Step 1: Opening and Introduction to the lesson – What were the special meals in your family: Thanksgiving? Sunday lunch? Birthdays? Christmas? What was usually served? When it comes to work around the home, what is the last job you would pick? Who would you nominate for the Mother Teresa award in your family or church for selfless, tireless servanthood?
Step 2: Hear – Read: Jesus washes His Disciples’ Feet: John 13:1-17.
Step 3: Explore – Discover the Passage
- What was your first impression of this story about foot washing? Why did Jesus wash his disciples’ feet?
- What does Jesus know that escapes the disciples’ attention (vv. 1, 3, 11)? Hence what impresses you about Jesus washing their feet?
- If you were Peter, would you have reacted as he did? Why or why not? While Peter is taking the washing of his feet literally, what do you think Jesus meant by his statement in verse 8? In verse 10?
- How does Jesus challenge their idea of what it means to be the chief followers of the Messiah (vv. 12-17)? What role reversals do you see here?
Step 4: Connect – Apply the Passage:
- What task that you currently do is most like washing feet? What can you learn and apply from the fact that Jesus washed Judas’ feet?
- In your spiritual life, who is one person who has demonstrated what it means to “wash feet”? What did he or she do?
- Specifically, how will you put Jesus’ teaching into practice in at least one relationship this week at home, at work, or at church?
- Describe Jesus’s state of mind as his death approaches. How can you have similar composure when you face threatening situations?
Step 5: Reflect: Unless I wash you, you have no part with me…you also should wash one another’s feet…you should do as I have done for you.
