Friday 07/02/2025
This week we’ve been reading parts of the last recorded long conversation Jesus had with his closest friends. They’ve had a ‘final’ meal together, and this evening must have been a very emotional one. (In fact the last time Jesus ate with the disciples was a barbeque beach breakfast, but of course, this took place after his resurrection (see John 21)).
Jesus knew that soon he would be arrested and led out to die (13:1a), and although from time to time the disciples had understood some of what he’d told them, the penny hadn’t fully dropped. Until the very end, Jesus’s own description of them proved to be absolutely true … they were so slow to understand.
John sets the tone for much of what follows at the start of chapter 13. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love (13.1b). As he washed the disciples’ feet, tried to prepare them again for his departure, began to teach about the Holy Spirit and perhaps especially as he went willingly to the cross to die for our sins, he indeed showed the full extent of his love. Might this challenge us to consider how we too seek to show others something of the love of Jesus in our own lives?
The Ven. Andy Piggott
