The Lord’s Supper/Jesus washes the feet of
His disciples/Intercessory prayer and love of Jesus
for His disciples/Jesus predicts Peter’s denial/Prayer in the garden of Gethsemane
Preparation
for the Passover
On the first day of
Unleavened Bread, when the Jews killed the Passover lamb, His disciples wanted
to know from Jesus where they had to go and prepare that they might eat the Passover. Jesus asked them to go into the city and to
follow a man who would carry a pitcher of water. As they were to follow him, they would meet
the master of the house concerned and would ask him, “The Master saith, Where is the guest-chamber,
where I shall eat the Passover with Mark disciples? And He will
shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared;
there make ready for us”
So His disciples went
out and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them (Mark
As we do God’s will
in our life or ministry, we will find His abundant provisions or resources at
our disposal. We need not strain our
every nerve to get at His provisions for our lives or ministries. The resources
will come our way. Money will come our
way.
The same Jesus is
with us today, giving us appropriate directions as we seek Him. As we follow
His directions, we will find a large upper room furnished and prepared for us.
Today many of us do
not ask Jesus for His guidance. The
disciples of Jesus approached Jesus and asked Him where they should prepare the
Passover. The Lord showed them the house
and its exact location and also told them what to speak to the master of the
house. They simply went into the city, followed the man with a pitcher of water
and met the master of the house. Then
they simply told him what the Lord had instructed them.
Today we put the cart
before the horse. We have wonderful visions and prophecies. But we do not know
how to fulfil the visions and prophecies. We hear the prophecies and appreciate
them. But we do not proceed to make the vision a reality. We do not ask the
Lord, “Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest
eat the Passover?” We know that we have to go and prepare the Passover. But we
do not ask the Lord what to do. Yes, the Lord wants to eat the Passover with us
in a place of His choice.
The disciples knew
that they had to arrange for the Passover celebrations. Had they gone on their own to find out the
suitable place, they would have wasted their time and energy. However, they did the right thing. They asked the Lord, “Where wilt thou that we
go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover?”
When the disciples
approached Jesus for His instructions, He deputed two of them to make the
necessary arrangements. Only two
disciples of Jesus are enough today for doing a ministry initially in
accordance with His directions.
When evening had
come, Jesus sat down with the twelve disciples.
Jesus loved all His twelve disciples.
He did not exclude Judas from the fellowship. These days, if we do not see eye to eye with
some one in our church or fellowship, we tend to ignore that person or
disassociate ourselves from him. Here,
Jesus associated with a person who was about to betray Him.
Now as they were eating,
He said to His disciples that one of them would betray Him. Upon hearing this, they were exceedingly
sorrowful and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?” Jesus said, “He that dippeth
his hand with Me in the dish, the same shall betray
Me”. Today it is only those who have
close fellowship with us betray and cheat us.
Jesus further said,
“The Son of Man indeed goeth as it is written of Him
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not
been born”
Jesus did not become
sorrowful about His crucifixion because it had to happen as it was written of
Him. But His only concern was about His
beloved disciple Judas whom He had to loose, when He said that it would have
been good for that man if he had not been born.
Jesus did neither
accuse Judas nor did He show His resentment towards him at any time because He
loved him. He did not point His finger
of accusation just to say, “It is you who will betray Me”. It was only when Judas himself asked Jesus,
“Master, is it I?”,
Jesus replied, “Thou hast said” (Matt.26:21-25).
As they were eating
the Passover, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the
disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body”.
Today as we partake
of the Lord’s communion, do we realize that what we partake of is the universal
Body of Christ? Do we love the universal
Church, scattered all over the world, irrespective of our denominational and
national barriers? Secondly, we should remember the suffering members of His
Body who undergo persecutions in many parts of the world. As we break the bread, we should also
remember that the physical Body of Jesus was broken for us so that we, who are
of His mystical Body, the Church, are united together in His one Spirit.
Jesus then took the
cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink ye
all of it: For this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many
for the remission of sins.”
The Blood of the New
Covenant is alive today. Through this
Blood, all our sins are forgiven and all our sicknesses and diseases healed. Do
you need healing today? Take a vessel full of water and say prayerfully, “This
is the Blood of Jesus shed for my salvation and for my healing”. Then drink
this water and go on doing so till you are healed. You will be definitely healed. Do you need deliverance from the evil
spirits? Sprinkle the water on the head
of the person possessed by the evil spirits.
