In our Bible study yesterday, we talked about the command we see in Scripture to love others as we love ourselves, particularly our spouses for those who are married. We talk about the word “love” and mindlessly utter the phrase, “Love you!” so often that love has lost its meaning. As a result, it will be helpful for us to understand what it means to love so that we can truly obey the command we are given in Scripture to love the people in our lives as we love ourselves.
Jesus defined love for His disciples in John 13. This passage of Scripture takes place as He shared a last meal with them after three years of doing ministry together. As His disciples were all sitting at the table and preparing to share a meal, Jesus did something shocking. He got up from the table where they were all sitting and started washing his disciples' feet (verses 4-5). Now, to us, this act of washing feet might seem strange, but not shocking. In Jesus' day, it was unprecedented. You see, during this time, it was customary that hired servants wash feet, certainly not a respectable Jewish rabbi! And yet, that is precisely what Jesus did. He washed His disciples' feet. He washed the feet of Judas, who was going to betray Him. He washed Peter's feet, who would later deny knowing Him three times. He took on the role of a servant and cared for each of His disciples. After Jesus finished washing their feet, He explained why He had washed their feet. He said, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you” (verse 15). Jesus wanted His disciples to follow His example and sacrificially love the people around Him. Later on that evening, He expounded on His instruction to them to follow His example, and He said to them, "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other" (verse 34). How had Jesus loved them? He had loved them so much that He was willing to serve them by washing their feet. Later, He even died on the cross to rescue them and the world from sin. His love was sacrificial. It was focused on serving. This is the kind of love He called His disciples to model and that He wants us today to model.
When it comes to the way you are loving those around you, are you loving sacrificially? Are you serving those you regularly interact with? For those who are married, are you loving your spouse in the way that Jesus modeled sacrificial love? Christ’s love changes everything, even the way we love the people around us.
Pull out a journal or notebook. Read through the passage of Scripture in the Going Deeper section below and summarize the way Christ demonstrated love, both to His disciples and to us. Then, ask Him to help you as you seek to follow His example and sacrificially love the people around you.
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”
8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”
Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”
9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”
10 Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.
18 “I am not saying these things to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But this fulfills the Scripture that says, ‘The one who eats my food has turned against me.’ 19 I tell you this beforehand, so that when it happens you will believe that I am the Messiah. 20 I tell you the truth, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me.”
21 Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”
22 The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. 23 The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table. 24 Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, “Who’s he talking about?” 25 So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. 27 When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.” 28 None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. 29 Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. 30 So Judas left at once, going out into the night.
31 As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. 32 And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. 33 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
36 Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?”
And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”
37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.”
38 Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.
