Skip to main content
Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. Photo by Charles F. Stanley.
Daily Devotion

Parting Words: A New Commandment

We love like Jesus when we serve one another.

March 22, 2024

John 13:1-17

Is there a task around the house you just can’t stand to do, yet you know it needs to be done? Maybe you find yourself looking the other way, hoping someone else will do the dirty work.

But not Jesus. On this final night with His friends, as they gathered for dinner, someone needed to clean all those filthy feet. After all, they would be sitting on the ground, their bodies close to the low table of food. Their sandals would be caked with dust and dirt and whatever else they walked through on the streets. This task was considered so disgusting and menial that it’s thought even slaves at times refused to do it.

But on this night, Jesus Himself filled a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet. Peter was appalled and cried, “Never shall You wash my feet!” (John 13:8). Yet Jesus insisted. There, in their last hours together, it was paramount that they understood exactly who Jesus was. Yes, Jesus was their Teacher, Lord, and Master. And His signs and wonders were evidence that He was God. But this God came to serve, not to demand. To die, not to kill.

What does it mean to follow such a God? That night, with His friends, Jesus demonstrated this vividly. No student can be greater than his teacher, after all. We must be the people who serve one another.

Bible in One Year: Ruth 3-4

Explore Other Devotions


See All Daily Devotions