John 13:15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
The King, Christ, infinitely lowered Himself for us, and washed our feet. We must remember the love of the Lord; He approaches us with the same love today. We must also remember the Lord’s words, ‘Wash one another’s feet, and blessed are you if you realize this world of love.’ We must become those who reach the amazing glory of the resurrection by truly following the path of the cross.
John said that Jesus, having loved His own, loved them to the end—until the very final moment. The Lord was the one who loved to the end. Luke recorded so precisely that meanwhile, even at the Last Supper, there was a conflict over ‘who was greatest’ among the disciples. There was a conflict because they were trying to become exalted without serving. How we settle all the sinfulness within and among us—the pride, conflicts, and disputes? John is talking about the only way: the cross. What is the way of the cross? To love to the end, as the Lord showed us during His last moments. To wash one another’s feet, and to carry each other’s burdens. Because we are the ones who have seen the great love of the Lord, and because we have been served by this love, we must follow this path as well. Do we have the serving and lowering of the Lord in us? The extreme point of suffering is the cross. The cross is suffering. Suffering is emptying and lowering and serving. It is lowering and serving to the point of death. Have we lost the heart of serving? Have we lost the heart of the Lord? The time to recover this is the period of Lent.
John 13:16-17 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.
There are teachers of the world, and there are disciples who follow their teachings. Teachers and disciples have a hierarchical type of relationship. But we came to see a type of ‘new teacher’ through Jesus, who washed the feet of His disciples. We can become His disciples when we live by His teachings. He said, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” We should be the true disciples of Christ, who live following the teachings and the life of Christ.