Word@Work, Let God's Word energise your working day!

John

Filter by Chapter Number

Showing Love

John 13:1

Real love will always be expressed, sometimes in surprising ways.  John wrote this verse to introduce the very unusual Passover evening when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet.  It was His final teaching to His trainee apostles before He ascended to be with Father God in heaven.  And He knew that He would be crucified within 24 hours.  The prospect of death always concentrates the mind.  But instead of thinking about Himself, Jesus focussed on serving His disciples and started with an unforgettable physical demonstration of servant leadership.  

Spiritual Authority

John 13:2-3

Many people wrongly think that good and evil are equal opposites, and that God and the devil are equally matched opponents.  In the Passover meal, the Last Supper, as Jesus approached His great battle with evil on the cross, John tells us that Satan had already tempted Judas to betray Jesus.  In John 13:27 we read that Satan entered into Judas.  However, unlike Peter, for whom Jesus prayed that Satan would not molest him (Luke 22:31-32), Jesus encouraged Judas to complete his dark work of betrayal (John 13:27-29).  Jesus was firmly in control.
 

Servant Hearted Leadership

John 13:4-9

Hygiene and comfort go together, so do holiness and spiritual cleansing (taking away sin).  In a hot dusty land, without hot and cold running water, visitors to a large house would be greeted by a servant who would remove the guest’s sandals and then wash their feet with fresh water and carefully dry them with a towel.  It was a mark of hospitality, a very personal way to honour the guests.  However, at the Last Supper, there was no servant in the borrowed home (Matthew 26:18-19).
 

Bathing In God's Word

John 13:10-11

Courteous and hygienic foot washing is no substitute for a bath.  Jesus had taken the servant’s role in washing the disciples’ feet, but Simon Peter objected (John 13:6-9).  It did not seem right to him for His Master to take the place of a slave to refresh his filthy feet.  But washing dirty feet was only a slight indignity for Jesus compared to bearing the sins of the world when He died on the cross.  If Peter would not submit to having his feet washed, how could he submit to having his guilt washed away?  Refusal would be like saying, ‘I don’t belong to You’!  So, Peter, who dearly wante

Serving Each Other

John 13:12-17

Jesus had just washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:3-11).  But they did not really understand.  So He explained that, although He was their Teacher and Master, it was not wrong for Him to serve them.  Indeed, it was essential.  They needed to understand that Jesus was also a Servant.  Isaiah prophesied that God’s Servant would fulfil God’s plan (Isaiah 42:1-7).  The disciples were to follow His example and be servants to each other (Matthew 20:26-28).
 

Betrayed But Not Surprised

John 13:18-20 

Jesus was sharing the Passover supper with His disciples (Matthew 26:20), but knew that one person in the room was about to betray Him (Matthew 26:21-25).  All the others had been chosen to build His church; Judas had been chosen to betray Him (John 6:70).  What Judas would do was no surprise to Jesus, because He knew Judas’ heart.  Although Jesus knew that the betrayer’s wickedness would focus the hatred of the world on His head, it was personally painful.  By quoting Psalm 41:9, Jesus showed how King David (a thousand years previously) described the soul-wrenching destruction of fellowshi

Darkness Within The Fellowship

John 13:21-30

Only two people knew.  Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, and Judas knew the contract he had entered: 30 pieces of silver exchanged for the body of Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16).  But Jesus was not the only one who had been betrayed.  The other disciples, although they knew that Judas was a thief (John 12:6), had no idea of the evil he had agreed to do (Luke 22:1-6).  So, when Jesus announced that one of them would betray Him, they were very sad.

Glory Revealed To The Saints

John 13:31-32

Judas had gone (John 13:26-30).  Only those disciples who would become the apostles of the early Church remained with Jesus.  His ‘last words before death’ (found in John chapters 13-17) would be etched into the apostles’ minds and hearts by the Holy Spirit (John 16:12-15) and would be incorporated into their teaching to the church after Pentecost (Acts 2:42).  

The Secret Place Of God's Judgement

John 13:33

Jesus called His disciples by the tender name for ‘little children’.  That word (in Greek) is strongly affectionate and reflects the deep trust between parents and children, teachers and their students.  It so impressed John that he used it 9 times in his first epistle (the same word translated as ‘dear children’), referring to Christians in the early church.   Jesus knew He was going to the cross and wanted to reassure His disciples that His route to heaven and theirs will be different.  Although many of the apostles would face a violent death, they would never face what Jesus suffered on

Commanded To Love

John 13:34-35

It was at the private Passover meal behind closed doors that Jesus briefed His trainee apostles (John 13:1-2).  They would be the leaders of His new church, and they needed to know how to do it.  But Jesus was not only concerned about what they did and taught (Luke 9:1-6; Matthew 28:18-20); what mattered most was their hearts, their character, and the way they related with one another.  Obviously, as it was Jesus’ church, they must relate together in the same way that He had treated them.  

Pages

BeaconLight
Word@Work
CrossCheck