Maundy Thursday: Leadership Has Its Privileges (John 13:1-15)

Hi, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning into Newsong Churches Podcast.

We're a biblically faithful, gospel-centered Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors.

You can learn more about us at newsongportperry.ca.

May God bless you today through his life-giving word.

The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to John.

Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas' Isariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.

Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet.

Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

Jesus said to him, The one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not every one of you.

For he knew who was to betray him.

That was why he said, Not all of you are clean.

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you?

You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.

The gospel of the Lord is to you, Lord.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight.

O God, my rock and my redeemer.

Please be seated.

For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.

We've heard that a couple of times now.

We'll be keeping that in mind as we go through and thinking of perhaps three things.

But first, do you remember the ad campaign from Amex in, I think it was the 80s?

Membership has its privileges.

The ads showed fabulous resorts, terrific drinks, people sitting in the lap of luxury enjoying the high life.

Fine foods, as he said, drinks, beautiful clothes, everything you could possibly want.

People were dressed to the nines.

Is that still an expression?

It used to be.

Such is the wisdom of the world.

In Christ, membership, leadership, but probably the best word to use is discipleship, has its privileges, but perhaps we should call them responsibilities.

So what's the difference?

The wisdom of God, the wisdom of the world, they're quite opposite.

The difference, I believe, we'll discover once again and through this passage is love.

And from my experience, credit card companies really don't care very much about love.

God, however, does.

So let's take a look.

And maybe three things, if we keep them in mind, we might be able to see them as we go through the passage together.

First, God is love, and we are cleansed because of his love.

Second, the servant leader model that Reverend Creighton already mentioned, that model of foot washing is an example of his love for us.

And thirdly, because of his love, we must follow that example and wash each other's feet.

But it may not be exactly as you might think at first.

So looking at the gospel for today, let's see what these responsibilities are and uncover it.

So the first couple of verses.

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.

And we're going to stop there.

It's an awkward position to stop at.

We're celebrating it today on Thursday, Maundy Thursday, and I won't get into why it's Maundy Thursday, just that he brings the commandment and tells us to do that later on.

But a particular note, and I tried to stress it, are the words love that occurred twice in the very first verse.

Apparently, the scholars say that John uses the word love or variations of it 29 times in his gospel.

And here we have twice in this verse.

This is a very important word, of course, but it's an important position for the word, talking about Jesus loving the disciples.

And they have heard that story before, but we know they're not fully prepared for it.

And who would be?

A little later on, Jesus will call the disciples his friends.

And he even describes that you will give your life for friends.

He loves them that much he will give his life.

And that other commandment I mentioned is I think verse 24.

I hope it's verse 24, where in the same chapter Jesus says, I give you commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another three times.

So it's twice at the beginning, three times there.

This is a critical thing, then love.

As Canon Howard often tells me, Michael, it should make sense because God is love.

And we could end it there, and then we'd finish a little earlier.

But there is perhaps a little more to say, especially about foot washing and where the love fits and how that matters to us and how we might apply it today.

So it is pretty evident then that love is important here.

Jesus, verse 3, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, wrapped it around his waist.

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

So he gets up from supper.

We've told that twice, during supper, and then he rose from supper, and he pours the water into the basin.

Why would he do that?

Well, I think it's pretty obvious to begin with, their feet were dirty.

And why were they dirty?

Well, the roads then and still are in Israel pretty dirty and dusty.

There's desert, it blows around, you get dirty just walking out for a little while.

So there's a physical necessity to wash the feet.

And the sandals, well, if you wear sandals, your feet get pretty dirty.

Although I did some reading that certain sandals that they had designed there would slough off the dirt faster than having a shoe that would contain it.

You ever walked in sand with shoes?

Yeah, you know that feeling, and the sand collects.

Our kids would gather sand and bring it home in their shoes unwittingly, and it would just dump at the door.

It was really quite something.

Well, the same with the dirt.

So it needs to be washed off.

But the real question is why Jesus?

Scholars say that foot washing was given to the non-Jewish slaves, the lowest of the lows, the ones that they could do anything to and nobody cared about.

And yet Jesus took this on himself.

Jesus, our very Lord and Savior, took on the lowest of the lows position to wash their feet.

Why did the Son of the Father do that?

Well, Peter always comes in handy.

Peter helps us understand a lot of things.

Peter is not afraid to ask questions, and I think Peter gets into a lot of trouble, but Peter's so wonderful because he does it for me and you.

And he accepts full responsibility as he goes through.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

Jesus answered him, What I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.

Peter said to him, You will not wash my feet.

Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

So Peter's questioning Jesus as what he's going to do.

And he's told that though he doesn't understand, foot washing will be carried out.

And Peter's reaction is great.

No fear, no way.

You're not going to do that.

But Jesus once again says, Oh, yes, I will.

Because if I don't, you have no share with me.

Another translation says, you cannot share your life with me, or you don't belong to me.

Jesus explicitly states that to Peter and the other disciples, that we, that they and we must let him wash our feet.

So our feet do need cleaning, yes, but by Jesus.

