  Once we believe in Jesus, the evil one has no claim on us either!  My heart is lifted just reading and taking this “no claim” inclusion in my contract of commitment to my Savior and Lord of my life!

Paul explains to all believers who were struggling with how to love like Jesus with these words;

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

God demonstrated His perfect love by sending His Son die for our sins so that we would not perish but have life forever with Him.  And He’s got a place, prepared and ready for each one of us who believe in Jesus and love Him back!  He is coming back, you know…

Lord,

Thank you for loving us like you do while showing the best way to love you back and to love each other.  I love you with all that is in me.  I am eternally grateful for your love!

In Jesus Name, Amen

Jesus had walked the countryside, going from town to town, teaching in Jewish meeting places with every opportunity given to Him.  Jesus even crossed the lake to walk and talk, heal and reveal God to the Gentiles (anyone not a Jew) living there.  Jesus would bring unbelievers to believe in Him by showing them the love of God as the glory of God was in Him.  Now, on this last night of freedom, Jesus looked forward to spending this last Passover with his disciples who had left all behind to follow him for three years.  Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, giving all of us a significant lesson in servanthood, “showing the full extent of His love” to them. Of all the times we see the bowing knees of Jesus, none is so precious as when he kneels before his disciples and washes their feet.  This is one of many demonstrations of the love Jesus has for the people God has created. 

Then Jesus, knowing what He must do to eternally save them and the world of the sins that plague humanity; delivers this final command, not a suggestion, or it would be great if you would, but a command which carried as much weight and intention as the original Ten Commandments: “Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.”

Obedience to this new command to love like Jesus will draw others to this Love that has no bounds, is relentless and unlimited, without conditions, and forever.  In fact, Jesus adds that this how the world will recognize His love in us—by the way we love each other.  The most crucial evidence of our love for Jesus is the demonstration of the “full extent” of our love for each other.  To love like Jesus love us?  Yes, this is new to the world.  To love like Jesus will indeed grasp the attention of others who desperately want to be loved.

John 13, The Message

A New Command

^31-32 When he (Judas) had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him. The moment God is seen in him, God’s glory will be on display. In glorifying him, he himself is glorified—glory all around!

³³ “Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. But just as I told the Jews, I’m telling you: ‘Where I go, you are not able to come.’

^34-35 “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

³⁶ Simon Peter asked, “Master, just where are you going?”

Jesus answered, “You can’t now follow me where I’m going. You will follow later.”

³⁷ “Master,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow now? I’ll lay down my life for you!”

³⁸ “Really? You’ll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“Obedience is better than sacrifice,” says God through Samuel to the current king. (Read to get the full flavor of this truth in 1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Peter loves Jesus, no doubt.  Peter vows to lay down his own life in sacrifice for Jesus at a time when Jesus is telling him a new way to love with a new way to follow.  Later that evening, Peter will indeed deny Jesus but then immediately remember all that Jesus said.  Peter’s heart was broken by of his disobedience.  Why didn’t I do what He said, might have been Peter’s first thought after the third denial and sound of the rooster. 

Guilt from disobedience comes after the alarm has gone off to wake us to reality of our sins.  We can humbly repent and receive the loving forgiveness of Jesus who makes us right with God or we can go on about our lives trying to avoid obedience by doing good things of “sacrifice.”  But our real love for God is expressed in our obedience to Him.

Love one another like I love you, says Jesus.  What does truly mean? 

Max Lucado expresses what Jesus was trying to get us to understand about Jesus’ love for us:

“Hours before his own death, Jesus’ concern is singular. He wants his disciples to know how much he loves them. More than removing dirt, Jesus is removing doubt.

Jesus knows what will happen to his hands and feet at the crucifixion. Within 24 hours they will be pierced and lifeless. Of all the times we’d expect him to ask for the disciples’ attention, this would be one. But he doesn’t.

