Love As I Have Loved

LOVE AS I HAVE LOVED

a prayer to open

Here I am, Lord. Quiet my mind. Open my heart.

Give me ears to hear your invitation and the faith to respond.

After washing their feet, he . . . asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” . . .

Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Jesus did what no other rabbi of his day would have done. In fact, the task of washing feet was reserved for non-Jewish servants. Jesus’ act had theological significance: It symbolized the washing of sin that Jesus would accomplish through his death. But he was also setting an example of how his disciples should love and serve one another. Everyone would know who they followed by the love they showed. This is still true today.

• Look back on the past week. How well did you love the people around you? Where did you sense stinginess or a lack of generosity in your response to others?
• Read this passage again slowly. What invitation related to loving and serving as Jesus did do you sense he is extending to you?
• Do you know someone who is in a season of difficulty or pain? Seek God’s guidance as to how you might love that person through words and actions.

Loving God, thank you for the invitation to love and serve. I want the way I love my family, my friends, my coworkers, my neighbors, and even strangers to show that I am a follower of Jesus. Bring to my attention the areas in which I am stingy with love or lacking in generosity, and grow in me a desire to serve as a way to demonstrate your love and draw people to you. Amen.