Christ’s Example of Service – John 13:1-20

¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. (John 13:14-15 ESV) We continue our studies in the Gospel According to John after a break, picking up in chapter 13, right at the night before his crucifixion. All four gospels provide a narration of this last meal with the disciples. Whereas the accounts in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) record the institution of the Lord’s Supper, John records the scene of Jesus getting up from the table and washing his disciples’ feet. The very image of Jesus stooping down to perform the task of a servant to his own disciples, within a culture that expected disciples to serve their masters, has profoundly touched the hearts of generations of people. Many, if not all of us, know this story. It shows us a vivid picture of the sacrificial