Jesus knew that His work on earth was almost done, and that soon He was going to die. He had spent many days teaching His disciples to love God and obey His Word. He wanted them always to remember why He had come to this world. So during the Passover feast He planned to do something special to help them never to forget.

On the evening when everyone was celebrating the Passover, Jesus and His disciples were alone in an upstairs room. The Passover foods had been prepared. While they were eating, Jesus took bread and prayed over it, blessing it. Then He did something very special. He handed a piece of bread to each of the disciples, telling them not to forget how His body would be given to die for their sins. Next He gave them the cup to drink from, and He told them always to remember that His Blood was shed for them. He told them to repeat this action often.

No doubt, as the disciples ate and drank with Jesus, they felt how much He loved them. They may not have understood completely that very soon He was going to die on the cross. But Jesus had to die so that all people could be forgiven of their sins. After a while the disciples would understand.

When they were all done with the meal, Jesus got up from the table. He took a towel and wrapped it around His waist. Then He took water, poured it into a small basin, and began to wash His disciples’ feet.

At first, Jesus’ disciples were puzzled. Why was He doing this? Peter even told Jesus that he did not want Jesus to wash his feet. Jesus helped him to understand how important it was, then Peter wanted Jesus to wash his feet.

Jesus knew it was important for the disciples to remember this night always, so He gave them some instructions. He told them to follow His example and wash each other’s feet also. Jesus blessed His disciples for obeying Him.

Jesus blesses us when we read and follow what the Bible tells us to do. We still follow Jesus’ example. Every so often, people who love Jesus get together and take the Lord’s Supper. This means they eat bread, remembering that it represents Jesus’ body which He gave for our sins. Then they drink grape juice and remember how Jesus also shed His Blood for them. After that, God’s people wash each other’s feet. We do these things because Jesus told us to. And because He has promised we will be happy if we do them. We don’t ever want to forget how much Jesus loves us.

This lesson relates what happened during and following the Lord’s Supper—Jesus’ last meal with His disciples. At that time, Christ set an example for His followers, encouraging them to repeat the actions He had demonstrated, in remembrance of Him. On the primary level, our focus will be that Jesus promised we would be happy if we did these things.

Help your child make his own “Be Happy” stickers to reinforce the point of this lesson. On white paper, let him draw and color simple shapes that can be cut out. (Smiley faces are easy and fun to draw. Other ideas might be hearts or speech balloons with short messages.) Have them paint the back of each drawing with a solution made from equal amounts of Elmer’s or Lepage’s mucilage and water mixed together in a small container. Let the glue dry and then cut out each shape.

When your child is ready to use the stickers, he will only have to dampen the backs slightly to make them stick.

FAMILY DEVOTIONS

Verses to help your child understand this Bible lesson.