The Sabbath School

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 11, 1897

The Sabbath School

International Series.

LESSON IX.—SABBATH, FEBRUARY 27, 1897.

THE HUMILITY OF TRUE GREATNESS.

Lesson Scripture, John 13: 1-20, R. V.

1 “Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2 And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from God, and goeth unto God, 4 riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments; and he took a towel, and girded himself. 5 Then he poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. So he cometh to Simon Peter. He saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 6 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter. 7 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 8 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 9 Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all. 10 For he knew him that should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. 11 So when he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and sat down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? 12 Ye call me, Master, and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 13 If I then, the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. 14 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 15 Verily, verily, I say unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 16 If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them. 17 I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen: but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. 18 From henceforth I tell you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. 19 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.”

QUESTIONS.

What is the time of the events of this lesson?
Of what was Jesus aware?
How is the measure of his love for his own expressed?
What course had Judas now fully determined upon?
What understanding did Jesus have of his own position and work?
What preparation did he make for the service he was to perform?
In what humble service did he then engage?
To whom did he come? With what inquiry was he met?
What reply did Jesus make?
What positive objection did Peter make? How did Jesus meet it?
What did Peter then say?
What reply did Jesus make to his vehement submission?
What reason did he give for limiting his statement concerning the condition of the disciples?
Having finished his service, what inquiry did he make?
What titles did he accept as properly belonging to him?
What duty did he then enjoin upon his followers?
How did he explain his own act of service?
How did he then announce the true relationship between himself and his disciples?
What blessing was pronounced upon obedience?
What scripture was fulfilled in having a traitor among his disciples?
Why did he refer to his betrayal at this time?
What relation did he declare to exist between the Father, the Son, and a disciple?

NOTES.

1. THE record of the manifestation of Jesus to the world and its results has been completed. We now come to the closing scenes of his earthly life. In this and the three chapters next following we have his last lessons to his disciples. “This indeed was the last evening of his life. Within twenty-four hours he was to be in the tomb.” “This was virtually the last Passover that was ever to be celebrated; for type was to meet antitype in the slaying of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world.” “It was in accordance with his true human nature that the love he bore his disciples should be felt at its intensest just now, when he was about to leave them.”

2. TO BETRAY Jesus “was not the first thing that Satan had put into the heart of Judas. Satan does not begin by putting in such monstrous thoughts as these. . . . Anything that is in the heart is the heart’s own, and could not at all be there if the heart had not consented. . . . So it is with the sinful volitions of men at the present day. They choose to do evil; they are not made to do it.”

3. JESUS was conscious of his own true dignity and greatness. “It was not in forgetfulness of his divine origin, but in full consciousness of it that he discharged this menial function. . . . Not only does the dignity of Jesus vastly augment the dignity of the action, but it sheds new light on the divine character.” “We shall never have any proper conception of what true dignity is until we understand that love is upon the throne of the universe. He that sitteth upon the throne came into the world and washed the feet of those Galilean fishermen, that believers might be blissfully aware that love is wedded to Omnipotence.” “He into whose hands the Father had given all things, with those same hands washes, not the hands, but the feet of his disciples.”

4. “A CONTENTION had arisen among the disciples of Jesus as to who should be the most honored in his kingdom; for notwithstanding the express instruction they had so often received to the contrary, they had clung to the idea that Jesus would establish a temporal kingdom in Jerusalem; and the late demonstrations upon his entering the city, and the manner in which he had received them, revived this belief in their minds. Jesus had checked their aspirations for honor, and now strengthened the lesson by an act of humility and love, calculated to impress them with a sense of their obligations to one another, and that instead of quarreling for place, each should count the others better than himself.”—Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 3, pp. 84, 85. “In self-love, self-exaltation, and pride, there is great weakness; but in humility there is great strength. Our true dignity is not maintained when we think most of ourselves, but when God is in all our thoughts, and our hearts are all aglow with the love of our Redeemer and love to our fellow-men. Simplicity of character and lowliness of heart will give happiness, while self-conceit will bring discontent, repining, and continual disappointment. It is learning to think less of ourselves and more of making others happy that will bring to us divine strength.”

5. WHEN the way seems dark to the believer, and the providences of God are utterly incomprehensible to him, he may remember the gracious promise, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”

6. NO ORDINANCE of the Lord’s house has been more clearly established or more explicitly enjoined than feet-washing. The same course of reasoning which makes all this a mere parable, will set aside the use of the bread and the wine, and in fact any institution of the church to which one does not wish to submit himself, no matter how plainly it is commanded in the Scripture. Those who exalt tradition above the plain Word of God, are not slow to point out the inconsistency of those who claim to follow the Bible and the Bible alone, and who do yet practice infant baptism, for which there is no command whatever, and omit feet-washing, which is among the plainest of commands. Thus has the cause of true Protestantism been hindered. The explanation of all this is found in the pride of the human heart.

7. “HAPPINESS consists, not in knowing, but in doing. . . . Be content to be as your Master, and your Master will not be content without making you as he is. There is a woe where there is knowledge unaccompanied by obedience. . . . The knowledge that leads to action is blessed.” “Let us look upon every Christian as one with whom Christ is identified, an ambassador in whom Christ is in a certain sense present with us.”

Suggestions for Further Study.

For what purpose did the Father give all things into the hands of Christ? When will that purpose be fully accomplished? Compare 1 Cor. 8:6; 15:24-28.
The word “Master,” in verse 13, is used in the sense of Teacher. See Revised Version, margin. What was he teaching now? What are some of the characteristics of Jesus as “the Teacher”?
The spirit which now casts aside this plain instruction of the Teacher, is the same as he met in his teaching. See Matt. 15:1-9.
That the practice of literal feet-washing was followed in the early church, is suggested by 1 Tim. 5:10.
To wash the feet of equals is regarded as an act of humility, but Christ took the place of a servant of his own servants. Compare Phil. 2:7; 1 Sam. 25:41; Matt. 20:27, 28, etc.
What is the general teaching and purpose of the ordinance of humility? Has the promise of verse 17 been fulfilled in your case?