Comeback: An Easter Devotional for TeensSample

He Loved Them to the End

By Isabelle Reardon

"It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him . . . 'Do you understand what I have done for you?' he asked them. 'You call me "Teacher" and "Lord," and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."—John 13:1–5, 12–17 (NIV)

Have you ever heard the icebreaker question: “What would you do if you knew you only had 24 hours to live?” A lot of us would answer this question by saying that we would spend our last hours with our closest friends and family, or that we would eat the best food in the world, or do something adventurous and crazy . . . the list goes on. And this list, if we’re being honest, is mostly, if not entirely, self-seeking. It's mainly a collection of the different things we would do to make those hours of life the best for us, and not necessarily for the world around us. This is our human condition; we seek to live a life in which the universe revolves around us and our desires. 

In John 13, during the Passover meal, we see Jesus, God in the flesh, the One in whom “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17), including the universe itself, in His final hours of life. Jesus didn’t have to imagine what He would do with His last 24 hours; He knew very well that, “His hour had come to depart out of this world” (John 13:1); He knew these were His last hours. And with these final precious hours, Jesus didn’t choose to live large, hit up a pig roast for the first time, go for one last swim in His favorite lake, or anything we might consider fun bucket list type stuff. He didn't spend His last few hours before going to the cross focused on Himself; instead, He decided to be an example of love to His closest friends and disciples. 

Imagine being Jesus in this moment . . . knowing that within 24 hours, He was not only going to die, but also be betrayed by His own friend and disciple, abandoned by every single one of His friends, mocked, beaten, tortured, wrongfully accused, and sentenced to unimaginable suffering and a criminal's death by the very people  He came to save. Even with all of this in mind, Jesus knew who He was, “that he had come from God and was going back to God” (John 13:3), and He knew what He had come to do, “to seek and save the lost" (John 19:10), so He served His disciples by washing their feet—even the feet of the one who would not long after betray Him. Can you imagine?

This is our Savior. He is so different from us. He is so worthy of all that we could ever offer Him. He was so worthy of all His disciples could offer Him; and yet, He washed their feet and then comforted them, shared some deeply powerful wisdom and truth with them, and then prayed for them in the Garden of Gethsemane . . . and He did this for mere hours before He would die for their sins. He loved them to the very end, to the fullest extent, with a love that will never end. And He loves us with that same love today. 

PAUSE: Spend a moment considering the fact that the God of the universe, knowing the suffering He was about to face, in His final hours, served His disciples and washed their feet. 

PRACTICE: In John 13:15, Jesus points out that He did this act of service as an example, so His disciples would mimic the same love and service. Ask the Lord that He would help you to walk in His love that serves, sacrifices, and puts others before yourself. When opportunities to love sacrificially, and selflessly come up, remember Jesus and how He served as an example for you, and walk in the same way.

PRAY: Jesus, thank You for the way that You love me, thank You for being a God who served Your friends hours before You took the cross for them. Thank You for calling me Your friend and for serving and dying for me! Help me to walk more deeply and intimately rooted in Your love so that I may love the people around me in the same way that You’ve loved me! Amen.