Daily Devotions 10th Feb 2017

John 13: 23

One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.

The scene at dinner is one that is familiar with many other cultures in Asia where the dinners will sit on the floor with the food served on a low table or just laid out on the floor. Even today in many countries and rural areas where the traditional way of life still holds, this form of having family meals are a normal way.

Sitting in this position of close proximity, the diners would be literally in contact and rubbing shoulders with the person next to him. In today’s text, John wrote about himself but put it in an indirect way referring to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’

This is a great honor as when someone is loved and trusted by another, then the person would be able to have special favour and privilege of information and knowledge that others do not have or who would receive them at a later stage.

This position is developed over time where trust can be build and later on in the gospel, we read that Jesus entrusted his mother to John to take care of after His crucifixion. This is the level of love and trust that Jesus had for John, though Jesus had other brothers and sisters born to His parents, He did not entrust His mother to any of them. This speaks very highly of the personal relationship that John enjoyed with Jesus.

Can you imagine this privilege that even God the Son has so much trust in you that He passed on His mother to you to care for? Today, Jesus mother is no longer around but we do have many older people with us in the congregation who are equally lost in terms of security and financial needs. 

Looking at all the Churches, we will see that there are indeed many who are in need, some may have recently lost their jobs, others may have other types of failure in life like losing a love one who was the sole bread winner for the family.

Jesus is still looking for people who would be close to Him whom He can trust and whom He can entrust with the welfare of others. Today some Churches might be financially very strong with lots of money in the bank, they are rich financially but they are poor spiritually because they are too zealous about keeping their money in the bank instead of using the money for ministry.

If we want to draw near to Jesus, we must know and understand His heart. Jesus came to draw all men back to Him. All men mean the rich and the poor, the educated and the less educated. He does not see us as we see others. We look at the outward appearance but Jesus looks into our hearts.

That is why He called the Pharisees white washed tombs that look nice on the outside but is dirty on the inside with the remains of the dead bodies. In the eyes of Jesus, he sees the purity, the righteousness and holiness in man, He does not look at the outward appearance, but He sees our hearts.

If we want to be a disciple whom Jesus loves, then we must make ourselves lovable first.