And if we don't let him, he won't be in our life.

We won't share life with him.

You may remember John's purpose to writing the gospel, I think it's chapter 20 towards the end, and he says, These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

So if our goal is to have life with him, then we must allow him to wash our feet.

Doesn't sound encouraging if you don't watch your feet washed, does it?

Peter again, Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

Jesus said to him, The one who is bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not every one of you.

For he knew who was to betray him.

That was why he said, Not all of you are clean.

Thank you, Peter.

He's voiced our concerns, okay, if my feet need to be washed, then wash all of me.

Once again, Jesus says, Uh-uh, you've already bathed, you're clean.

You are okay, but for your feet.

So only foot washing is necessary here.

So then now let's try and understand perhaps the difference.

Jesus says, You are completely clean, but for your feet.

Why is that?

And what's the difference?

And why do we need feet cleaning as well?

Well, let's see if we can figure this out.

The disciples have been with Jesus for three years or so.

And a little later in the gospel, as they said before, he will call them friends.

Soon after, he'll give his life for them by his death and resurrection, wash away all their sins, as we call it a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice.

This is completely clean.

So the foot washing must be something else.

Over and above.

And it is no coincidence that it is our feet being washed here.

That is the disciples' feet and therefore ours.

As we walk along in our daily lives, our feet come in contact with the earth.

They get dirty physically.

As we walk along in our daily lives, we are tempted or touched by sin continually, regularly.

Hence, we are in a constant state of needing our feet washed.

Is that right?

Something like that.

If we are cleansed daily by Jesus, as in the foot washing, our feet are cleansed, and we can take the right path.

We can follow the right way, the way of truth, that of Jesus.

For the disciples, Jesus takes on this role of the lowliest servant there, the outcast.

And Jesus does that because he loves them.

Because he wants them cleansed and he wants them to walk the right path and he wants them to have eternal life with him.

Now I'm going to skip the last part of what I just read there, where Jesus knew not all of them were clean, that refers to Judas, and that's probably ten sermons, I would think.

We don't have time for that.

Just let it suffice that Judas left soon after that, and there was even greater cleansing as that happened.

Then the last few verses, and this is where perhaps we can tie it all up.

We have love already, we have the position of washing feet, we have the necessity for being cleansed regularly for the feet.

Let's see if we can pull it all together.

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you?

You call me teacher and lord, and you are right, for so I am.

If I, then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

For I have given you an example.

He says so, so we must do it.

We must wash each other's feet.

In Jesus' time, we talked about this feet get dirty, footwear, sandals, you need to clean it off physically.

We talked about the necessity walking.

But why do we need our feet washed today?

Well, I'm wearing sandals, so my feet are going to be washed, that's for sure.

And yes, our feet get dirty, and uh, I don't know about you, but my feet will sweat.

If I don't wear the right sort of footwear, my gosh, I need to wash as soon as I get home.

But it's not just that.

If we look at the what scholars call the original sin, in Genesis, we hear about the eating of the fruit of the tree, of the knowledge of good and evil.

And the scholars say this is an example of uh pride for Adam and Eve wanting to be as the same position as God to know the difference between good and evil and where they are.

It's a matter of pride.

Isaiah 14 tells us that it was pomp, pride, that brought the devil down to Sheol, fallen from the stars.

He was called a morning star, if I'm not mistaken.

Not the bright morning star, but the morning star.

This is pride again.

So pride is at the root of everything.

And if it's the original sin, if we all have that pride there, then it's so darned easy for it to take over once and again.

And just as the slogan by Amex, membership has its privileges, that points to pride.

It's pride in exclusivity, pride in having achieved something because of what we have done, because of what we have learned, because of what we have become on our own.

And doesn't society tell us that's good, that's right, you should do that.

You deserve a break today.

Oh, that's somebody else, sorry.

If left to our own, we turn back to sin.

And we are sinners.

But it's through nothing we have done that we are saved.

It's only by His grace, His mercy, that we are fully cleansed.

Only through Jesus dying on the cross and his resurrection that we have hope and promise of eternal life.

But since we are sinners and since we are tempted and touched by sin daily, we need daily to confess our sins, known or unknown, and be cleansed from them.

Hence the foot washing.

That's the symbol there.

So since we are proud, we must put aside this pride and take on the servant leader model.

And I think there are at least two reasons, two reasons that occurred to me through the reading.

One, because he's told us to do so.

We have to follow his example.

And that should be good enough.

But I'm pretty stubborn in my life, and I don't know about you, but uh another reason is often better for me, pushes me along.

The second one kind of hurts for me.

Because the pride of being right, self-righteous, prevents me from forgiving.

Humbling myself and footwashing helps to soften my heart.

Softening my heart allows me to be able to forgive others.

Forgiving others is what God wants me to do as God forgives me.

Forgiving others allows me to express my love to others.

And if we all do that, we have a share in Him in love.

God is love, and we are cleansed because of His love.

The servant leader model of foot washing is an example of His love.

And because of love, we must follow His example and wash each other's feet.

For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Amen.

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Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.