You can be sure Jesus knows the future of these feet he is washing. These 24 feet will not spend the next day following their Master, defending his cause. These feet will dash for cover at the flash of a Roman sword. Only one pair of feet won’t abandon him in the garden. One disciple won’t desert him at Gethsemane—Judas won’t even make it that far! He will abandon Jesus that very night at the table.

I looked for a Bible translation that reads, “Jesus washed all the disciples’ feet except the feet of Judas,” but I couldn’t find one. What a passionate moment when Jesus silently lifts the feet of his betrayer and washes them in the basin! Within hours the feet of Judas, cleansed by the kindness of the one he will betray, will stand in Caiaphas’s court.

Behold the gift Jesus gives his followers! He knows what these men are about to do. He knows they are about to perform the vilest act of their lives. By morning they will bury their heads in shame and look down at their feet in disgust. And when they do, he wants them to remember how his knees knelt before them and he washed their feet. He wants them to realize those feet are still clean. “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (verse 7).

Remarkable. He forgave their sin before they even committed it. He offered mercy before they even sought it.

This is the love of Christ and we are ordered to love like Jesus loves us.  Pause, pray, repent if you have to like I did this morning.  Then rise up, committed to love like our Savior loves us—without conditions or holding back to evaluate worthiness—just Love.

John will follow up his eye-witness gospel lessons on Love with letters written later to reiterate the truth of Love.  He knows we will need help along the way to fully understand the love of God in Jesus who lived Love. 

Read John’s letter prayerfully, slowly and carefully, taking a paragraph at a time.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” 1 John 4:7-21

Hate and Love cannot occupy the same space in our hearts, minds, and souls.  God and our sins cannot occupy the same space, either.  We must choose then live obedient, fully committed to the choice we make.  Choose wisely.  Believe then love.

Love God.  Love One Another.

Lord,

Thank you for bringing me farther, deeper and wider in understand the full extent of your love for us with how to be obedient in the command to love.  I’m listening and still learning.  I am grateful for what I do know, you loved me before I loved you.  You died for my sins before I sinned against you.  You help us grow in your love so that others will know your love, too.  What amazing love?  How can I turn away from a love like this?  I cannot.  I love you with all my heart, mind, and soul.  Show me ways even today to love others like you love me.

In Jesus Name, Amen

So, I did a bit of research to find out why love hurts.  Most of us see the connection between social and physical pain as a figurative one. We agree that “love hurts,” but we don’t think it hurts the way that, say, being kicked in the shin hurts. At the same time, life often presents a compelling argument that the two types of pain share a common source. Older, devotedly loving couples frequently make the news because they can’t physically survive without one another. In one example from early 2012, Marjorie and James Landis of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, who had been married for 65 years, died just 88 minutes apart.

Truth is you don’t have to be a sentimentalist to believe in broken hearts — being a subscriber to the New England Journal of Medicine will do. A few years ago, a group of doctors at Johns Hopkins University reported a rare but lethal heart condition caused by acute emotional distress. The problem is technically known as “stress cardiomyopathy,” but the press likes to call it “broken heart syndrome,” and medical professionals don’t object to the nickname.  In the past few years, psychology researchers have found a good deal of literal truth embedded in the metaphorical phrases comparing love to pain.

Love may actually hurt, like “hurt” hurt, after all.  So, my wondering is this;

If God’s love is greater, deeper, wider, than humans can wrap their heads around and produce; how much hurt do we cause the heart of Jesus when we betray Him and resort to following evil’s desire to destroy us?  Jesus was Son of God.  He came to earth and lived as Son of Man who felt the sting of hurts of all kinds, inside and out. 

How do we know?  This passage right here…”Jesus became visibly upset” because one of his chosen disciples “will stab him in the back”, betraying him—and the God who sent Him.

John 13, The Message

The One Who Ate Bread at My Table

^18-20 “I’m not including all of you in this. I know precisely whom I’ve selected, so as not to interfere with the fulfillment of this Scripture:

The one who ate bread at my table

Will stab me in the back.

“I’m telling you all this ahead of time so that when it happens you will believe that I am who I say I am. Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me.”

