Christian Art | Easter To Pentecost
John 13: 16-20 | King James Audio Bible KJV | Daily Verses
16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
18 ¶ I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Jesus has washed his disciples’ feet as an example to the disciples of how they should behave to one another. Jesus, the master, has performed the duty of a most menial servant. It was a custom at the start of a feast for such a servant to wash the feet of the guests, who might have walked a long way to be at the meal and whose feet might be very sore, and relieved by the act of washing. Now Jesus has performed this office. There must be such humility, mutual love and care among the disciples, especially as they head toward difficult times.
In these Bible verses, Jesus speaks again of his relationship with his Father. Throughout his ministry, and now as his Passion and crucifixion are very close, he has been the servant, performing his Father’s will. All he has done has been true to this spirit of utter obedience and humility, even as he is himself divine and of one substance with the Father. This is the example we are called upon to imitate and follow.
Jesus speaks of Judas’ treachery. The evil one has for a time been worming his way into Judas’ soul and Judas has given himself up to evil. Judas has ‘lifted up his heel’ against Jesus. The verse suggests a brutal act of violence, and so it is; this is the violent enmity of a friend; it is a terrible betrayal. The verse recalls Psalm 41/40:
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
Once more, the Old Testament has prefigured the New.
We are all of us asked to be Christ’s followers, to imitate his example and to show to one another great love and service. Through Christ, we are then all the sons of God. Christ reconnects us with the Father.
We are all called to the Supper of the Lord. Where we have sinned, we are asked to repent and to trust in God’s mercy, so that we may be truly friends with Christ as we share the Eucharist.
‘It is true that love renews those who hear, or rather those who obey; but not any love, only that love which the Lord distinguished from natural love by adding the words: “As I have loved you.” Such love renews us: we become new men, heirs of the New Testament, singers of a new song.’ St Augustine
King James Audio Bible | Endnotes
Interpretations of Judas Iscariot:
- ‘Judas was, in some ways, the greatest of the apostles. He was the one who was trusted with the money, and he was the one who was closest to Jesus. But he was also the one who betrayed him. And that is what makes his story so tragic.’ – N.T. Wright, New Testament scholar
- ‘Judas’ betrayal was an act of calculated treachery, not a misguided attempt to further Jesus’ cause. It was a selfish and evil act, and it remains a warning to all who would put their own interests above those of others.’ – Billy Graham, Evangelical preacher
- ‘Judas’ betrayal was the ultimate act of unfaithfulness, not only to Jesus but to the entire community of believers. It was a betrayal of trust and a violation of the covenant that bound the disciples together.’ – Elizabeth Johnson, Catholic theologian
- ‘Judas’ betrayal was not simply a matter of his own personal failings but was part of a larger pattern of human sin and brokenness. It reminds us that we are all capable of betraying those we love and that we must constantly guard against the forces that would lead us astray.’ – Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury
- ‘Judas’ betrayal was a necessary part of the story of salvation, but it was also a tragedy that should not be minimized or overlooked. We must remember that Judas was a human being with his own fears, hopes, and dreams, and that his actions had real consequences for himself and for those around him.’ – James Martin, Jesuit priest and author
On Tuesday, His Grace turns to the theme of Jesus’ hidden years. His Grace asks the students to consider questions concerning what really happened: ‘Who, for instance, was Joseph? Was he indeed a carpenter, or has Joseph’s true role in the society in which he lived been misconstrued and forgotten to us? Though it be a beautiful, simplifying image to grasp, which offers to us much that is of value in Catholic faith… ‘A wise elder, which carpenter could mean, or a great engineer, an architekton, which in the Greek does not mean carpenter. But carpenter in the Hebrew could mean a wise man…’ His Grace turns the pages of his Bible back and forth, as if to itemize the paucity of information. Then he says: ‘What I think I can say to you with confidence is that it is of profound significance that we simply don’t know what Jesus was doing for most of his earthly life. There are some very different possibilities. One idea cherished by the Church is that Jesus worked with his father Joseph as a carpenter. Another possibility is that Jesus lived and prayed and studied closely with John the Baptist. They were cousins, and very close, almost the same, in age. Luke’s Gospel tells us clearly that Jesus and John knew each other from within the womb before they were born. So there may have been something quite important happening there. You see, we don’t know – it is an impossible mystery to us – just how much Jesus had to learn. This is because, if Jesus knew everything, humanly speaking, even as a tiny baby, then how can we say he is fully human? We simply can’t probe too far into this mystery, but we can draw extraordinary truth and healing from this thought, which becomes of immense relevance in our own lives. Jesus came to know and to understand himself not merely as a son of God, but as God the Son, and so as self-identical with his Father. It is not an adoptive relationship. Jesus is God. Now so much is hidden here. But this is a great gift. If you think about it, how do we come to know that we are loved by God, that we have our relationship with God? What are we born with in here’ – his chest – ‘and what do we have to learn? This is to say, what is gifted to us by other Christians at our baptism? ‘Jesus must have studied, and experienced profound revelation about who and what he truly was, and, so it seems to be, these studies cannot have been confined to the Semitic world. But this is the important point: there is a hiddenness about all of this. No matter which schools and which sects our Lord might have encountered all these years, this to us is as a desert space. What this means is that we can enter into the hidden life of Jesus, and there we can discover our own being with God, our own sonship. Our own particular being loved by God can come to us, if we can enter within this great unknown – into this desert space, where we are loved by Jesus. I firmly believe that there may be a great Lenten mystery in this period of our Lord’s life.’ A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 1 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 2 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 3 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 4 | King James Audio Bible | KJV A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 5 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Holy Week | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 6
Saint Augustine appeals for Christian unity with a characteristic blend of pastoral urgency, theological depth, and spiritual realism. Preaching on Psalm 32, Saint Augustine addresses the tensions between the Catholic Church and the schismatic Donatists of his time. Augustine’s central plea is rooted in love: a love not merely for those within the visible bounds of the Church, but also for those who remain separated — those who, despite their divisions, share the same sacraments, pray the same Our Father, and invoke the same Christ [ … ]
Psalm 66 is a joyous song of praise and thanksgiving. The psalm expresses gratitude and awe directed toward God for marvellous works, guidance and deliverance from adversity [ … ]
