BibleProject | One Story That Leads to JesusSample

On the night before his death, Jesus kneels before his disciples with a water bowl and towel, washing their dirty, travel-worn feet. Household servants were supposed to wash guests’ feet, not important teachers. Peter is appalled, stammering his objections, but Jesus insists. Peter flails to the other extreme by saying, “If you’re going to wash my feet, you might as well wash me from head to toe!”

Jesus assures him that won’t be necessary. This cleansing is an example to follow. Jesus is showing Peter (and everyone) a way to live, which is not about grasping for status but about humbly taking care of one another. In the Kingdom mindset, there are no people who are too important to care for others’ needs. Humble love and service is the divine-human way.

Notice how the narrative pace in John slows after chapter 12, with chapters 13-17 serving as Jesus’ final teaching for his disciples (often called the Upper Room Discourse) before he goes to the cross. Here, Jesus says that those who seek the Father can do so by following him. When he departs, the Holy Spirit will come to guide them into fuller understanding. Above all, by obeying him, they will remain rooted in his love like branches in a vine.

Obedience means loving each other—not with soft sentimentality but with a kind of love that acts. This is a love so strong that it requires laying down the old life to abide in God’s new life. In today’s video, you will see how far Jesus is willing to go to demonstrate this type of love. The true mark of Jesus’ people is the fruit of abiding love, cultivated in the soil of obedience, watered by the Spirit, and budding into the shape of a cross.

Reflection Questions

• How does Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit’s guiding presence fulfill prophetic hopes in the Hebrew Bible? Where else in the Bible has God demonstrated his desire to be with people?
• In John 15:1-11, Jesus describes himself as a vine and his followers as branches. What does this image reveal about spiritual growth?