Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet

John 13 It was now the day before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. He had always loved those in the world who were his own, and he loved them to the very end.
²Jesus and his disciples were at supper. The Devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, the thought of betraying Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had given him complete power; he knew that he had come from God and was going to God. ⁴So he rose from the table, took off his outer garment, and tied a towel around his waist. ⁵Then he poured some water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Are you going to wash my feet, Lord?"
⁷Jesus answered him, "You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later."
⁸Peter declared, "Never at any time will you wash my feet!"
"If I do not wash your feet," Jesus answered, "you will no longer be my disciple."
⁹Simon Peter answered, "Lord, do not wash only my feet, then! Wash my hands and head, too!"
¹⁰Jesus said, "Those who have taken a bath are completely clean and do not have to wash themselves, except for their feet. All of you are clean--all except one." ( ¹¹Jesus already knew who was going to betray him; that is why he said, "All of you, except one, are clean.")
¹²After Jesus had washed their feet, he put his outer garment back on and returned to his place at the table. "Do you understand what I have just done to you?" he asked. ¹³"You call me Teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am. ¹⁴I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another's feet. ¹⁵I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you. ¹⁶I am telling you the truth: no slaves are greater than their master, and no messengers are greater than the one who sent them. ¹⁷Now that you know this truth, how happy you will be if you put it into practice!
¹⁸"I am not talking about all of you; I know those I have chosen. But the scripture must come true that says, 'The man who shared my food turned against me.' ¹⁹I tell you this now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe that 'I Am Who I Am.' ²⁰I am telling you the truth: whoever receives anyone I send receives me also; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me."

The Prophet Micaiah Warns Ahab
(1 Kings 22.1-28)

2 Chronicles 18 When King Jehoshaphat of Judah became rich and famous, he arranged a marriage between a member of his family and the family of King Ahab of Israel. ²A number of years later Jehoshaphat went to the city of Samaria to visit Ahab. To honor Jehoshaphat and those with him, Ahab had a large number of sheep and cattle slaughtered for a feast. He tried to persuade Jehoshaphat to join him in attacking the city of Ramoth in Gilead. ³He asked, "Will you go with me to attack Ramoth?"
Jehoshaphat replied, "I am ready when you are, and so is my army. We will join you." ⁴Then he added, "But first let's consult the LORD."
⁵So Ahab called in the prophets, about four hundred of them, and asked them, "Should I go and attack Ramoth, or not?"
"Attack it," they answered. "God will give you victory."
⁶But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn't there another prophet through whom we can consult the LORD?"
⁷Ahab answered, "There is one more, Micaiah son of Imlah. But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad."
"You shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.
⁸So King Ahab called in a court official and told him to go and get Micaiah at once.
⁹The two kings, dressed in their royal robes, were sitting on their thrones at the threshing place just outside the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them. ¹⁰One of them, Zedekiah son of Chenaanah, made iron horns and said to Ahab, "This is what the LORD says, 'With these you will fight the Syrians and totally defeat them.'" ¹¹All the other prophets said the same thing. "March against Ramoth and you will win," they said. "The LORD will give you victory."
¹²Meanwhile, the official who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, "All the other prophets have prophesied success for the king, and you had better do the same."
¹³But Micaiah answered, "By the living LORD I will say what my God tells me to!"
¹⁴When he appeared before King Ahab, the king asked him, "Micaiah, should King Jehoshaphat and I go and attack Ramoth, or not?"
"Attack!" Micaiah answered. "Of course you'll win. The LORD will give you victory."
¹⁵But Ahab replied, "When you speak to me in the name of the LORD, tell the truth! How many times do I have to tell you that?"
¹⁶Micaiah answered, "I can see the army of Israel scattered over the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, 'These men have no leader; let them go home in peace.'"
¹⁷Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "I told you that he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad!"
¹⁸Micaiah went on: "Now listen to what the LORD says! I saw the LORD sitting on his throne in heaven, with all his angels standing beside him. ¹⁹The LORD asked, 'Who will deceive Ahab so that he will go and get killed at Ramoth?' Some of the angels said one thing, and others said something else, ²⁰until a spirit stepped forward, approached the LORD, and said, 'I will deceive him.' 'How?' the LORD asked. ²¹The spirit replied, 'I will go and make all of Ahab's prophets tell lies.' The LORD said, 'Go and deceive him. You will succeed.'"
²²And Micaiah concluded: "This is what has happened. The LORD has made these prophets of yours lie to you. But he himself has decreed that you will meet with disaster!"
²³Then the prophet Zedekiah went up to Micaiah, slapped his face, and asked, "Since when did the LORD's spirit leave me and speak to you?"
²⁴"You will find out when you go into some back room to hide," Micaiah replied.
²⁵Then King Ahab ordered one of his officers, "Arrest Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Prince Joash. ²⁶Tell them to throw him in prison and to put him on bread and water until I return safely."
²⁷"If you return safely," Micaiah exclaimed, "then the LORD has not spoken through me!" And he added, "Listen, everyone, to what I have said!"

The Death of Ahab
(1 Kings 22.29 -35)

²⁸Then King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to attack the city of Ramoth in Gilead. ²⁹Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "As we go into battle, I will disguise myself, but you wear your royal garments." So the king of Israel went into battle in disguise.
³⁰The king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders to attack no one else except the king of Israel. ³¹So when they saw King Jehoshaphat, they all thought that he was the king of Israel, and they turned to attack him. But Jehoshaphat gave a shout, and the LORD God rescued him and turned the attack away from him. ³²The chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, so they stopped pursuing him. ³³By chance, however, a Syrian soldier shot an arrow which struck King Ahab between the joints of his armor. "I'm wounded!" he cried out to his chariot driver. "Turn around and pull out of the battle!" ³⁴While the battle raged on, King Ahab remained propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrians. At sunset he died.

Psalm 78 ²¹And so the LORD was angry when he heard them;
he attacked his people with fire,
and his anger against them grew,
²²because they had no faith in him
and did not believe that he would save them.
²³But he spoke to the sky above
and commanded its doors to open;
²⁴he gave them grain from heaven,
by sending down manna for them to eat.
²⁵So they ate the food of angels,
and God gave them all they wanted.
²⁶He also caused the east wind to blow,
and by his power he stirred up the south wind;
²⁷and to his people he sent down birds,
as many as the grains of sand on the shore;
²⁸they fell in the middle of the camp
all around the tents.
²⁹So the people ate and were satisfied;
God gave them what they wanted.
³⁰But they had not yet satisfied their craving
and were still eating,
³¹when God became angry with them
and killed their strongest men,
the best young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this the people kept sinning;
in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
³³So he ended their days like a breath
and their lives with sudden disaster.
³⁴Whenever he killed some of them,
the rest would turn to him;
they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
³⁵They remembered that God was their protector,
that the Almighty came to their aid.
³⁶But their words were all lies;
nothing they said was sincere.
³⁷They were not loyal to him;
they were not faithful to their covenant with him.