"HE The Washing of the Apostles' Feet. JOHN xiii. 4-15. E riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh He to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For He knew who should betray Him; therefore said He, Ye are not all clean. So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet ; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." I He who, by the discipline of self-denial and the practice of prayer, learns to wait patiently and in faith, as each trying mystery, each perplexing interruption to his course comes upon him, for the fulfilment of Christ's promise that he 'shall know hereafter '-he shall experience at last, when the final and darkest passage of all looms before him, the fulness of that blessed 'hereafter,' when faith shall be swallowed up in knowledge."-Rev. Archibald Weir. 2 "And yet He washed that traitor's feet. . . Oh most wonderful humility! Let us learn two things from this; 1. Not to scorn to do services for the unworthy and the ungrateful; and 2. To remember that an outward partaking of a holy rite, when the heart is unclean, can bring no grace, and give 'no part with' Christ."-Canon How. "O merciful Saviour, Who, to abrogate the ceremonial law, didst eat the Paschal lamb with Thy disciples, and giving them an example of humility, upon Thy knees didst wash their feet; Grant that this example may make a deep impression in me; give me perfect humility: true obedience, and fervent love, whereby I may love Thee sincerely and all others unfeignedly: and be merciful to me."-Litany of Bishop Andrewes. Ambassadors of Christ. JOHN xiii. 16-20. VERILY, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.1 I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me. Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.3 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me." I "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them; this is the promise annexed to every duty; and the warning here connected with every instruction is this, that knowledge without practice is vain."--Girdlestone. 2 "In the forty-first Psalm, from which these words are quoted, King David is speaking of his own troubles, but these were a type and shadow of Christ's." 3 "Few things would be so likely to shake the faith of Christ's disciples as to discover afterwards that He had suffered such an one as Judas to be among the chosen Twelve. They might have thought He could not have really known his character, or He would have driven him from Him in righteous anger. So He suffers no doubt to exist on the subject, but shows clearly His Divine knowledge of the traitor's heart."-Canon How. "The past, present, and future are with Him all alike. He sees the end from the beginning." -"The Night Watches." 4 Lord, pour Thy Spirit from on high, And clothe Thy Priests with righteousness. Wisdom, and zeal, and faith impart, To watch, and pray, and never faint, So when their work is finished here, "WH Judas Iscariot. JOHN xiii. 21-30. HEN Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom He spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom He spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto Him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him.' Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent He spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. He then having received the sop went immediately out; and it was night."2 I "Satan entered into him."] "That, after all, whether a literal or a metaphorical expression, best describes his awful state. It was a madness of disenchantment from selfish hopes. Having persuaded himself that the New Kingdom was a mere empty fraud, he is suffered to become the victim of a delusion, which led him into a terrible conviction that he had flung away the substance for a shadow. It had not always been thus with him. He had not always been bad. The day had been when he was an innocent boy-a youth sufficiently earnest to be singled out from other disciples as one of the Twelve. He had received warnings of fearful solemnity (John vi. 70). . . . For some time there may have been hope for him; he may have experienced relapses into dishonesty after recoveries of nobleness. But as he did not master his sin, his sin mastered him, and led him on, as a slave, to his retribution and ruin." 2 "And so from the lighted room, from the holy banquet, . . . from the presence of his Lord, he went immediately out; and, as the beloved disciple adds, with a shudder of dread significance letting the curtain of darkness fall for ever on that appalling figure,-' and it was night.""-Farrar's "Life of Christ." "O commit to God the keeping of your souls! . . . Let it not be too late with you. Be watchful, be sober-minded; keep innocency, and take heed to the thing that is right; for that, whether in youth or in age, that, and that only, shall bring you peace at the last."-Vaughan's "Harrow Sermons." "T The Eleven Addressed. JOHN xiii. 31-38. 'HEREFORE, when he was gone out,' Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.3 Simon Peter said unto Him, Lord, whither goest Thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards. Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice." "From this place to the end of the 17th chapter is the most solemn and affecting portion of the whole Gospel narrative. In it Jesus opens His heart to His chosen ones. The traitor is gone, and love-intense, overflowing lovebinds now the Divine Master and His little band of faithful ones together. There is a tone of great peace and calm as well as of holy awe in these most blessed chapters. 'These were the last moments which the Lord spent in the midst of His own before His Passion, and words full of heavenly meaning flowed during them from His Holy Lips. All that His Heart, glowing with love, had yet to say to His own was compressed into this short space of time. Surrounding their Master, the disciples listened to the words of Life. . . Finally, in the sublime prayer of the Great High Priest (xvii.) the whole Soul of Christ flowed forth in earnest intercession for His own to His Heavenly Father' (Olshausen)." 2 "The work of glorification had begun, for the work of the Passion had begun. The Cross is so close that Jesus says, 'Now.' That Cross of shame was the Saviour's Throne of glory." ... 3 ་་ 'By love here-by unity there-are Christ's disciples to be known. It was so in primitive times. Then it could be said, 'See how these Christians love one another !' But what shall we say now?" "Not now,' for he lacked the courage, as was too sadly proved; 'but afterwards,' for he did indeed in the end follow his Master, by laying down his life for His sake."--Canon How. "LE The Way, the Truth, and the Life." JOHN xiv. 1-7. ET not your heart be troubled :1 ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life:3 no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him." “Greatly must the Apostles have needed comfort, and sorely must their hearts have been troubled, for they had heard that their Master was about to leave them, that one of themselves was to betray Him, and that another would deny Him. And could any words be fuller of blessed comfort than those which follow?"-Canon How. 2" O Christ, Who dost prepare a place For us around Thy throne of grace, We pray Thee lift our hearts above, Source of all good, Thou, gracious Lord, Art our exceeding great reward; How transient is our present pain! How boundless our eternal gain!" "There is a place for all, where the mansions ‘are many.'”—Burgon. 3 "To know Him Who is 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life,' is the sum and substance of Christian Faith. To be like unto Him, Who left us an example that we should follow His steps, is the perfection of Christian practice."—Bishop Van Mildert. " 'Grant, O God, that I may perfectly know Thy Son Jesus Christ to be 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life;' the Author of the Way, the Teacher of the Truth, and the Giver of Life; that I may steadfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life, through the same Jesus Christ. Amen."-Bishop Wilson. |