Sunday 04 May 2008

Background

Jesus is in Jerusalem at the time of the celebration of thePassover. This was an important Jewish festival that took placeevery year and many Jews would go to Jerusalem, their holy city, inorder to celebrate. The Passover celebrated the escape of thepeople of Israel from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Thestory of the escape and the institution of the Passover meal isrecorded in Exodus12:21-32.

As Jews, Jesus and his disciples would all have celebrated Passoverevery year for as long as they could remember. This time, however,it was quite different. It was the custom for the servant to washthe feet of the guests before a meal. To the disciples' amazement,Jesus chose to wash their feet.

After the Passover meal, John writes about Jesus talking to hisdisciples and, in a way, giving an explanation of histeaching.

Jesus first prays for himself, asking that he may bring honour andpraise to God. It was of utmost importance to Jesus that peopleshould see God. He then prays for the disciples and then for theworld.

In this prayer, unlike any other in the Gospels, Jesus is summingup who he is in relation to God. He calls God the only true God andconfirms that he himself was sent by God. He says that he will soonreturn to what he knew before - glory in God's presence.

Jesus prays for his disciples and is thankful that they know thathe came from God. There is a longing that the relationship thatJesus has with God - that of bringing glory to God through arelationship with Jesus - should be the same for the disciples andall who follow.

To Ponder

To what extent is it hard for us to acknowledgeand appreciate the 'godness' of God?

How far do you actively think of yourrelationship with Jesus as one that is growing?