John 13:1-19 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world to the Father… In the high-toned sanctities of our Christian worship, on the lower plane of domestic life, with its secret cares, and silent griefs, and angry frets, Christ is our Lord. On the crested wave of business, with its glittering spray and argosies of wealth, and along its turbid and choking shallows, Christ is our Lord. In all the undress and innocent relaxations of life — on the heathery hills, or placid ocean, or in the crowded city — still Christ is our Lord. In the retreat of the counting house or the perilous whirlpool of the public exchange, in the obscurest nook and corner of your life, Christ is your Master and Lord. You have chosen Him as such. Your faith, your profession, affirm Him as such, and He responds to that profession. He is Lord of your spirit, in what it thinks, and feels, and is; of your wealth, and time, and influence; of your pursuits, and pleasures, and possessions; of the most hidden, germinal, and unbetrayed proclivities of the soul; of the totalized aggregate man — Christ is "Lord of all." And you are His servants, put in trust with His goods, stewards of His wealth, factors in His household; and He, the Lord and Master, is even now on His return journey, to call each to his account, and to assign his position and award. But what a weight of responsibility does this assumption of the regal sovereignty of Christ entail upon its subjects! What a solemnity does it lend to the ongoings of human life, and what a tragic interest does it give. to the dismission of each occupant from his trust! "What manner of persons," in view of all this, "ought ye to be?" (John Burton.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. |
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