1. Fri: Amos 1-3
  2. Sat: Psalms 143-150
  3. Sun: Numbers 18-20
Monday · Week 38
The Gospels & Acts

John 13-15

Week 38 · about 11 min
  1. Tue: Jeremiah 27-29
  2. Wed: 1 Chronicles 19-24
  3. Thu: 1 Peter 3-5

Jesus’ last evening with his disciples: foot washing, the new commandment, and his words about the way, the Spirit, and the vine.

The Night Jesus Washed Their Feet

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

John 15:5 (KJV)

Jesus knew “the Father had given all things into his hands,” and what he did with that knowledge was pick up a towel and wash his disciples’ feet, a servant’s job. Peter refuses at first, then asks for a full bath. Judas leaves the room, “and it was night.” Jesus gives a new commandment: love one another the way I have loved you. Thomas says they don’t know the way, and Jesus answers, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” In chapter 15 he compares himself to a vine and the disciples to branches. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Reflect: Whose feet is Jesus asking you to wash this week?

John 13

1And before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour hath come, that he may remove out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own who are in the world -- to the end he loved them.

2And supper being come, the devil already having put it into the heart of Judas of Simon, Iscariot, that he may deliver him up,

3Jesus knowing that all things the Father hath given to him -- into his hands, and that from God he came forth, and unto God he goeth,

4doth rise from the supper, and doth lay down his garments, and having taken a towel, he girded himself;

5afterward he putteth water into the basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, and to wipe with the towel with which he was being girded.

6He cometh, therefore, unto Simon Peter, and that one saith to him, ‘Sir, thou -- dost thou wash my feet?'

7Jesus answered and said to him, ‘That which I do thou hast not known now, but thou shalt know after these things;'

8Peter saith to him, ‘Thou mayest not wash my feet -- to the age.' Jesus answered him, ‘If I may not wash thee, thou hast no part with me;'

9Simon Peter saith to him, ‘Sir, not my feet only, but also the hands and the head.'

10Jesus saith to him, ‘He who hath been bathed hath no need save to wash his feet, but he is clean altogether; and ye are clean, but not all;'

11for he knew him who is delivering him up; because of this he said, ‘Ye are not all clean.'

12When, therefore, he washed their feet, and took his garments, having reclined (at meat) again, he said to them, ‘Do ye know what I have done to you?

13ye call me, The Teacher and The Lord, and ye say well, for I am;

14if then I did wash your feet -- the Lord and the Teacher -- ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

15‘For an example I gave to you, that, according as I did to you, ye also may do;

16verily, verily, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor an apostle greater than he who sent him;

17if these things ye have known, happy are ye, if ye may do them;

18not concerning you all do I speak; I have known whom I chose for myself; but that the Writing may be fulfilled: He who is eating the bread with me, did lift up against me his heel.

19‘From this time I tell you, before its coming to pass, that, when it may come to pass, ye may believe that I am he;

20verily, verily, I say to you, he who is receiving whomsoever I may send, doth receive me; and he who is receiving me, doth receive Him who sent me.'

21These things having said, Jesus was troubled in the spirit, and did testify, and said, ‘Verily, verily, I say to you, that one of you will deliver me up;'

22the disciples were looking, therefore, one at another, doubting concerning whom he speaketh.

23And there was one of his disciples reclining (at meat) in the bosom of Jesus, whom Jesus was loving;

24Simon Peter, then, doth beckon to this one, to inquire who he may be concerning whom he speaketh,

25and that one having leant back on the breast of Jesus, respondeth to him, ‘Sir, who is it?'

26Jesus answereth, ‘That one it is to whom I, having dipped the morsel, shall give it;' and having dipped the morsel, he giveth it to Judas of Simon, Iscariot.

27And after the morsel, then the Adversary entered into that one, Jesus, therefore, saith to him, ‘What thou dost -- do quickly;'

28and none of those reclining at meat knew for what intent he said this to him,

29for certain were thinking, since Judas had the bag, that Jesus saith to him, ‘Buy what we have need of for the feast;' or that he may give something to the poor;

30having received, therefore, the morsel, that one immediately went forth, and it was night.

31When, therefore, he went forth, Jesus saith, ‘Now was the Son of Man glorified, and God was glorified in him;

32if God was glorified in him, God also will glorify him in Himself; yea, immediately He will glorify him.

33‘Little children, yet a little am I with you; ye will seek me, and, according as I said to the Jews -- Whither I go away, ye are not able to come, to you also I do say it now.

34‘A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another; according as I did love you, that ye also love one another;

35in this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if ye may have love one to another.'

36Simon Peter saith to him, ‘Sir, whither dost thou go away?' Jesus answered him, ‘Whither I go away, thou art not able now to follow me, but afterward thou shalt follow me.'

37Peter saith to him, ‘Sir, wherefore am I not able to follow thee now? my life for thee I will lay down;'

38Jesus answered him, ‘Thy life for me thou wilt lay down! verily, verily, I say to thee, a cock will not crow till thou mayest deny me thrice.'

