Monday 3rd November
Read John 13:1-5
“It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him.” (NIVUK)
John’s description of the evening meal and the conversations Jesus had with His disciples that night is both far more extensive than that reported in Matthew, Mark and Luke and unique because of the absence of the Lord’s supper. One can reasonably conclude that John was very much aware that the Lord’s supper and its institution was well covered elsewhere and sought to describe the events of that evening in a different way.
The themes John focused on are striking by contrast. John writes of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet and the betrayals that will follow from this humiliating act of service. Two betrayals– one by Judas and another by Peter. Both betrayals come from those who have walked with Jesus for years. Both were foretold.
There is nothing abstract about the night Jesus was betrayed. Having washed their feet, a personal and intimate act, they both betrayed Him that night.
The church kept a record of these betrayals for a reason. Every one of us passes through this test at some stage.
