Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. . . . He loved them to the end. (John 13:1)
Expanded Passage: John 13:1
As a writing professor, I am fond of bookends. My own are nothing special though. They are leftover plastic office supplies I use as the basis of an object lesson. When talking with my students, I stress that, like bookends, the introductions and conclusions of their essays must be full (weighty) enough and strategically positioned to serve their purpose well. Without these bookends, everything will figuratively crash.
The “bookends” to John 13—where Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and predicted both Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial—are equally weighty and well placed. At the very start of the chapter, we are told that everything Jesus said and did during his final days on earth happened because he loved his disciples “to the end” (v. 1), and at the end, Jesus issued the new commandment to love one another (v. 34).
Furthermore, this chapter appears in the middle of the book of John, which begins with love of God being made manifest in the incarnation (John 1:1–18) and ends with Jesus reinstating Peter (John 21:15–19) by repeatedly asking him, “Do you love me?” and telling him to “feed [his] sheep”—i.e., serve him.
In a cultural milieu where mixed motives and fickleness are often the norms rather than the exceptions, it’s a strong, supportive, and sacrificial love we should have from the start and to the end of everything we do.
Bookend your service to God and others with love.
Laurie Dashnau is professor of English and writing, and director of the writing center at Houghton University (NY). She regularly teaches Narrative and Personal Essay, and Writing about Spiritual Experience.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