In case the evil spirits torment some one in his/her house, the water
may be sprinkled around the house. I give below an incident in this regard.
There lived an
evangelist, namely Vedapotham in the Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu,
Paul wrote in his
epistle to Corinthians (
Paul further wrote
that one should examine himself and then let him eat of the bread and drink of
the cup because he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks
judgement to himself, not discerning the Lord’s Body. For this reason, many are weak and sick
among us, and many sleep.
If many of us are
weak and sick today, it is probably because we have eaten and drunk in an
unworthy manner while partaking of the Lord’s table. Let us today examine ourselves and then go to
the Lord’s table with a broken heart. Let us seek His forgiveness. As the Lord forgives us about our trespasses
committed by us in the past either knowingly or unknowingly, we will surely be
healed.
Jesus washes the feet
of His disciples
After finishing the supper, Jesus, Jesus laid
aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. Then He poured water into a basin and began
to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was
girded. When He came to Peter, Peter
said to Him, “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “What I do thou knowest not
now; but thou shalt know hereafter”. Even then Peter
insisted on Jesus’ not washing his feet. Then Jesus told him very clearly that
Peter would not have no part with Him. The emotional
Peter immediately retorted that Jesus should not only wash his feet but also
his hands and his head. Jesus replied, “He that is washed needeth
not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not
all” Then Jesus
washed the feet of Peter.
Jesus asked His disciples also to follow His
example and to wash one another’s feet. H finally said, “The servant is not
greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him”
Jesus not only loved His disciples but also
humbled Himself before them. Peter thought Jesus should not wash the feet of a
sinner like him. What a paradox! The
Master washes the feet of His disciples!
The disciples are supposed to serve their master or to wash the feet of
their master. In
In many churches, during the holy week, the
priests wash the feet of the parishioners symbolically. Do they really humble themselves before the
parishioners on the other days of the year and serve them? Do they do so just to make a show like the
Pharisees? How can they wash the feet of
their disciples so long as they do not consider themselves as servants? By remaining as the priests under the Levitical priesthood, they cannot wash the feet of the
disciples.
Let us humble ourselves before the people to
whom we serve in a true manner and not in a hypocritical manner.
Intercessory prayer and love of Jesus for His
disciples
The wonderful prayer of intercession by Jesus for His disciples and for all those who would believe on Him applies to all of His disciples for all ages. His entire prayer to the Father may be read in 17th chapter of John.
“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given; for they are mine “ (Vs.9) Today also the same Jesus makes intercession for us before the Father. He does pray for every one of us. When you seek the intercessory prayer of some person, he/she promptly replies, “Yes. I will pray for you”. However, that person tends to forget you in due course. May be, he remembers you occasionally or for a day or two. Whenever you remind him/her, she/he retorts promptly, “I pray for you”. It may be true or not. Only God knows. However, Jesus does pray for you. He remembers all of His people in various nations. Oh, we are graven on the palms of his Hands.
However, Jesus does not pray for the world or its peace. He does not pray for the people who have rejected Him. However, He does remember His chosen people because He is zealous of them. The Church is a people chosen out of the world. The world neither does want the Church nor does heed them. However, Christ needs His Church and wants to bless the world through them. The world has hated the Church because the Church is not of the world even as Jesus was not of the world (Vs.14).
He does not forsake His people. He does not allow them to be lost. None of His people is lost except the son of perdition, Judas Iscariot. (Vs.12). If one of them has backslidden, He will seek him/her as the one lost sheep. If he/she hardens his/her heart, He will not leave him/her but will chastise him/her. This is His eternal love for the Church.
Jesus does not pray that we should be taken out of the world but that we should be kept from the evil. The proponents of the theory of Rapture preach that the Church will not undergo great tribulation but will be taken away from the world. This is a false doctrine. However, the church would be kept from the evil. He keeps the Church under His wings.
Neither does Jesus pray for us alone but for them also who will believe on Him through our word “that they all may be one: as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me” (Vs.21).
Jesus does pray for those who would believe on Him through our word so that all of us including those who would join His sheep may be one, and may be one in the Father and the Son. So long as we do not give them the word of gospel, they will not join His sheep. The responsibility for preaching the gospel is laid on our shoulders.
He does not only for the unity of His people but also gives the glory, which the Father gave Him, to His people. He does not give His glory to individuals but to his Church, the Body of Christ, “that they may be one, even as we are one”. Jesus gives His glory to us so that we may be one. His glory unites us in His body. As He is in us and the Father in Him, we are made perfect (vs.23).
