John 13:1 I. It was a test of love for His own that at the last Christ did not forget them in the agitation of His own departure. Would it have been a very strange thing, if alternately engrossed betwixt the solemn novelty of dying experience and the exciting prospect of a return to glory, His last... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:1 The Washing of the Feet When we seek to wash a brother's feet we must be very careful about three things, which I give in the quaint way in which I have somewhere seen them expressed. I. "The water must not be too hot." Above all things else this office of love must be performed in the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:7 The Contrast between Present and Future Knowledge I. It is a very interesting thing to consider ourselves here as only in the childhood of our being, our full manhood being reserved for another and higher state of existence. Though now I can believe in the existence and presence of God, I... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:8 I. If we look to the conclusions to be drawn from this touching scene, the first that strikes the mind is our Lord's love in cleansing sinners. The scene illustrates some of the most marked features, distinguishing the later from the earlier manifestations of God's love. The revelations o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:8 I. This symbol teaches us: (1) that the nature of Christian purity consists in the cleansing of the heart from the betrayal spirit, and (2) that the love in the Saviour which sacrificed itself is the cleansing power. II. The perfectness of Christian purity. (1) The purifying must pervade... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:10 The Bathed must yet be Cleansed Even he that has plunged into the love of Christ and Christ's law, will yet soil his feet as he walks through the world, and will need perpetually to be washed as the disciples were washed on the evening of the Last Supper. In the text our Lord declared t... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:13 Consideration for the Poor I. It must have been a solemn lesson which our Lord chose to teach so earnestly on that last night of His presence with His disciples; and which He not only gave in words, but expressed in a most significant action, to impress it the deeper on their minds and o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:17 All Light Good I. Light of any kind invariably throws light upon duty, and if we know anything, we are sure to have thereby a clearer knowledge of right from wrong. The mere awakening of the understanding must awaken the conscience in some degree. You cannot gain more intellectual power... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:23 Communion with Christ What name is more blessed than this title by which St. John conceals himself? Who was ever more favoured than he? It was a sweet memory to him, in his old and solitary age, to remember that night of awe, in which he lay upon the bosom of his Lord. And yet it was do... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:34 I. The new commandment has been once for all uttered the new law is given; and each generation, at whatever point of the advance to its fulfilment God may have ordained its place, is bound by it equally. Every individual Christian lives under the force of that law, and is responsible to... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:34 I. Look at the command of brotherly love as it was given in old time. It was contained in the last six of the Ten Commandments; or putting on one side the fifth commandment as being of a peculiar kind, referring to one particular duty and not to our duty to our neighbour in general, we m... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:37 The Withheld Completions of Life There are certain conditions which are to all good life just what the flower is to the plant. They furnish it its natural completion. They crown its struggles with a manifest success. These conditions of peace and pleasure are the life's success. But whe... [ Continue Reading ]