²¹ After he said these things, Jesus became visibly upset, and then he told them why. “One of you is going to betray me.”

^22-25 The disciples looked around at one another, wondering who on earth he was talking about. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved dearly, was reclining against him, his head on his shoulder. Peter motioned to him to ask who Jesus might be talking about. So, being the closest, he said, “Master, who?”

^26-27 Jesus said, “The one to whom I give this crust of bread after I’ve dipped it.” Then he dipped the crust and gave it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. As soon as the bread was in his hand, Satan entered him.

“What you must do,” said Jesus, “do. Do it and get it over with.”

^28-29 No one around the supper table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, Jesus was telling him to buy what they needed for the Feast, or that he should give something to the poor.

³⁰ Judas, with the piece of bread, left. It was night.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Does love hurt?  Yes.  Do we break the heart of God when we sin?  Yes, we do.  But not for the human reasons we might expect.  God’s heart is broken because of our refusal to accept His best for us.  God knows what could be!  God does not enjoy seeing us hurt from the effects of our sins.  God’s heart, full of unfailing, relentless love for us breaks when we turn away from all we were created to be.  God knows our sins carry burdens we do not need to bear.  God loved us so much, He sent His One and Only Son, Jesus, to rectify and redeem our sin condition.  But when we say no, Love hurts—for us! God longs to pour out his blessings over us, but when we refuse, oh how it must hurt.  How incredible that our God patiently waits for us to say yes to His best.

It seems the closer we get Jesus, realizing the depth of His love for us, we begin to love more and more like He loves us.  The more we love the more we want to know Jesus who saved us and set us free from our sins “as far as the east is from the west.”  Paul writes of his own desire to know Christ but with an added feature many believers miss (or avoid); “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! (Philippians 3:10-11) 

Suffer? Paul words are more like a prayer; asking Jesus to break his heart of those things that break the heart of Jesus.  Only then can we be more like Jesus with right motivations to love unconditionally like Jesus!  We, too will suffer betrayal in life.  We will suffer heartache and troubles.  We, at times, will be the betrayers who need forgiveness.  How will we respond?  Our response depends on Who we know, believe, and love with all our hearts, minds, and souls.

We are not perfect.  No surprise, right?! But we are perfectly forgiven by Jesus who even prayed for those who nailed Him to a cross to suffer physical, excruciating pain.  Love hurts.  Inside and out, love hurts.  “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”  Could be Jesus meant, they don’t know the love we have to give, Father.  They don’t know the gift of Life being offered because of our love for them. They don’t know the treasure of possessing our Love that goes beyond all other human forms of conditional love.  They just don’t know love because they don’t know You.

“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) How haunting are these words right now as we go deeper to understand the love God has for us!

Paul continues, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:12-14

God calls each of us who believe to Love God and Love Others.  Yes, the deeper we go in His love, our hearts will ache when love is not returned or worse yet, betrayed. But does that stop us from loving like Jesus?  Remember, Jesus washed the feet of Judas that night as well as all the other feet in the room!  So, absolutely not.  God’s love is forever. So, we press on in His love…

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans  8:35-39 NLT

Love hurts—but in a wonderous way, revealed in Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who experienced all forms of hurt on earth, but loved us enough to die for our sins. 

Lord,

Thank you for teaching us yet another reason to love you back, follow in your ways, with attitudes of gratefulness—all because of your love in us that is greater than we can imagine or dream!  Help us to press on in knowing you, believing what you say, and growing in your love!  I am yours and you are mine.  I am loved by the King of kings and Lord of lords—oh, what a blessed thought!  I will meditate on this all day long.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Washing the feet of our children who have gone barefoot as they played outside all day takes some scrubbing to get all the dirt from between their little toes and off the bottoms of their feet, but as moms we do it so they will be clean before going to bed.  We watch the bath water turn brown as our kids become squeaky clean!  Laughter nearly always accompanied bath time, once you got them into the tub.  Getting them out was another story, because they knew bedtime, an activity they didn’t like, was soon to follow.