If we are with Him where He is, we “may behold His glory” which the Father has given Him. We have to be with our Lord, and we should not find ourselves in the company of the Antichrist and his world rulers If we remain in their company, we cannot behold His glory. By remaining in fellowship with one another in His body, we can behold His glory. If we behold His glory today, we will certainly behold Him when He comes again (Vs.24).
After the supper, Jesus and His disciples had
sung a hymn then went out to the
That particular night was a time of stumbling for all disciples because of the word of prophecy, which had to be fulfilled at any cost. It was not because the disciples had not loved Jesus and were cowards. Though all the disciples except Judas were mentally prepared to be with the Lord during His suffering, and not to forsake Him, yet they had to pass through the fiery test. The disciples forsook everything to become His disciples. They lived with Him. All this shows their unfeigned love toward Jesus. During the suppertime, they knew that the time of His suffering was imminent. However, they had to forsake their beloved Master because it was God Who would smite the Shepherd, and not the Romans.
The disciples attached
significance only to the truth of His betrayal and crucifixion, and not to the
subsequent statement of Jesus that He would be raised and would go before them
to
On hearing about the truth of stumbling based on the word of prophecy, Peter overreacted. He now compared himself with “all men” and said that though all of them stumbled, he would never be offended. He could have said that he would not stumble. When we face a time of fiery test in our life, we compare ourselves with others just to boast that we can do better than “all men”. This shows our self-reliance.
Even when Jesus pointed out that Peter would deny Him twice before the rooster crew, he still stuck to his gun and even added, “Thou I should die with thee…”. It was not only Peter, but also the other disciples said likewise. Peter was not an exception.
Let us note carefully, “But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled” (Matt.25: 56). Pointing our finger of accusation at Peter and the other disciples, we may preach from the pulpit that all the disciples of Jesus forsook Him, without considering the word of prophecy. We cannot find fault with the disciples of Jesus today. His disciples became emotional and told Jesus that they would not forsake Him. They hardly attached significance to the prophecies. Though Peter denied Jesus thrice as predicted by Jesus, the same Peter died as a martyr for the sake of His Name.
Let us today examine our lives and find out how many times we gave false assurances to our Lord that we would follow Him but subsequently denied Him through our lives.
Prayer in the
After
predicting that Peter would deny Him thrice that night, Jesus along with His
disciples came to a place called
The first prayer
He then went a little farther and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt”.
Afterwards, He came to His disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What, could ye not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”.
In the
Jesus prayed the above prayer to His Father. He knew well that this cup would not pass from Him as it was ordained by His Father that He should drink it. Since Jesus was 100% human and was manifested in flesh, He had to experience mental agonies like you and me. At times, we pass through the furnace of afflictions, we pray, “Let this cup pass from me”. But we do not add, “if it be possible” of “not as I will, but as Thou wilt”.
Jesus told Peter who was about to deny Him that he should watch and pray with Him for one hour so that he might not enter into temptation. I have heard preachers say that if Peter had watched and prayed, he would not have denied Jesus. This is not correct. Jesus had already predicted that Peter would deny Him. Even if Peter had watched and prayed with Jesus, the former would have denied Jesus because the prophecy of Jesus that He would deny Him thrice needed to be fulfilled. Jesus revealed to Peter the secret of prayer that in order to overcome temptation, he needed the spiritual strength from God so that he might not enter into such temptation in his life. Jesus did not mean the temptation of Peter to deny Him at that particular time but the temptation Peter would face in his entire life towards the lust of the flesh and the lust of the world, especially after the ascension of his Master into the heaven.
Prayer prepares us in our spiritual life so that we may not enter into temptation at all. These days, we do not pray before entering into temptation but pray only after entering into temptation.
Luke writes in his gospel that
an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more
earnest. Then his sweat became like
great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke
Similarly, in our life, as we pray earnestly during our trial, the angels do visit us and strengthen us.
The second and the third
prayers
Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done”. And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
In this second prayer, Jesus yielded completely to the will of His Father, stating “Thy will be done”.
Then Jesus left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to his disciples and said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray Me”.
Thrice He found His disciples sleeping. Today also, the same Jesus finds His Church sleeping as this world is passing through turmoil, violence and war. Let us today dedicate ourselves to prayer and fasting because the hour is at hand for the prophesies of Jesus regarding the end of this age to be fulfilled.
(Job Anbalagan)