Day 19: The King with a Towel
Bible passage: John 13:1–17; John 13:34–35
The Night Before the Cross
Today is Tuesday 19th of January 2021. Welcome to Day 19 of our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Yesterday we stood at the cross. Today we go back a few hours, to an upstairs room in Jerusalem.
John begins the story by telling us what was in the heart of Jesus. He knew that His hour had come. He had loved His disciples throughout His ministry, and now He loved them to the very end (John 13:1).
Love on Its Knees
He Knew, and He Knelt
John says that Jesus knew the Father had given Him authority over everything, and that He had come from God and was going back to God (John 13:3). And so He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel round His waist and poured water into a basin (John 13:4–5).
Because He was secure in who He was, He was free to serve. Washing feet was a job for the lowest servant in the house, and nobody else in the room had offered to do it. Jesus washed every pair of feet at that table, including the feet of Judas.
Peter’s Objection
Peter was appalled and told Jesus that He would never wash his feet. Jesus replied that unless He washed him, Peter would not belong to Him (John 13:8).
It is hard for proud people to be served. But nobody can follow Jesus without first letting Jesus make them clean. The basin and the towel pointed forward to the next day, when He would wash away our sin at the cross.
A New Commandment
Later that evening, Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment. “Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” John 13:34 (NLT)
The command to love was not new. The standard was. We are to love as He has loved us. And He said that this love would prove to the world that we are His disciples (John 13:35).
Paul describes that love. It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance (1 Corinthians 13:7). That is how God loves you. He showed it by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).
Whose Feet?
Three Steps for Today
Let Him wash you. Come to Jesus as you are today, and receive His cleansing and His love before you try to give anything out.
Pick up the towel. Do something practical for someone in your home or your church. If you can, choose the job that nobody wants.
Love the difficult one. Jesus washed the feet of the man who would betray Him. Pray God’s blessing on someone you find hard to love.
After He had finished, Jesus told them that now they knew these things, God would bless them for doing them (John 13:17). The blessing is in the doing.
Prayer for Today:
Lord Jesus, I am humbled that You, my King, would kneel to wash feet. Wash me today. I receive Your love. Forgive me for the times I have been too proud to serve and too proud to be served. Show me whose feet You are sending me to wash, and help me to love others as You have loved me. Amen.
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