Read John 13:1-17, 31-35. Key Verse: 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Today's passage centers on Jesus' action of foot washing at the Communion Table. It was an action that caught the disciples off-guard. I remember the first pastors meeting with new bishop, Ray Owen. He had gathered us in a camp setting, preached to us and then divided us into groups. He came and symbolically washed our feet. I say symbolically because he used a towel to wipe our shoes. Even that was something I had not expected and that caught me off guard. I could only imagine the disciples' reaction based on Peter's response to first refuse to receive something like that from his Lord and master, then to respond with understanding, "Not only my feet, my hands and head!"
Yet the most powerful passage in this text is the one found in today's key verse, this "new commandment," that we love one another. To show its power and need, Jesus said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Perhaps that's where the Church is failing. We have more love for our group, our "territory," our agenda, our own self-serving purposes. The way we see it in the local church we see it in the larger church, and we ask where is the love? Where are those symbols of service and love, such as foot washing among us today? And I'm not talking about foot washing in a worship setting, but in a sense of love and service outside the church.
PRAYER: Loving God, let me give as I receive. May I be known for my love for You and Yours. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
