For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
—John 13:15
It was Jesus Christ, the beloved Redeemer of our souls, who spoke the words of our text. He had just humbled Himself to do the work of the slave by washing His disciples’ feet. In doing so, His love demonstrated to the body the service that was lacking at the supper table. At the same time, He showed, in a striking symbol, what He had done for their souls in cleansing them from sin. In this twofold work of love, He set before them, just before parting, in one significant act, the whole work of His life as a ministry of blessing to body and soul. As He sat down, He said, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” All that they had seen in Him and experienced from Him is thus made the rule of their lives: “Even as I have done, you do also.”
The words of the blessed Savior apply to us, too. To each one who knows that the Lord has washed away his sin, He commands with all the touching force of one who is going out to die, “Even as I have done to you, so do you also to others.” Jesus Christ does indeed ask every one of us in everything to act just as we have seen Him do. What He has done to us, and still does each day, we are to do over again to others. In His humble, pardoning, saving love, He is our example; each of us is to be the copy and image of the Master.
At once, we think, “Alas, how seldom I have lived like Christ! How little I have even known that I was expected to live thus!” And yet, He is my Lord; He loves me, and I love Him. I must not entertain the thought of living in any other way than He would have me live. I must open my heart to His Word and fix my gaze on His example, until it exercises its divine power upon me and draws me with irresistible force to cry, “Lord, even as You have done, so will I do also.”