Imagine washing the feet of someone who has just walked dusty, mucky roads in sandals where animals as well as people traveled–not a pleasant task!  Think about it, it wasn’t just dust and dirt on those roads and pathways where people and their animals traveled each day.  That’s why it was customary in “Bible times” to provide a basin and pitcher of water at the door of most homes so you could wash the dust off your feet before entering the home.  If you were wealthy and generous in hospitality, you had a servant ready to wash the feet of all who entered your home as guests. 

This servant would stand watch, nearby the door, pitcher with water and a basin to delight the feet with a cleansing.  The servant wore an apron/towel for drying the wet feet after the washing. After a guest entered, the servant would bend down to you’re your tired, dirty feet as an act of hospitable service to you. 

Jesus used this customary, ordinary act of service as yet another teachable moment for his beloved disciples who gathered one last time with Him to celebrate Passover Meal. Jesus, their Master Teacher and Lord, lays his robe aside, puts on a apron and takes on the role of a servant. He then bends down to wash the feet of his beloved—even the feet of the one Jesus knew betrayed Him!  Let that settle into our thoughts.  Is this what Jesus meant when He taught, “Love, not only your friends, but your enemies, too”?

John 13, The Message

Washing His Disciples’ Feet

13 ^1-2 Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.

^3-6 Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”

⁸ Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”

Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”

⁹ “Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”

^10-12 Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.

^12-17 Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

I grew up in a church that washed feet as part of the celebration The Lord’s Supper.  Here’s why we did.  Jesus and his disciples, as Jews, celebrated the Passover Meal to remember the Exodus from Egypt’s bondage to freedom to the Promised Land—all provided by God.  Every step of the meal was steeped in significance to remember this monumental freedom.  But that night, Jesus did a new thing…he washed their feet!  ALL of them! 

Every Maundy Thursday we would gather as a church Body to do what Jesus did in remembrance of what He did for us.  In other translations, there are phrases of this passage that I remember well such as;

“Jesus demonstrated the full extent of His love… “ “Do this in remembrance to Me.” 

“This bread is my Body; This wine is my blood.”  “Take this, all of you and eat it.”

We wanted to do all that Jesus did that night to show “the full extent of His love” by showing our love for Jesus as well as each other.  I thought washing feet was not only normal; but very meaningful as the generations gathered to testify, sing as the spirit moved us in worship, as we served each other with the love of Jesus! 

As I matured spiritually, doing this holy act of service with my sisters in Christ in one room while men gathered in another room to do the same; I learned that serving each other in this way wasn’t about dirty feet.  It was more an act of leveling the playing field.  No one is more important than another in God’ Kingdom.  No one is greater than another.  And no one can boast that they have served more than Jesus served us. 

In truth, the point Jesus was trying to make to his guys who argued more than once about who was the greatest in the Kingdom, was this: “I came not to be served, but to serve.”  To be like Jesus, we follow what He did.  To reflect His love; we must be ready and willing serve in ways that show the full extent of our love for God and others He has created! 

His disciples must have watched Jesus in awe and wonder as took off His robe and left His position at the head of the Table to pick up the apron of a servant, carry a basin and pitcher of water to each pair of dusty feet.  Wait, what?!  Then they watched their Teacher bend down low to wash their feet!  And, Jesus knew about Judas and his betrayal plot.  Jesus washed his feet and served the bread and wine to him as well.  Yes, let that sink in.

Imagine it.  Thoughts of performance, competition, greed, and arrogant greatness must have slowly dissipated like fog when the sun shines bright.  As they watched Jesus serve in this way; a new attitude of humility must have permeated the room as each pair of feet were washed.  The sweet odor of the fragrant of Christ showing the “full extent of His love” replaces the smell of dirty feet.

Yes, He is God, the God who washes feet! 

