Day 314 – Luke 22, John 13

Talking Points

• The God who Serves — As Jesus is teaching His disciples of humility and self-sacrificial service to others, and as He personally sets the example, we find something completely remarkable. He is not just an example — He is the ultimate example, God Himself. In Luke 22:27, Jesus says, “But I am among you as the one who serves.” Do not miss the symbolism. In Jesus, “I AM” is among us as the One who serves. Isaiah said our Messiah would come as a servant. And, as He stoops with a towel and washes the disciples’ feet, that One has come.
• How hard was it to endure the Cross? How truly terrible, how ugly, how unbearable was it — actually? Lest we forget, even Jesus approaches it in sweaty anguish. Even Jesus, asks in agony for a way to avoid it. “Yet not My will, but Yours be done” (22:42).
• Sometimes, it’s hard to figure the mindset of the disciples as the events of the cross drew near. Were they disheartened? Surely they were confused. Luke 22:45 gives us some insight. As Jesus returns from praying in the garden, He finds them “sleeping from sorrow.” They were not sleeping in laziness or apathy, as maybe we’ve heard, but rather from deep, crushing sorrow. Their hearts were broken knowing the dread of soon-coming events.
• Jesus gives a new commandment. Believers are to love one another. And, not just to any standard, but to the measure that He has loved us! This radical demonstration of love will mark believers as different from the harsh world around us. How are we doing? (Ouch!)

Thoughts

Imagine what Jesus is feeling as these events unfold. John 13 tells us He knows His hour had come, and shortly, He would rejoin His Father in glory. Imagine the joy! Imagine the sweet anticipation. In our human understanding, Jesus is going home! Like a long trip that finally winds to its conclusion, home is in view. The end is in sight. The porch light is on!

And, yet, His way home will pass through one last necessary obstacle. Soon, His work will be gladly finished, but fixed between Him and His rest is the painful altar hewn of two wooden timbers.

“The way of the cross leads home.”

Does Jesus rejoice, moving forward in exuberance? Does He sigh, pushing on in dread? I can’t imagine what He feels, but I know what He does. He loves.

John 13:1 describes this very event. It records our Savior, so near to the end, so near to the Cross — “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” The word “end” translates “to completion” or “to perfection.” Whatever He felt, whether joy or dread or some strange mixture of both, Jesus loved to perfect completion. In perfect love and a perfect conclusion, redemption is settled, and Jesus goes home.

Thank you, LORD, for Your perfect love!