If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them

So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. - John 13:12-17

    Our Lord had just washed the disciple’s feet. He had taught them the truth of full cleansing and daily cleansing when he said, "he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all” (Judas was not clean).

    By washing their feet, he had symbolically taught them that they were to lay aside contentions regarding personal greatness, distinctions, and preeminence. Each one was to become a servant of all, willing to take the lowest place, with no one striving for recognition or praise. "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet."

    "If you know these things" (if you understand and have learned anything of what the Lord has revealed here) then happy shall you be if you do these things. Exemplify in your life and conduct the things you have learned.

    Two-fold happiness - true and complete happiness - stands forth here: happy is the man to whom God will not charge sin and happy is the man whose heart is knit together in true love with the Lord's family. His sins are pardoned and he is free from fleshly ambitions and covetousness. He has nothing to fear and nothing to prove!

    He rests in the Lord's pardon and enjoys the Lord's peace in all that he does or is called to do. He can both ride forth to battle or stay home to water the horses with the same dedication. He can preach and he can pray for those who preach. He can teach and he can listen to others teach. He can preside over the table and he can serve the food. He can rejoice with those who rejoice and he can weep with those who weep. He does all things alike with the same devotion and enthusiasm, for he is the Lord's bond-slave.