“Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1, CSB)
Here we are, Lord, and we belong to you. We caught at that word as we read it—“having loved his own….” Oh, it is because we are your own, that we have hope. You will make us worthy of you. Your possession of us is our hope of perfection. You do wash our feet because we are your own.
Oh, how sweet is the mercy which first took us to its heart, and made us all its own, and now continues to deal tenderly with us that, being Christ’s own, we may have that of Christ within us which all may see, and which proves us to be the Lord’s.
Amen.