John 14

1‘Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, also in me believe;

2in the house of my Father are many mansions; and if not, I would have told you; I go on to prepare a place for you;

3and if I go on and prepare for you a place, again do I come, and will receive you unto myself, that where I am ye also may be;

4and whither I go away ye have known, and the way ye have known.'

5Thomas saith to him, ‘Sir, we have not known whither thou goest away, and how are we able to know the way?'

6Jesus saith to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one doth come unto the Father, if not through me;

7if ye had known me, my Father also ye would have known, and from this time ye have known Him, and have seen Him.'

8Philip saith to him, ‘Sir, shew to us the Father, and it is enough for us;'

9Jesus saith to him, ‘So long time am I with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip? he who hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how dost thou say, Shew to us the Father?

10Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? the sayings that I speak to you, from myself I speak not, and the Father who is abiding in me, Himself doth the works;

11believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and if not, because of the works themselves, believe me.

12‘Verily, verily, I say to you, he who is believing in me, the works that I do -- that one also shall do, and greater than these he shall do, because I go on to my Father;

13and whatever ye may ask in my name, I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son;

14if ye ask anything in my name I will do it.

15‘If ye love me, my commands keep,

16and I will ask the Father, and another Comforter He will give to you, that he may remain with you -- to the age;

17the Spirit of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because it doth not behold him, nor know him, and ye know him, because he doth remain with you, and shall be in you.

18‘I will not leave you bereaved, I come unto you;

19yet a little, and the world doth no more behold me, and ye behold me, because I live, and ye shall live;

20in that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you;

21he who is having my commands, and is keeping them, that one it is who is loving me, and he who is loving me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.'

22Judas saith to him, (not the Iscariot), ‘Sir, what hath come to pass, that to us thou are about to manifest thyself, and not to the world?'

23Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If any one may love me, my word he will keep, and my Father will love him, and unto him we will come, and abode with him we will make;

24he who is not loving me, my words doth not keep; and the word that ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me.

25‘These things I have spoken to you, remaining with you,

26and the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and remind you of all things that I said to you.

27‘Peace I leave to you; my peace I give to you, not according as the world doth give do I give to you; let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid;

28ye heard that I said to you -- I go away, and I come unto you; if ye did love me, ye would have rejoiced that I said -- I go on to the Father, because my Father is greater than I.

29‘And now I have said it to you before it come to pass, that when it may come to pass, ye may believe;

30I will no more talk much with you, for the ruler of this world doth come, and in me he hath nothing;

31but that the world may know that I love the Father, and according as the Father gave me command so I do; arise, we may go hence.

John 15

1‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman;

2every branch in me not bearing fruit, He doth take it away, and every one bearing fruit, He doth cleanse by pruning it, that it may bear more fruit;

3already ye are clean, because of the word that I have spoken to you;

4remain in me, and I in you, as the branch is not able to bear fruit of itself, if it may not remain in the vine, so neither ye, if ye may not remain in me.

5‘I am the vine, ye the branches; he who is remaining in me, and I in him, this one doth bear much fruit, because apart from me ye are not able to do anything;

6if any one may not remain in me, he was cast forth without as the branch, and was withered, and they gather them, and cast to fire, and they are burned;

7if ye may remain in me, and my sayings in you may remain, whatever ye may wish ye shall ask, and it shall be done to you.

8‘In this was my Father glorified, that ye may bear much fruit, and ye shall become my disciples.

9According as the Father did love me, I also loved you, remain in my love;

10if my commandments ye may keep, ye shall remain in my love, according as I the commands of my Father have kept, and do remain in His love;

11these things I have spoken to you, that my joy in you may remain, and your joy may be full.

12‘This is my command, that ye love one another, according as I did love you;

13greater love than this hath no one, that any one his life may lay down for his friends;

14ye are my friends, if ye may do whatever I command you;

15no more do I call you servants, because the servant hath not known what his lord doth, and you I have called friends, because all things that I heard from my Father, I did make known to you.

16‘Ye did not choose out me, but I chose out you, and did appoint you, that ye might go away, and might bear fruit, and your fruit might remain, that whatever ye may ask of the Father in my name, He may give you.

17‘These things I command you, that ye love one another;

18if the world doth hate you, ye know that it hath hated me before you;

19if of the world ye were, the world its own would have been loving, and because of the world ye are not -- but I chose out of the world -- because of this the world hateth you.

20‘Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his lord; if me they did persecute, you also they will persecute; if my word they did keep, yours also they will keep;

21but all these things will they do to you, because of my name, because they have not known Him who sent me;

22if I had not come and spoken to them, they were not having sin; but now pretext they have not for their sin.

23‘He who is hating me, doth hate also my Father;

24if I did not do among them the works that no other hath done, they were not having sin, and now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father;

25but -- that the word may be fulfilled that was written in their law -- They hated me without a cause.

26‘And when the Comforter may come, whom I will send to you from the Father -- the Spirit of truth, who from the Father doth come forth, he will testify of me;

27and ye also do testify, because from the beginning ye are with me.

Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). Public domain.