Facing Jesus #13 - The Disciples
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Matthew Mark Luke John
Words of Jesus are underlined
(This section backs up again and is intended to be used for Maundy Thursday Worship)
Here begins what is called the Passion of our Lord Jesus for us, which He was betrayed, denied, rejected by His people, cast off by them and crucified. Yet here Jesus loves “His own” to the end. He washes their feet and gives them to eat of His very Body and Blood – even when He knew that they would betray Him, deny Him and desert Him.
How did they face Jesus in those moments? Not well. Even as Jesus humbly washed their feet, they continued to “argue among themselves” about which of them was the worst and which was the best.
How do you face Jesus? Are you ready to answer Jesus’ call and wash the feet of those you formerly thought were beneath you? Are you ready to stop boasting and start serving?
Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet
Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.
When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.
The First Lord’s Supper
When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. Then he said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But look, the hand of the one betraying me is at the table with me. For the Son of Man will go away as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”
Deeply distressed, each one began to say to him, “Surely not I, Lord?”
So they began to argue among themselves which of them it could be who was going to do it.
Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest.
Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
“Even if I have to die with you,” Peter told him, “I will never deny you,” and all the disciples said the same thing.
The New Command
When he (Judas) had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so now I tell you: ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Jesus Agonizes in the Garden
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
Jesus Gets Arrested
When those around him saw what was going to happen, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” Then one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear.
But Jesus responded, “No more of this!” And touching his ear, he healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal? Every day while I was with you in the temple, you never laid a hand on me. But this is your hour—and the dominion of darkness.”
Then they all deserted him and ran away.
(This is the last time we hear about the disciples as a group in the Passion Account)
(John 13:3–5, 12–15; Luke 22:14–16, 19–22; Matthew 26:22; Luke 22:23–24; Matthew 26:31–32, 35; John 13:31–35; Matthew 26:36; Luke 22:49–53; Mark 14:50 CSB17)
What were some of the mistakes of the disciples?
Which of those are you repeating in your daily life? In your church?
To what did Christ command us?
Would people on the outside look at your church and know that you are His disciples? Why/why not?
Did Christ give up on His flawed disciples?
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