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JOHN’S GOSPEL… LOVE IS THE KEY – 22

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John 13:1 NIV
[1] “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

These words preface five chapters in John’s gospel rich in the revelation of the Trinity… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… working together in harmony to bring about the greatest event in human history, the death and resurrection of the God-man, and to bring the effects of that event into the lives of ordinary people.

Jesus’ first intention, in these final treasured moments in the Upper Room, alone with His disciples, was to show them that love is the key to all that He was about to reveal and to do to bring heaven to earth.

How did He demonstrate this love? ? He washed their feet!

No big deal for us who live in the 21st century. Most of us still have water in our taps. We wear closed shoes. Farm animals don’t coexist with us. At least many of us are not obliged to walk on dirt paths contaminated with filth!

In Jesus’ day, washing feet was both essential and the task of the lowliest of slaves… not in the job description of a rabbi, least of all a rabbi with authority, and certainly not the task of the one whom they held in highest honour and treated with the greatest respect.

Yet, Jesus deliberately disrobed, took a basin of water, and a towel, and knelt on the floor to wash His disciples’ feet. What a reversal of roles! What a demonstration, what a way to reinforce a lesson! A leader is a servant, not a boss… a slave, not a slave-driver.

Love alone makes it possible to ignore, to cancel rights, position, protocol… whatever elevates one above another, obliterating everything but common humanity to serve, to lift others up at the expense of the server.

Jesus could do this because He had nothing to prove and nothing to defend.

John 13:3-5 NIV
[3] “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; [4] so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. [5] After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

How unique it was to enjoy the company of one so free that no provocation caused offense, no situation created crisis, or displayed emotional immaturity. Jesus was just such a person. He could wash filthy feet with the same dignity as when He engaged people in discussion or debate.

This love was the love Paul described in 1 Corinthians 13,the famous “love” chapter.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV
[4] “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Jesus’ demonstration of love was not so much to give them a new ceremony to follow but to highlight the attitude in the heart of a true disciple. Real love puts aside self for the sake of others. Only when we can do the lowliest, the most undignified or humiliating task for another without revulsion, can we show the love in our hearts that mirrors the love of Jesus.

This is a standard so high that few ever reach it in our ministry to one another. There is often a sneaky attitude of pride even in our most humble service. “Look at me…” However, Jesus urges us, not to carry out another ceremonial act for show but to serve each other with the selfless devotion that comes from a heart transformed by grace.

Our old nature rebels against any affront to its ego. Our self-centred pride demands to be protected at all costs. The disciples, especially Peter, balked against this demonstration of the kind of love which was absolutely foreign to him. He first resisted then went overboard…

John 13:8-9 NIV
[8] “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” [9] “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus had to drive home the message…washing their feet was symbolic of the daily cleansing from the contamination of their walk in the world. The deeper cleansing of their souls was effected by the work of the cross. It was their role, as members of one body, to care about the way they related to each other, preserving unity and fellowship by transparent and loving service.

John 13:10 NIV
[10] “Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”

Later on, He would explain…

John 15:3 NIV
[3] “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

Through the message He was to them, His disciples were aready washed by the Word. Their role was to apply that cleansing to their daily walk, in their togetherness and fellowship.

What was Jesus showing and telling them?

John 13:34-35 NIV
[34] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

By His demonstration of love, He showed them that all the commandments of the Old Covenant would be fulfilled by their loving service to one another. So, John, with understanding, would later write…

1 John 3:16, 23-24 NIV
[16] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters…
[23] And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. [24] The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

And Jesus’ final disclosure? How is His message ever going to reach the world of wicked and rebellious people?…

John 13:35 NIV
[35] “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

… Not by bashing people with Bible but by the power of the sacrificial love of Jesus poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

JESUS LOVED HIS DISCIPLES

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JESUS LOVED HIS DISCIPLES

1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. John 13:1

How did Jesus relate to His disciples as opposed to the way the other rabbis related to theirs? Was His relationship with them formal and impersonal, like students in a classroom who were there to learn but not to know their teacher intimately? We have nothing in Scripture to tell us about the relationship of, say Hillel or Shammai to their disciples but there is much in the gospels that bear witness to the way Jesus related to the Twelve.

First of all, there is no doubt that Jesus loved His disciples, passionately and completely. He affirmed and verbalised His love for them over and over again. He did not leave them to guess that He loved them. He told them! He wanted His love for them to be the model and motivation for their love for one another.

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)

This would be the hallmark of His disciples – not how well versed they were in the Torah or how well they performed under the anointing of the Holy Spirit or how many spiritual gifts they had, but how much His love for them was mirrored in their love for one another.

John was the one who recorded these words. What? John! The one who, with his brother James, was nicknamed Boanerges – sons of thunder! Hot heads! They wanted to call down fire on the Samaritans for not offering hospitality to Jesus. They wanted to stop a man from casting out demons in the name of Jesus because he was not one of them. What happened to you, John?

Perhaps the best way to find out what happened to change him is to be a fly on the wall in the Upper Room in Jerusalem on Passover evening. The disciples were arranged around the supper table, lounging on cushions or mats on the floor. No chairs. Judas was sitting on the left of Jesus in the place of honour so that he could converse freely with the host. John was seated on His right. John took pains to tell us that he was leaning on Jesus’s breast.