That evening, Jesus’ supreme act of servanthood ushered in even greater demonstrations of His love for us.  Here’s some of the evidence:

• Jesus, the Word-made-flesh, who “came to seek and to save the lost,” willingly and obediently allowed the officers to arrest Him after the betrayal kiss of Judas.  (Luke 19:10)
• Jesus’ will ultimately show the full extent of His love as He, “who knew no sin becomes sin for us” taking our place for the punishment we deserve to pay. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• Because of the love of God, Jesus will defeat death rising in resurrection power—the same power available to us to battle the enemy’s attack on our faith.  The greatest need we have is Jesus!  Jesus told us we will overcome because “Greater is HE in us than he (satan) who is in the world.”  We can live in confidence because of His greatness living in us. (1 John 4:4)
• Upon believing, God knew we would need a Helper after His Son returned to His position as King of kings and Lord of lords.  (Philippians 2) That Helper and Counselor is His Holy Spirit who is with us 24/7. John 14:26  God’s Holy Spirit helps us to have the same attitude Jesus had!
• “I am with you always—even until the end of the age.”—Jesus, Matthew 28:20

We learn that washing feet is not about dirty feet. It’s about showing the love of God in us by our willingness to help each other.  It’s changing our attitude as we seek to be more like Christ.   It’s developing a compassionate heart like the One we worship and say we believe.  In other words, washing feet may be listening to an anxious mom, serving a meal to a family in crisis, helping someone find directions by taking them there, reassuring and affirming the faith of a believer who is questioning, offering a hug and a smile as needed….the list goes on and on…there’s a lot of feet to be washed!

Jesus loves unconditionally.  Jesus served mankind as a way to show the love of God.  Jesus taught us to do the same.  The more we love Jesus, the more we love each other.  The more we become like Jesus, the sweeter and stronger our relationships become with God and others. 

All the commandments of God hang on these two:  1.  Love God, 2.  Love Others.   

Lord,

Help us to fix our attention on you, focusing on your will instead of our own.

In Jesus Name, Amen

As we age, going to see the eye doctor makes us leery of what he might say in his examination.  As you wait in the exam room, do you try to memorize as many of letters on the chart before he comes in so you’ll get a “good grade” on the test? Maybe that’s just me; I don’t like to fail.  My last few yearly eye tests, the doctor has alluded to the fact that a condition called cataract, a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision, is looming on my horizon.  Well, that sounds fun.  To see less than I already do with glasses is not something to look forward to at all!  My first question to the doctor is what can I do to slow the progress or avoid it altogether?  His reply came with a slight smile, “At your age, not much.”   Don’t you just love explanations that begin, “at your age,” from the medical community?  Yeah, I don’t either. 

For people younger, not “at my age,” I will explain.  Most cataracts happen because of normal changes in your eyes as you get older. When you’re young, the lens in your eye is clear. Around age 40, the proteins in the lens of your eye start to break down and clump together. This clump makes a cloudy area on your lens — known as a cataract. So, I asked, “How do you stop cataracts from getting worse?”  In general, prevention is difficult; but the most helpful practice is to avoid ultraviolet light from the sun with sunglasses. Avoid using steroid eye drops unless absolutely necessary. Avoid the rare medications that may be associated with cataract progression.  In other words, not much, you can’t stop it.  However, there is surgery…Ugh.

Jesus reminds us of a far worse condition than cataract!  Spiritual blindness!

Spiritual blindness can lead to death unless we reverse our thinking to lean not on our own understanding and will; but fully trust the One who saves us and sets us free from this blindness.

John 12, The Message

Their Eyes Are Blinded

^36-40 Jesus said all this, and then went into hiding. All these God-signs he had given them and they still didn’t get it, still wouldn’t trust him. This proved that the prophet Isaiah was right:

God, who believed what we preached?
Who recognized God’s arm, outstretched and ready to act?

First they wouldn’t believe, then they couldn’t—again, just as Isaiah said:

Their eyes are blinded,
    their hearts are hardened,
So that they wouldn’t see with their eyes
    and perceive with their hearts,
And turn to me, God,
    so I could heal them.

