Final Lessons

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (John 17:20).

— David Stein

During this memorial season, as we recall Jesus’ great sacrifice, let us look inward and be more determined to fully walk in his footsteps. Let us rededicate to sacrificing ourselves and our own interests, and instead, focus our energies on the blessing of others.

As we reflect on the experiences of our Lord, let us consider some of the final lessons Jesus wanted to convey to his disciples and us on the last night of his life. They are recorded in John chapters 13 through 17. As we read these texts, we notice how many of them concern our relationship as brethren.

Ye Ought to Wash One Another’s Feet

To set the context in John 13, we were told in Luke 22:24 that immediately after the memorial, there was a strife amongst the disciples as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Our Lord responded in John 13:4 by pouring water into a basin and washing the disciples’ feet. He then wiped them with a towel and said, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14, RVIC)

How beautifully our Lord illustrated that none of us should ever feel superior to others. Instead, God would have us each serve one another in humility, even in the most menial task, if that is needed at any given moment.

A New Commandment

Our Lord continued in John 13:34, 35: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

It seems hardly necessary to be told this. Who would not want to love their brethren? Evidently, there may be times when this is a challenge, for he repeated it two more times on this same night. Why did the Lord repeat a command to love our brethren three times?

Jesus knew there would be times when it might be difficult to love the brethren. We each have different personalities, different backgrounds, and, perhaps, different doctrinal understandings. Differences of opinion can easily arise in business meetings on various matters.

But despite these differences, our Lord reminded us that we are brethren, part of His body. We have not chosen one another, but He has chosen our brethren. Therefore, He reminds us that, as in any family, we are to show true respect and love for one another. We are not to seek only self‑interests, but to consider the needs of our brethren.

The April 24th Manna beautifully brings this out. “One form of service frequently not discerned by the Royal Priesthood is the opportunity of renouncing our own ways or plans, our own methods or preferences, and in the interests of peace, accepting instead the plans, the preferences of others — where it is merely a matter of personal preference.”

The disciples that night thought only of their own desires, and Jesus gently chided them by washing their feet. May we likewise wash one another’s feet. We are still in the flesh, and, from time to time, may have a strained relationship with one or another. If any are experiencing this, may we remember our Lord’s example. Let us figuratively wash their feet, and express in our hearts our love for them to the Father.

Believe Also in Me

Our Lord continued his Memorial night admonition in John 14:1‑3: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

In these final farewell words, our Lord brings to our attention the need for us to think often of the hope that lies before us beyond the veil. As our trials increase, as our bodies begin to break down with age, and, when we experience sorrow and loneliness of heart, he wants us to focus our minds on the time when our trials will all be over and we will experience the joys and blessings of that home in the universe that our Lord went to prepare for us.

My Peace I Give Unto You

Our Lord continues, John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Here, our Lord reminds us that no matter the trial, pain, or sorrow we are experiencing, he wants us not to be afraid, but to acquiesce with a calmness of heart. This will bring a peace coming from the recognition that he is permitting this experience for our eternal well‑being.

Jesus goes on to explain in a parable how all of these trying experiences are being permitted to crystallize our characters and to help produce more fruit. John 15:1, 2 reads: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” The purging is done by the loving hand of our Father who knows exactly what is best for us. As God tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” Our trials are worth millions, we should not waste any of them.

The Prayer in John 17

We continue with Jesus’ beautiful prayer of John 17:1: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” His hour had come! Our Lord knew on the morrow he would die. Still, His innermost desire was — that He might glorify His heavenly father.

As Jesus continues in prayer, we see how He would glorify his Father. Verses 2 and 3: “even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ” (RVIC). God will also be glorified when Jesus gives eternal life to the Church. But not only to them but to the countless billions who will become our Lord’s earthly children in the kingdom.

Notice the beautiful thought as to why they will all be given eternal life. The thought of the Greek is that they will be given eternal life so that they might know thee, the only true God. In other words, it will take eternity for the finite being to know God in all his fullness, for both the Church as well as mankind. Why? Because He will continue to bring out new facets of an eternal plan which will forever be expanding for the blessing of other creations.

Jesus’ prayer continues in John 17:20, 21: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

We see how deeply our Lord desires to have his brethren united with a oneness of purpose, of will, and of a desire to appreciate, to love one another, and to serve together shoulder to shoulder in the work God would have us to do.

Garden of Gethsemane

After praying in the upper room for the oneness of brethren, Jesus and the disciples went over the brook Kidron into the Garden of Gethsemane. There, our Lord became sorrowful unto death and prayed three times for God to remove his “cup” if it was God’s will. What was the cup our Lord desired to have removed?

In the 102nd Psalm, the Lord’s Gethsemane prayer is recorded, and it gives an insight into what the cup may have been. Psalm 102:1, 2: “Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day of my distress” (RVIC)

These words suggest that the Father started to remove His presence from Jesus while in the Garden of Gethsemane. The phrase “hide not thy face from me,” means hide not thy presence from me. Throughout his life, the Lord could feel the Father’s presence. But, something began to change when God removed His presence. It was something Jesus had never experienced before, either as the Logos, or during his thirty‑three years as a man.

It overwhelmed him! Jesus became withdrawn. Why would the Father do this? Had our Lord failed somehow in keeping the Law perfectly? Not knowing why was unbearable. He cried out in Psalm 102:24: “O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days!” What did he mean by this?

As the Logos, Jesus was the first creation of God. He came into existence billions of years ago, and undoubtedly anticipated living for eternity. Perhaps, when he said “take me not away in the midst of my days,” he was apprehensive that somehow, he had failed in some small iota of the Law and therefore, would be cut off in the midst of the eternal life that he had anticipated.

Hebrews 5:7 (Diaglott) seems to corroborate this thought: “He who in the days of his flesh, having offered up both prayers and supplications, crying aloud with tears to Him who was able to deliver him out of death, and was heard for his devotion.”

The King James translation says he cried “to be saved from death.” But this is not the thought of the Greek. Jesus did not want to be saved from death. He knew he had to die as a ransom for all mankind. He was crying for fear that possibly he would not be resurrected. Thus, he prayed with crying and tears to be delivered out of death by a resurrection. This is also suggested in Psalm 102, when he asked not to be cut off forever.

Luke 22:43 informs us that God sent an angel to assure him he was faithful and he would live again. “And there appeared unto him an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (RVIC). From that moment on, Jesus knew that he had been faithful, and shortly afterward, we see a perfect calm in Jesus throughout the rest of his experiences.

He Opened Not His Mouth

Even after being cast into a dungeon, falsely accused, put on trial, mocked, blasphemed, spit upon, a crown of thorns placed on his head, and nails driven through his hands and feet into the cross, he was, as a sheep before its shearers is dumb or silent, and he opened not his mouth. When on the cross, as the Father’s absence continued, our Lord cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.”

Perhaps in that very moment, when Jesus cried out from his heart, his perfect mind and memory raced through the 22nd Psalm which prophetically ends with an assurance in verses 30 and 31: “A seed shall serve him; It shall be told of the Lord unto the next generation. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it” (RV). “He hath done it” conveys the same thought as “it is finished.”

There, on the cross, he endured the ultimate trial which literally broke his heart. He bore the sinners’ ultimate penalty of complete alienation from God.

As we consider what our Master was willing to suffer on our behalf, let us reflect on: “What can I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?”

Let us reflect on our consecration vows and be determined that we will strive with ever greater determination to walk more closely in his footsteps, uncomplainingly acquiescing to whatever His will permits. Let us lose our lives in his service! Let us use every fiber of our being in serving our Lord, the truth, and the brethren.