1 John 3:16a – “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.”
John 13:1b – “…he now showed them the full extent of His love.”
The love that Jesus showed such a beautiful example of the love that we, as His disciples, are to show. As I was thinking about John 13, the chapter that talks about Jesus serving the disciples by washing their feet, I was amazed by the first verse – that Jesus’ expression of service to the disciples was the full extent of His love for them! John, in his first epistle, gives the very definition of love: Jesus laying down His life for us.
Jesus’ laying down of His life didn’t begin when He breathed his last breath on the cross. Jesus defined love in its full extent when he knelt at the feet of the one He knew would betray Him (13:2) and washed the betrayer’s dirty feet. He laid down His own rights to be served, His feelings, and His dignity – in other words, His life.
What catches my attention even more is the parallel between what continues in both John’s gospel and John’s epistle:
John 13:14 – “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”
1 John 3:16b – “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
Laying down our lives begins with service. Only the Holy Spirit can show us what that looks like today.