The Last Evening Together

Last words are always important.

Jesus is leaving His disciples,

and is giving them His last instructions.

The Jews had rejected Jesus completely.

Now He gathered His own around Him, in an upper room, and told them many secrets before He departed from them. he wanted to comfort His disciples, for He knew how hard it would be for them when He was gone. They would be sheep without a shepherd.

It is wonderful that Jesus should have selected and loved men like these. They seem to be a collection of "nobodies," with the exception of Peter and John. But they were "His own," and He loved them.

One of Jesus' specialties is to make "somebodies" out of "nobodies." This is what He did with His first group of followers, and this is what He has continued to do, down through the centuries.

In John 13:1-11:

Jesus, the Son of God, is girded with a towel, a basin of water in His blessed hands, washing His disciples' feet!

He wanted us to serve in the same spirit. He taught us that greatness is always measured by service.
There is no loving others, without living for others.

Christ said, "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
The biggest merchant in the city is the one who serves the greatest public.





Jesus fortells His betrayal by Judas in John 13:18-30, and Judas goes out into the night.

It was night in Judas' heart, too. Fellowship brings light. Sin brings darkness.

What a pitiable picture Judas is. His opportunities of knowing Jesus were unsurpassed, but he rejected the Lord.

This is what unbelief can do. Belief means life; unbelief means death.



After announcing His going, the Lord gives His disciples "a new commandment," that they love one another. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples."

• Discipleship is tested not by the creed you recite; not by the hymns you sing; not by the ritual you observe, but by the fact that you love one another.

The measure in which Christians love one another is the measure in which the world believes in them or their Christ.

It is the final test of discipleship.

images courtesy of all posters

Mimi