Source of joyful serving | CMF National Conference 2026

Al- allow me to unpack the backstory of where we are in John's accounts.

And this morning we're attending a school.

We're attending the school of Christ.

It takes place that Thursday, that Thursday before the very first Good Friday.

We read, "Now Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to depart out of this world and go to the Father." The next day, Good Friday, calamitous and earth-shattering events will take place in Jerusalem.

A traitor is on the loose.

Jesus will be betrayed.

He'll be tortured and die a violent death.

And when the disciples will witness this, they will be overwhelmed with shock and sorrow and fear, and with a troubled sense that they have been deserted.

Therefore, before these events take place, the teacher in that school prepares his disciples for his departure.

And these are some of his most poignant and significant last words on earth here.

The venue of the school is the borrowed upper room, where they would share Jesus's last meal on Earth.

Significantly, it was a Passover meal.

There was no servant in attendance to serve or perform the customary duties of foot washing.

Therefore, Jesus himself washes the disciples' feet.

As an acted parable, it both foreshadows what he's going to do as he goes to the cross, but also gives us a timeless example to follow in our lives.

Shall we meet the students? The fact they're all destined to become apostles might make us think that we would be out of place in a school like that.

But that would be a wrong thing to think.

Because we wrongly think that holiness is only for religious experts.

But you know, none of these were trained in a theological school.

None were highly educated.

In fact, Jesus calls them theological and intellectual babies.

And they were a varied group.

There was fish-- there was Peter, the fisherman.

He was tough, he was courageous, he was impetuous, and he was practical.