Metaphor
I am the vine, you are the branches. The branch does not grunt fruit into existence. It remains. Apart from me you can do nothing…
Presence · Community · Calling
John 15
Object lesson
The towel before the table
John 13:1–17
Before the bread and the cup, John says Jesus rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and tied a towel around his waist. In that room the argument had been about who was greatest. The basin answers it. The last night is not only a meal. It is a Master doing slave work so the Twelve will have a picture they cannot unsee. The towel is older than the liturgy. It is the shape of the meal they are about to eat.
How you’d preach it
Hold a towel, not only a cup. The Last Supper is betrayed if we keep the sacrament and lose the stoop. Ask who in the room still expects to be served.
- The Cross
- Humility
- Community
John 13 · Luke 22
John 13:1–17; Luke 22:24–27