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Author: Joe Fahd, from the Servants of the Word, an international, ecumenical brotherhood of men living single for the Lord.

He Loved His Very Own to the End

In John’s gospel, he writes, “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.” (John 13:1)

Jesus is the example of God’s love for each one of us. Leading up to this passage in John 13, Jesus obeyed the Father and became incarnate as man. He was also baptised, he fasted in the desert, and healed the sick. He performed miracles, he was transfigured on the mountain, and now he washes his own disciples feet! Imagine cleaning someone’s toilet with your bare hands! This is a modern equivalent to washing the dirty feet of fishermen.

Several times Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to die. (John 2, John 12, John 13) But they just don’t get it. And that’s precisely how he loved us to the end, by dying on the cross in obedience to his father. His challenge to us remains: “if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.” (John 13:14). Ask yourself today: Whose feet do I want to wash?

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®
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