HUMBLE LOVE
TEXT: Now … when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end…. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper …. (John 13:1b, 3-4a)
John tells us that Jesus knew “that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God.” And then He stands up from the dinner table. What is He going to do, given what He knows about Himself? Surely it will be some glorious grand response, worthy of the Son of God!
But no. “He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him” (John 13:4b-5).
Jesus knows that He is, literally, the center of everything. And He responds to this by loving His disciples in the humblest way He can.
But that isn’t enough for Him. Because just a few hours later He is doing something deeper, humbler, more loving. He who is the center of His Father’s love is now the center of shameful attention on earth, stared at by everyone as He hangs on a cross between heaven and earth, dying to wash clean the people He came to save.
Jesus is the greatest. And so He makes Himself the lowest, and the most loving-because that’s the kind of Person He is.
WE PRAY: Dear Lord, wash me clean and make me Your own. Amen.
——————— Reflection Questions
• When you are praised, how do you usually respond?
• Why can Jesus humble Himself this way so easily?
• What does this say about how He values you?
Responses