“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:35
John’s rapid account of the gospel narrative wastes no time in getting to the point. Instead of giving us daily accounts of Jesus’ activities leading up to the cross, he takes us straight from the triumphal entry on Sunday to the upper room passover on Thursday. In fact, John specifically ignores the story of Jesus cleansing the temple here, opting to include the account at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Chapter 2 instead. He doesn’t want any distractions. He has said enough already and so have I. Let’s get to the point.
Jesus demonstrates humility by washing the disciples’ feet, something the twelve considered beneath them. There is so much more in this story, but we have to press on. Jesus then announces that one of them will betray Him. This causes them to turn on each other. This is the context leading up to Jesus telling them to love each other. Do you see the flow of thought?
The disciples had been following Jesus for three years, but they were still self-centered. Peter is the mouth of the other disciples when he says he’s willing to die for Jesus. It will only be a few hours before he realizes how wrong he was. It is out of his shame that he will come to understand the love of Jesus who would die for him, even after he denied his savior.
Adam Miller is the president and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church. This article is a condensed version of one of his sermons.