86
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
February 1932
no repeating. It is continuous in its effi cacy for redemption, and it gives to the saint his standing before God. Judas never experienced this washing. The washing by the Word is required again and again, to enable the believer to walk in the light. It takes, care of the defilement, contracted in service, but it does not touch the sin question. Without this constant washing by the Word, there may be fine service, but no real fellowship with the Lord (cf. Psa. 119:11). Peter must sit still and give the Lord opportunity to cleanse him; and the saint must alsq be quiet before the Lord for the same purpose. To search the Word to find something to give to others is good, to search it for food for one’s own soul is better, but to allow the Word to search the heart is best of all. Judas had had the Word, but he had never submitted to the washing by blood. He was blind, ignorant, and corrupt, and Jesus knew him for what he was. A t that very moment, Judas was betraying the L ord ; he did not have to wait for the ac tual deed to be done. So the sinner does not have to actually engage in any overt act o f rebellion against the Lord, but by merely rejecting the gospel of Clod’s grace, he is guilty o f ‘‘betraying” the Lord and in danger of sealing his doom, as Judas did. IV. T he A pplication of the F oot W ashing (12-15). Jesus exhorts the disciples to do as He has done. The whole incident shows that He would teach them the grace o f humil ity. I f He, the Lord of Glory, could stoop to wash His disciples’ feet, surely they could defer to one another. The servant is not greater than his lord, and the dis ciples must learn that, in order to have blessed communion with Him, there must be, first o f all, a lowly mind. Perhaps no where else is the sharp distinction- between the worldling and the Christian more clearly shown than in this call to humility. Humility is the queen o f all the virtues, and it is unknown by the world. The great men of earth are those who are served; the great in the Lord’s kingdom are those who serve, their supreme exam ple being the Lord Himself who, though He was God, took upon Him the form o f a servant and then fulfilled a servant’s min istry. Lesson Questions Vs. 1-3. What unseemly contention took place among the disciples after they had gathered in the upper room (cf. Lk. 22: 24) ? In what threefold sense are believers “his own” ? What connection is there be tween love and humility ? What teaching regarding the personality and treachery o f Satan is given in verse 2? How does Christ’s omniscience affect the believer? Vs. 4, 5. Who usually performed the service o f washing the guests’ feet at Jew ish feasts? Vs. 6-11. Why did Peter protest when Jesus attempted to wash his feet? What two “ washings” are mentionad in the W ord o f God (cf. 1 John 1 :7; Eph. 5:25, 26 )? O f how many did Peter partake? Judas? Vs. 12-15. O f what did Jesus become an example to His followers ? What is one of the chief differences between the Chris tian and the worldling, that is presented in this lesson?
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet John 13:3-7, 12-15
Golden Text Illustration Apollo, born o f Jupiter and Latona, was the god of the sun. Mythology has given to the youth o f the world no better ideal than this sun god who loved justice and required o f those who worshiped him clean hands and pure hearts. Born in De los, where his mother had fled to escape the wrath o f jealous Juno, he ascended at once to the celestial world on the cloudless heights o f Mount Olympus, where dwelt the gods and where, in the great hall o f his father’s palace, the lovely goddess Hebe handed around to the heavenly deities at their daily feasts the ambrosia and the nec tar on which they lived, while Apollo, who was also the god o f music, delighted them with the tones o f his lyre. Apollo’s popularity was much in evidence, and he might have stayed and passed his time amid the joys and delights of his heavenly associates. But he was possessed o f a passion for humanity, and his breast was stirred with a desire to better the condi tions o f the dwellers on the earth. Accord ingly, he declined to stay in his father’s palace, and came down to earth to estab lish good laws, to promote civilization, to heal the sick, to relieve distress, and to be the saviour o f mankind in general. But this is only “the fictitious narrative o f an event that never happened.” Yet there was a God, One who actually came from heaven, the only begotten Son o f His eternal Father. He came to earth as the Redeemer of its people, and the thing that brought Him was His own un dying passion for humanity. All the way from the throne to the manger and back again by way of the cross, it was a con tinual outpouring of Himself for the sake of others. And if any man have not the Spirit o f Christ, he is none o f His. Alas, that we should be concerned about so many things and be so little concerned about the thing that was the master passion, the sole passion indeed, of His great heart! —W . E. B iederwolf . Lesson Text: John 14:1-18. Golden Text: “ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto y o u : not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). . Jesus’ Last Night with His Disciples ‘»y'E su s’ last night with His disciples A began in an upper room. In the portion o f Jerusalem built upon Mount Zion, the tourist is shown an upper room in which Jesus is supposed to have spent that memorable evening. While it is question able whether any building in the modern
Memory Verse: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another” (John 13:34). Approach: There were a great many things which Jesus wanted to teach His disciples before He left them to go back to heaven. He saw that sometimes -they acted like very selfish little children. They would say things like this, “ I think Jesus loves me the best,” or “Which one of us will have the g r e a t e s t place in h e a v e n ? ” Jesus knew that they w e r e thinking too much a b o u t them selves and not enough about other people, so He found a way to help them to see this mistake. Lesson Story: One evening, very short ly before He left this earth, Jesus and His disciples were gathered in a quiet upper room to talk and eat together. Perhaps you know that in the country where Jesus lived they wore barefoot san dals on their feet as they walked along the dusty, country roads. So it was the cus tom on entering a house for a guest to leave his sandals at the door, and for a ser vant to take a towel and a basin of water and wash the guest’s feet. Now there was no servant this evening to do this, and the disciples were saying to each other, “ I’m not going to do this ser vant’s work,” when Jesus surprised them by pouring out the water and taking the towel anfl starting to wash His disciples’ feet Himself. Then His disciples felt ashamed. Peter said, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” But Jesus d id ; He washed the feet o f each one o f them, because He wanted them to learn this lesson. And when He had finished, He said, “ I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” say that it was in this room also that the one hundred and twenty were gathered when the Holy Spirit descended upon them. From the upper room, Jesus and His disciples made their way along the narrow, winding, cobblestone streets, out o f the city, and down to the Garden o f Geth- semane. Gethsemane today is a quiet lit tle plot of ground nestling at the foot of the i Mount of Olives. A stone wall sur rounds about one-fourth o f an acre of land. Upon this land, there are seven ven erable old olive trees. They are twisted and broken with the storms o f the ages. No doubt they are over a thousand years old. Two or three Cyprus trees are mingled with the olives, and beneath them all is a carpet of soft green grass. This is truly a holy place. A fter being betrayed by Judas, Jesus was taken to a grim stone building just beside the temple enclosure. It is called today the “ Prison o f Christ.” No doubt it was in a building upon this site that Jesus was questioned by Pilate. After be ing tried before several courts that night,
MARCH 13, 1932 JESUS COMFORTS HIS DISCIPLES J ohn 14 to 17
Jerusalem was stand ing in the time of Christ, the upper room may well have been just such a place as is shown to strangers now. The floor is of flagstones. Many stone pillars rest upon the floor, supporting the arched stone ceiling.
The room is large enough to contain more than one hundred people. Some persons
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