CHILDREN’S STORY:
Jesus and the apostles gathered in Jerusalem for a meal prior to the Passover feast.
Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He also knew that one of the Twelve, Judas Iscariot, had been induced by the devil to betray him.
Jesus rose from the table, took off his outer garments and tied a towel around his waist. He poured water into a basin and began to wash and dry the apostles’ feet.
Soon it was Simon Peter’s turn.
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?” he asked in surprise.
“What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later,” Jesus said.
“You will never wash my feet,” Simon Peter protested.
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me,” Jesus replied.
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well,” Simon Peter said.
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all. Not all of you are clean,” Jesus said, for he knew that Judas Iscariot would betray him.
“Do you realize what I have done for you?” he asked the apostles when he had finished washing their feet. “You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
Jesus explained that no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.
“If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it,” he said.
“I am not speaking of all of you,” he continued. “I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, ‘The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.’ From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
READ MORE ABOUT IT:
John 13
Q&A
1. Which apostle was to betray Jesus?
2. Who did not want his feet washed at first?
TRIVIA: What was the new commandment Jesus gave to his apostles? (Hint: John 13:31-35)
Answer: Love one another.
BIBLE ACCENT:
After Jesus washed the apostles’ feet, he told them some disturbing news.
In John 13:21, we read that Jesus was deeply troubled.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me,” he told his friends.
The apostles looked quizzically at one another, trying to figure out to whom Jesus was referring.
The apostle whom Jesus loved was sitting next to him at the supper table. Simon Peter nodded at this apostle so he would ask Jesus for more information.
“Master, who is it?” the apostle asked.
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it,” Jesus answered.
Jesus dipped the morsel and handed it to Judas Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
“What you are going to do, do quickly,” Jesus told Judas.
Judas took the morsel and left at once.
Some of the apostles assumed that since Judas was the one who was in charge of the money bag that Jesus had told him to buy food for the coming Passover feast or to give something to the poor.
In actuality, Judas has slipped into the night to betray Jesus.
In John 18:1-14, we read that Judas led a band of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees right to Jesus so he could be arrested.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE SAINTS:
St. Rose Venerini
St. Rose Venerini was born in 1656 in Viterbo, Italy. She was engaged to be married but entered a convent after her fiance died.
She chose to become a teacher, and in 1685 she opened a free school for girls. In 1692, an Italian bishop asked her to train teachers and administer a school in his diocese. She later set up schools all around Italy.
The order she founded, the Venerini Sisters, was recognized after her death.
St. Rose died in 1728, and we remember her on May 7.
PUZZLE:
Using the hints provided, fill in the blanks in the sentences about Old Testament prophesies that Jesus fulfilled.
1.Out of _______ I called my son. (Matthew 2:14-15)
2. From you shall come a _______, who is to shepherd my people Israel. (Matthew 2:6)
3. I will open my mouth in _______. (Matthew 13:34-35)
4. And they took the 30 pieces of silver … and they paid it out for the _______. (Matthew 27:3-10)
Answers: 1. Egypt; 2. ruler; 3. parables; 4. potter’s field