In the Upper Room

John 13:12-20; 14:1-14

GOLDEN TEXT: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”—John 14:6

TODAY’S lesson can be best appreciated by taking note of the surroundings. Jesus, together with His disciples, were gathered in the upper room to celebrate the Passover. Preceding this had been the feast in Bethany followed by our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, His preaching in the temple to large crowds and the coming of the Greeks to inquire for Him. All this seemed to indicate a growth in popularity; and the disciples, unable to comprehend the Master’s declaration that He was shortly to be put to death, were full of ambitious thoughts respecting the immediate future when they hoped to be reigning with Him in the Messianic Kingdom.

Had our Lord and His disciples been the guests of some host on this occasion it would have been considered the duty of the host to have sent a menial servant to wash their feet. This was the custom of the country, and very necessary to comfort. They were not guests in this house, however, but merely had the use of the room, hence no servant appeared to wash their feet. In this case it would have been properly the duty and the custom for one of their own number to have performed this much needed service for the others.

The disciples, however, were too much concerned with what high rank they would have in the Lord’s Kingdom, hence no one volunteered to render the service, nor had any o£ them the right to demand it in a company in which the Lord had made no special rank and appointed none as menials. Had they comprehended fully the spirit of the Master’s teachings, they would have realized that this left the greater opportunity for some of them to have volunteered this service to the others. What an opportunity they all lost in not doing so!

The loss of opportunity on the part of the disciples, however, furnished the Master with a wonderful opportunity of giving them a much needed lesson in humility, so He arose and gladly performed this humble service for all present. We can well imagine the consternation of the apostles as they watched this procedure and later heard Him instruct them in the great importance of humility and the fact that the one who would be greatest among them should be servant of all. He said, “Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.”—Verse 14

After washing the disciples’ feet, and after the sop had been given to Judas, and he had gone out; and after telling the disciples that they all would be offended that night because of Him, and answering Peter that he would deny Him thrice before the cock would crow, we may well suppose that the hearts of the eleven were heavy with fearful forebodings. It was hard for them to get the idea, that Jesus was to die, and much less did they comprehend that in order for them to share in His future Kingdom they, too, would need to follow Him faithfully into death. They had not yet learned the meaning of the words which early in His ministry our Lord had addressed to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Without the aid of the Holy Spirit they could not then grasp the truth concerning the spiritual phase of the Kingdom. Nevertheless Jesus did set forth thoughts which, following Pentecost, would be recalled by them and aid in their deeper understanding of the plan of God. He explained that in His Father’s house there were many “mansions.” The Father’s “house” is really the universe and the many mansions are the many planes of being which had already been created. Among these were the earthly plane, although the human sons of God had fallen under the weight of sin.

Jesus said to His disciples that He was going away to prepare a place for them, indicating that an additional mansion or plane of life was to be created. In keeping with this thought the apostle refers to the church as being a new creation. (II Cor. 5:17) The period between the first and second advents of the Master is the time when this new creation is developed. He returns to resurrect and exalt His church, symbolically illustrated in Revelation as the New Jerusalem, of which the twelve apostles are the foundation stones. The entire church will share the divine nature with Him and as the spiritual phase of the Kingdom will dispense the blessings of life and happiness which the disciples mistakenly thought were due to come at the first advent.

QUESTIONS:

What lesson did Jesus teach His disciples by washing their feet?

What did Jesus mean by the, many “mansions” in His Father’s house?

What is implied by the Master’s promise that He was going away to prepare a place for His church?

| Home Page | Table of Contents |