John 13:1-4 – Love: the heart of a servant

John 13-17 record Jesus’ Upper Room Dialogue. As we meditate on this Discourse, we will learn much about servanthood and service, love and unity, the Holy Spirit, Heaven, believers’ union with Christ, and prayer. Jesus began by calling His disciples to follow His example in servanthood. If we are to follow Christ’s service, servanthood should be the place to begin. This is where we must begin. In the first four verses John very artfully introduced the heavy atmosphere of the Upper Room Discourse.

In these four verses, John began by linking the impending death of Jesus with the Passover feast. Obviously, he was portraying Jesus as the ultimate Passover Lamb to atone for the sin of humanity. John the Baptist had proclaimed earlier that Jesus is “…the Lamb that will take away the sin of the world.” Now Jesus, in saying that “His hour had come,” gives us the sense that the moment for His sacrifice on the cross was near. But His was not just a death but a departure to the Father. And John here tells us that love is the obvious reason for His mission. Here we see the full extent of His love – He loved those who are His to the very end. For the whole duration He was with His disciples, there was not a moment that He didn’t love them. This is the very heart of Jesus, the very heart of a servant - the heart of love. Love is the hallmark of Christ and should be that of His disciples. If we desire to be authentic and genuine disciples, we must deepen our heart in love.

In verse 2, we are also given a glimpse to how the devil usually works. In saying that the devil “put into the heart” of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus is to say that thoughts were implanted into the mind of the betrayal to do what he finally did. The only means the devil can get us to do his bidding is to put thoughts and suggestions into our minds. Hence it is important that we must guard our heart and mind with all diligence. It is important that we renew our mind as Romans 12:2 exhorts us to.

In these verses we also see that Jesus knew exactly who He was. He had not forgotten that He was God, came in human flesh. He knew He had come from the Father and was about to return to the Father. He knew that the Father had laid everything within His power. With all the power available to Him yet He did not exert it to gain control forcefully. He chose instead to pick up a towel and be ready to serve His disciples. The Sovereign Lord of the universe willingly humbled Himself, became a servant and expressed His deep and unreserved love for His followers.  

Here is a call to emulate His example to lovingly serve. If we want to be great we must begin by serving. For we must remember that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. He ascended by first descending. Will we also do the same?