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 now showed them the full extent of His love. (Not only through His actions that follow, but through His very death on the cross, Jesus reveals the full extent of His love, which was to lay His life down for us whom He loves.) The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God, (Even in the midst of betrayal and deceit, even though the enemy was actively at work and even working through one of His very Own closest followers, Jesus was fully aware of Who He was and from where He had come. As the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, God Incarnate, God With Us, the embodiment of the Word of God, He knew His rightful place was at the right Hand of the Father where He would soon return to be seated in the very throne room of God Almighty Himself.) so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. (Even though He was the Darling of Heaven, even though Jesus carried with Him the full resources and accolades of His Father, this little conjunction "so" conveys Jesus' true servant's heart, and unlike most of us who, had we carried such status and standing, perhaps with a heavy sigh of resignation and a hint of frustration, would have used the word "but". However, precisely because He knew Who He was and from where He had come, Jesus acted in love to those very men who, even in the presence of Jesus Himself, had been arguing and squabbling who was greatest among them. Not "but," instead, SO He got up. If Jesus knew He was sent from His Father God and if He knew He was returning to His Father God and if He knew that all power was given to Him, most of us would sigh and commiserate with Him that here was still yet one more time Jesus would need to demonstrate His love yet again to these unseeing men. And especially, knowing all that about Himself, we would think He would choose to be served rather than to serve because of the specter of His great sacrificial death lying just ahead of Him. Instead, He did just the opposite. Despite Who He was and what He knew about His Father and about Himself and about His imminent suffering, for those very reasons, precisely because of Who He was, He chose to stoop to serve. We can't even comprehend such humility, such love!
When we think we are being stretched too far,
that we are somehow owed something by God and those around us
for the trials and hardships we face,
Jesus shows us the true humility of commitment to His Father and God.)
After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. (Taking the garb and position of not just a servant, but of a lowly slave whose job it was to wash the dust from the guests' feet, Jesus puts aside His position as God, as Messiah, as Lord and King, and takes on the form of the lowest of servants, ministering to the needs of His beloved friends. Through His every action, He portrays a picture of His great love and deep desire to woo us to His salvation, yet another powerful picture of His laying down His life for us.)
