Jesus and Servanthood, John 13

John chapters 13-17 happen to be favorites of mine. I don’t believe there are any more beautiful and meaningful chapters in all of God’s Word. The content of these chapters is intense. Jesus and His disciples are in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, had acquired a private room in which to share it. It was referred to as the Upper room. Jesus knew exactly what He was facing an when, knew it was imperative to have the disciples prepared for what they were facing. He completely understood their need for reassurance and courage, even though He Himself felt the need for their support! In chapter 13 He showed them clearly what it meant to be a servant, and emphasized to them that servanthood was expected of them, (and us) as it was expected of Him. He Himself took the lowly position of a house slave and ministered to them. He made it perfectly clear that as the Master was treated, so they could expect to be treated, and so should they expect to serve. Jesus dearly loved these men. He had been with them 24/7 for at least three years, teaching and illustrating to them to them the realities of His Kingdom and indeed, he and the Father are ONE, and as they knew Him, they knew the Father. And now, he was entrusting to them the future of his Gospel, the Father’s plan for mankind. His heart was heavy, thinking of what was ahead, His concern for them and the confusion and fear they would feel. They were His…and He loved them. He wanted them to understand HOW they could get the job done…exactly how they could accomplish the tasks He was entrusting to them. His words to them are His words to us today, and their empowerment is ours…if we take it! Chapters 13 and 14 contain many questions by the disciples , all pertaining to earthly matters, troubled hearts, what was beyond, where was HE going; “they didn’t know the way,” they wanted to “see God!..”and why was He telling them Who He was and not others? There are times today when people ask the same questions of us…

In these two chapters He answered those questions, and tried to reassure them. But, He wanted to bring them back to :now”…the reality of their personal relationship to Him and their service to Him. He very much wanted them to SEE His plan for them here in the world.

And, so He began to tell them about relationship, and service…service that is like His own…selfless, compassionate, caring and complete. His life was lived for one purpose, to complete the task the Father gave Him to do, and bring glory to the Father…and I have news for you…our task is the same! We can choose to ignore the call on our lives if we want to, but God will not let us forget we are His, and we owe Him…we owe Him us!  We can/will accomplish the task. Whatever it may be in our individual lives, but only if we do it in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. All of chapter 15 shows Jesus explaining to the disciples how to rely on the Holy Spirit…He calls it ABIDING, and we’ll talk about abiding next time.