Instead of protesting, “Hey, you are invading my space!” Jesus said nothing and did nothing. He didn’t move away. He allowed John to lean on Him, to put his head on His chest, to listen to His heartbeat.

John took a huge risk. What if Jesus had rejected him, moved away in irritation, protested his presumption? Nothing happened. Jesus accepted his weight, the discomfort of his body pressing down on Him. What was He saying? “Lean on me, John. Put your full weight on me. I accept your gesture of trust. I love you, John.”

Was this the moment when the realisation hit John, not just in his head but in his heart. “Jesus loves me!” From then on, he called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. That’s how he identified himself. Not “John”; not even “the son of Zebedee” or “the brother of James” but “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. What a life-transforming moment! Boanerges became the apostle of love because he experienced it and felt it. That’s how Jesus loved him.

Jesus also wanted his disciples to experience the Father’s love just as He did. He revealed the Father to them at every opportunity – by making them aware of the Father in Him, and how He referred to and related everything He said and did to the Father. This was in preparation for something much bigger that was to happen to them. He was about to do something that would change their status completely.

God was not only the Father of Jesus; He was their Father as well! After His resurrection, Jesus specifically stated that God was their Father. They would not be sitting outside, looking through the window at a family’s festivities; they would be part of the family of God now, reconciled and brought in through His sacrifice for them. He sent Mary, the first to greet Him when He emerged from the tomb, with a message for His disciples.

Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ (John 20: 17)

Did you get that? Their relationship had changed. He was no longer only their rabbi but also their brother as well. God was His Father and their Father, His God, and their God. Did that mean that Jesus and His disciples were now on equal footing? In a sense, yes! The writer to the Hebrews picked up on this thought:

In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. (Heb. 2: 10-11)

Wow! Now not only disciples but brothers! O yes, Jesus was elevated to the highest place and given a name above every other name, but He also invited His disciples (and that includes us if we are truly His followers) to sit on the throne with Him. James and John wanted the places of honour beside Him in glory. They had to learn that not only they, who selfishly wanted the best places, but also all who are “in Christ” will share that position with Him.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2: 6)

That’s how much He loves us too, and wants us to be with Him on His throne.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

SOMEONE HAS TO WASH FEET

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SOMEONE HAS TO WASH FEET

“It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

“The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so, He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.” John 13:1-5 NIV.

This is such a familiar story that we can almost recite it from memory, but we don’t only know the story; we also know the ceremony. Hasn’t someone at some time washed your feet? Some churches even incorporate it into their Easter services as a ritual.

So, what is it all about? Since the roads were dusty and the people wore sandals, it was the householder’s responsibility to provide water to wash their feet. They either washed their own feet or it was done by a slave.

The disciples had just been arguing about who would be the greatest in Jesus’ new government (Luke 22:24). There was no slave in the house to do the job. They were certainly not about to wash each other’s feet! Jesus’ feet, perhaps, but that was all. No one made a move before supper, and still no one made a move after supper. Was Jesus waiting for one of them to get up and do the job or did He know them well enough not to expect any of them to do the courteous thing? Not one of them was willing to be humiliated by doing a slave’s work.

These guys needed to be taught something. What was His intention? To set up a new ritual for the church to follow? Not likely since He wasn’t interested in adding to the burden the Pharisees had already put on the people. Whatever Jesus did had to fit His nature — “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29), and the nature of His yoke which was “light”.

How could Jesus, who was the Son of God, stoop down and do so menial a task? He could have left their feet dirty rather than do a slave’s work. What Jesus did the disciples could not do for two reasons:

Firstly, He was secure in His identity. Had not He lived His entire public life out of the knowledge that He was the beloved Son of the Father? The Father had publicly affirmed Him at His baptism and given Him the mandate to represent Him in His life and work because Jesus had His unqualified approval. By washing His disciples’ feet, He showed that He had nothing to prove and nothing to lose.

Secondly, He did it because He loved them. It did not matter as much to Him that He was the Son of the Most High God as that their feet were dirty and needed washing. That’s what love does — love meets someone else’s need at its own expense. Two simple reasons why it cost Him nothing to wash their feet! He did not have to swallow His pride, humiliate Himself or make a show of what He was doing. It was an act of hospitality any host would extend to his dinner guests except that, this time it was the host Himself who did the honours!

This was completely in line with the disposition of Messiah we see so clearly in Isaiah’s prophecies. He gives us glimpses of the “Ebed Yahweh” — the Servant of Jehovah — across the 66 chapters of his magnificent writing. He was the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rested (ch 11); He would bring justice without raising His voice or trampling the weak (ch 42); He would be a polished arrow hidden in the Lord’s quiver (ch 49); He would be beaten, rejected and punished for the sins of His people (ch 52, 53) and He would bring freedom and healing to His people through the power of the Spirit (ch 61).

What was Jesus doing? He was showing them the heart of a true servant; not a ceremony to be performed but the disposition of a disciple that flowed out in loving service to whoever needed it. Simple but not easy! It depends on whether that disciple has anything to defend or to prove. If we, like Jesus, are secure in our identity in God and our love for His people, we can humbly “wash” one another’s feet as Jesus did without shame or embarrassment.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.