Today's Reading: John 13: 12-20
**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.
Please click this link to read John 12: 12-20
Bible Study
This passage together with what we read yesterday can be a paradigm shift for our lifestyle in two aspects:
1. Daily Jesus wash - to have a daily Jesus wash so that we are being cleansed each day to be able to close to Jesus and to do His Kingdom work. It's all about true Lordship. Not us, but Jesus is Lord each day!
2. Daily washing one another - we need to catch every opportunity so that we can wash others feet as a slave but not as a "lord". It's all about true Servanthood. Not lording others, but we as slaves willing to serve others in the smallest way.
This is what Jesus means in verse 15 that he has set a pattern to copy, an example that we should do as He has done for us!
N.T. Wright says:
The test that matters is whether the same leader is ready, without a word of either complaint or boasting to stay behind after the meeting and do the washing-up or put out the garbage. Of course, it's important that everybody in a church family helps with the necessary tasks. But the truly Christlike leader is known by the ease and spontaneity with which he or she does the little, annoying, messy things - the things which in the ancient world the slave would do, the things which in our world we always secretly hope someone else will do so we won't have to waste our time, to demean ourselves.
The church needs to learn this again and again, because we are so readily subject to the temptation to proclaim Jesus as Lord when what we really mean is that we, his servants, are rulers of this or that province in his kingdom. We easily create little spheres of influence, of power, and we enjoy exercising it. We talk about the kingdom of God in the hope that some of that kingly glory will rub off on us. We draw attention to the promises about God's people in Christ being 'kings and priests' in order that we can lord it over others. And we quietly forget about the servant bits, the nuisance bits, the things which ...yes, the things which Jesus would have done.
Wow! That bishop N.T. Wright says today is so inspiring and so life changing!
What have you got from this message?
Have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
Spiritual Journal
What I heard from Jesus today is: True Lordship and true servanthood
What I got from Jesus today is so important! It's a challenge to all of us whether we really understand what is Lordship and what is servanthood.
Leaders so often talks about servanthood but in fact we are practicing lordship lording others. Why? Just as N.T. Wright says:
We shouldn't be surprised at how many of us fail to get it right. Jesus, having washed his disciples' feet, declares that he has established a pattern for them to follow.
Why is this so hard? Why does he has to go on to insist that the slave is not greater than the master, that the person who is sent is not greater than the master, that the person who is sent is not greater than the person who sent them?
Because we are proud. Today, when we perform the foot-washing ceremony in our churches, it is the leader, the senior minister, who does it. It has become a sign of leadership. When Jesus did it, he was doing what normally a slave would do; but when we do it, we're doing what Jesus did. Though, it is a deeply intimate and moving thing to do, it is still, rather obviously, the leader of the congregation copying Jesus - and, in a strange way, having his or her own authority and status enhanced by doing so.
So, next year during Maundy Thursday foot-washing time we'll have not only the pastoral team washing brothers and sisters feet but all those who would like to wash each others feet will have a chance to do so. Wonderful! Praise the Lord!
Jesus is Lord! True Lordship only comes from Jesus. Don't lord the others in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Ture servanthood. We are called to be slaves and servants to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and others. Don't forget it!
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to worship and serve you each day as our Lord and teach us to understand and be able to practice true servanthood that we can be more Christlike each day and that your Name will be glorified. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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