Jesus has now retreated from the crowds. He is alone with his disciples in the Upper Room. Within 24 hours Jesus will be dead. What will he say to the men who have followed him most closely for the last three and a half years? How can he prepare them for the onslaught to come? If we could forget that we have read this chapter countless times before, I think we would all be surprised by what Jesus does and what he says in these final hours of his life. He washes his disciples’ feet, he tells them to wash one another’s feet, and he tells them that all people will know they are his disciples if they have love for one another. It all seems so anticlimactic; it all seems out of place—until we return to John 1 and the wonder of the incarnation! Join us this Sunday as we turn to John 13 and the story of the Servant King.
