Humble Love

John 13:1-17
Length: 13:34

This is a message given on April 9, 2009 at the Uniontown United Methodist Church during the Holy Thursday Evening service.

“Humble Love”

Chapter 13 marks a turning point in the Gospel According to John. The first twelve chapters focus on Jesus being rejected by the Jewish nation. And now Jesus moves away from that public ministry and ministers to those who did receive and accept Him. Jesus now devotes His time to His disciples.

Chapter 13 is a great example of humility in love. The greatest virtue of love is its humility. Jesus demonstrates one of the most beautiful pictures of love. Jesus is preparing to go to the cross. Christ was preparing to pay the price for our sins.

Jesus could have very easily become proud of what He would do by the end of the week. He surely could have been very concerned about what was going to happen to Him and to his Apostles in the coming days. But instead of that He was concerned for his Apostles.

Christ tells His disciples that He loved them and He shows that love. He puts His words, His love in to action.

So, He stooped to the most humiliating act of His time. It was the job of the slaves. He stooped to wash the feet of His disciples. Many people would think they are too important to stoop so low and perform such a low level, menial task, but not Jesus.

He knew who He was. He knew He was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He knew that He was God incarnate, but still he washed the disciples feet. Because that is the character of love. Love is selfless.

Even as Christ hung on the cross, He made sure that John took care of Mary His mother and no doubt Mary would minister to John as well. Christ shows His love for them and for us.

Love has to be more than words. It has to be deeds. John says, Love not only in word, but in deed and in truth. Love that is real is love expressed in activity not just words. Don’t tell me your love, show it to me.

Notice Peter’s reaction to the foot-washing. Peter essentially asks Jesus why He would stoop so low as to wash his feet. See Peter failed to see beyond the service of foot-washing to the more spiritual cleansing involved with this act of Christ’s.

In fact, Peter refuses to let Jesus wash his feet. But Jesus’ response to him makes it clear what He is doing. Unless the Lamb of God cleanses a person’s sin, they can have no part with Him.

Peter wants to be a part of Christ, so he replies, “don’t just stop at my feet but wash my entire body.” Jesus informs Peter that He only needs His feet cleansed.
See the point of this refers back to John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only son, so that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life.”

That is Love in action. God gave us His son to pay the price for our sins. You see, the believer in Christ is purged from all sin. He is clean, but as you walk through this world however, you will get a little dust on your feet and everyday, the precious blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing that dust.

The lesson of our Scripture is simply to show love. Love is an action, not just a word we say. If Christ was willing to humble Himself in service to others, shouldn’t we do the same?

There is only one way the world is going to know we belong to Christ and that is when we show this type of humbling love to each other. You want to be blessed by God? Then learn how to serve others out of love.

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word and its truth. Thank you for the wonderful example of love in Jesus Christ. Humble us even as Jesus was when He washed the disciples feet. We pray to the glory of Jesus Christ. AMEN.