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things after he got a glimpse of God’s overflowing glory that would pour through the Messiah.

^42-43 On the other hand, a considerable number from the ranks of the leaders did believe. But because of the Pharisees, they didn’t come out in the open with it. They were afraid of getting kicked out of the meeting place. When push came to shove they cared more for human approval than for God’s glory.

^44-46 Jesus summed it all up when he cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won’t have to stay any longer in the dark.

^47-50 “If anyone hears what I am saying and doesn’t take it seriously, I don’t reject him. I didn’t come to reject the world; I came to save the world. But you need to know that whoever puts me off, refusing to take in what I’m saying, is willfully choosing rejection. The Word, the Word-made-flesh that I have spoken and that I am, that Word and no other is the last word. I’m not making any of this up on my own. The Father who sent me gave me orders, told me what to say and how to say it. And I know exactly what his command produces: real and eternal life. That’s all I have to say. What the Father told me, I tell you.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The Word-made-flesh speaks for God, the Father.  God is love and truth.  Jesus speaks God’s love and truth.  “What the Father told me, I tell you.”—Jesus

You might be thinking…Isn’t this exactly what the prophets did…say the words God gave them?  Yes, but Jesus was more than a prophet and good teacher.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17, NIV’ 

Only Jesus, Son of God, who knew no sin, was qualified as the perfect sacrifice for our sins removal and in the process redeem us from the punishment we deserve.

Jesus knew the condition of the blinded hearts, minds, and souls who refused to understand because they could not and then did not trust Jesus as God’s Son, the promised Messiah from God. 

The growing “cataract of evil” blinded their eyes and blurred their minds as the glory of God stood right in front of them!

The more Jesus explained Kingdom of God thinking, the more they rejected Him.  Why?  Most (not all) religious leaders didn’t want to hear God’s real-life intentions of The Law that they studied, manipulated, added to and debated each day as sport.  Most, (including Judas) wanted a messiah who would end all their troubles and trials of  Roman oppression.  They wanted to be the greatest and best—no longer a defeated nation but un undefeated world power!   They wanted Jesus to enlarge their self-produced power so they could lord it over those who lorded over them.  Sounds, like they wanted a king “in their pockets” to do their will, doesn’t it?  In other words, they wanted the opposite of what Jesus proclaimed—be reconciled to God through repentance of sins!  Become a servant. Don’t seek to be the greatest but the least.  Don’t just love your neighbor but your enemies, too!  Whoa, Jesus, that’s too much!

Only Jesus can provide redemption.  Believe and be saved for eternity!  Matthew’s gospel account meticulously explains Kingdom of God thinking and behaving as directly spoken by Jesus in his recorded of the entire “Sermon on the Mount”. (Matthew 5-7)

Many of Jesus’ explanations began with; “You have heard it said, but I say to you…”  There were many “ah-ha” moments in Jesus ministry.  (Still are, even at our age!)

Many believed.  Others developed spiritual blindness that was irreversible as time progressed and their condition of unbelief worsened.

“When push come to shove,” what will we do?  It’s fair question to consider before we are faced by others’ opinions.  Will we allow our spiritual blindness to progress so that others continue to approve us? 

Or do we lean on the power of Jesus, trusting Him to heal us from this blindness so our hearts remain fully committed to Him with eyes wide open to His glory at work within us and all around us?  The Word is the last Word.  The Word is Jesus.

May our souls be filled to overflow with His Holy Spirit!  (That’s my prayer for all of us!)

I was blind—but now I see!

Lord,

Thank you for removing the scales from my spiritual eyes of understanding.  Thank your for your Light that helps me to see you as you really are—full of glory!  Thank you for cleansing my heart, removing all that offends you, as you treat my blindness with glorious sightedness!  Thank you for refreshing my soul with your new mercies for today. Thank you for changing my mind with your power to transform my behaviors.  I can’t do life without you working in me.  Thank you restoring my joy and health daily as your salvation does its work in me.

In Jesus Name, Amen