Meeting guide · command 55

Wash Feet

Follow Jesus' example by taking the servant's place and performing humble, practical care for one another.

Read

Read the complete passage aloud.

Primary passage

John 13:13–15

13 You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.

World English Bible

During His final meal, the acknowledged Teacher and Lord performs a slave's task and gives His action as the pattern for His disciples.

Discuss

Listen carefully to what Jesus says.

  1. What does Jesus command?
  2. What does this passage reveal about Him?
  3. Where do we resist this command?
  4. What is difficult or unclear?
  5. Which forms of service feel beneath you, and what does Jesus reveal about true authority by washing feet?

Practice

Choose one specific act of obedience.

Do one needed, low-visibility task for someone else, especially a task you consider beneath your role, and do it without calling attention to yourself.

Return

Come back and discuss what happened.

What lowly service did you offer, and what did it expose about status or love in you?

Close together

Pray. Then prepare to teach.

Pray

Teacher and Lord, remove our pride and teach our hands to serve in the humble way you have shown.

Teach

Honor the embodied sign while emphasizing its meaning: no role places a disciple above humble service.