Seven Days with Scripture
Day 6 · Take up the towel
Service · John 13:12–17
Allow about ten minutes. Read slowly, pause, and return whenever you are ready.
Read · John 13:12–17
Jesus has washed His disciples’ feet. He now asks them to understand His action and to let His example shape their own conduct.
13:12 So when He had washed their feet and taken His garments and reclined again, He said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?
13:13 You call Me the Teacher and the Lord, and you speak well, for I am.
13:14 So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
13:15 For I have given you an example, so that you also may do just as I did to you.
13:16 Amen, amen, I tell you: a slave is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
13:17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Read the passage in its full chapter · Saints Translation, reading edition. These New Testament readings follow the site’s declared SBL Greek New Testament base; source and editorial qualifications remain in force.
Reflect
Editorial reflection
Jesus names Himself Teacher and Lord, then draws the consequence of what He has done: His disciples are to wash one another’s feet. The action gives visible form to a way of exercising responsibility. Knowledge alone does not finish the lesson; the blessing in the final verse is connected to doing. Begin with a need close enough to meet. Service may involve an ordinary task, the patient use of a skill, or willingness to take the less prominent place. Attend to the person receiving your help, including their wishes and dignity. The teacher’s example forms the manner of service as well as the decision to serve.
Pray
Newly composed prayer
Lord Jesus, Teacher and Lord, teach me the humility of Your example. Open my eyes to a need I can meet. Give me willing hands, a listening heart, and freedom from the desire to be praised. Amen.
Consider
What useful work am I overlooking because it seems too ordinary or receives little recognition?
Respond
Ask someone what help would be useful, then do one manageable task with their agreement and without drawing attention to yourself.
Continue in context
Read John 13 from the beginning, then explore the Ministry’s four programs as optional resources for continued formation.
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Saints Translation is a Scripture translation and study collection by Vincent Melli. Working study edition; independent specialist review remains pending. Sources and review status.