Christ's Commencement Address

"It was before the Passover festival. Jesus knew that his hour had come and he must leave this world and go to the Father. He had always loved his own who were in the world, and now he was to show the full extent of his love." (1)

Jesus knew that His time was short. He Himself was the true Passover lamb, and on the day of the Passover He was to be sacrificed. He would soon receive His baptism of suffering. The setting is in an upper room chamber in Jerusalem and Jesus is dining with His disciples. Jesus knew this would be His last opportunity to share with His disciples what was vitally important to them just before His betrayal and death. This account is based on John chapters 13 and 14.

Some of His disciples, if not all of them, believed that He would soon ascend the throne of His ancestor David and become King of the Jewish Nation. They knew Him to be the Messiah, the promised one who was to be the King of Israel. Jesus had just been triumphantly received into Jerusalem by many people proclaiming Him to be the King. They had shouted hosannas to the Son of David. Yet Jesus knew that His hour had come, not to be crowned, but to be crucified, and His disciples would be scattered.

Some of these men had been maneuvering and politicking to become His prime minister, so to speak. James and John's Mother had asked Jesus for one of her sons to be on His right side and the other to be on His left side in His kingdom. Jesus had been sharing with them that He had not come to establish an earthly kingdom, but that He would be crucified. They did not understand this nor did they accept it.

Jesus had been their teacher for three and a-half years. They were His closest companions, His best friends. What was it that He could share with these close friends of His during these final moments with them to prepare them for the tumultuous events about to break upon them? And more important, to strengthen their faith and trust in Him, and their witness following His crucifixion. In the following devotions, we will glean from these two chapters lessons that Jesus shared with His disciples. This was not a sermon. It was Jesus sharing vital and eternal truths with His friends during and following dinner and just prior to His being betrayed and taken from them. These chapters, while they tell of what transpired between Christ and His disciples, are like a commencement address. The disciples were about to graduate from the school of the Master and become His messengers.

1. John 13:1.