John 13:1-11

Hey, everybody.

Thanks for being with us. Welcome back.

On this Tuesday, into a new chapter with the Gospel of John into the 13th chapter.

A little bit of preface before we get into it.

This is the chapter

in which we encounter John's version of the Last Supper.

If you know a little bit about the Gospels, you may already know

that John's telling is completely different.

This is baffled biblical scholars.

John doesn't have the Last Supper as the other gospels do.

Instead, we get this story of the foot washing,

which is unique to John.

I'm sure there are scholars that have explanations for that.

I think realistically, John just wants to tell a different story.

Maybe he knows the other story is out there,

or maybe he just has this idea that he he wants to show this other aspect

of what Jesus does when he gathers with his disciples.

It's a beautiful story.

We are indebted to John because he is the only one that includes it.

But it is.

It stands out as different.

Anything to add to that, Michael?

No, I think we'll see it as we go through it.

Now, that's a great summary. Okay. Jumping in here.

Verse one, chapter 13.

Now, the before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew

that this hour had come to depart from the world and go to the father,

having loved his own, who were in the world,

he loved them to the end.

The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas,

Simon, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him and during supper,

Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands, and that he had

come from God and was going to God, got up from the table,

took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.

Then he poured water in a basin and began to wash the disciples feet,

and wiped them with the towel that was tied around him.

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

Jesus answered, you do not know now what I am doing,

but later you will understand, won't we stop there?

Maybe that's a little bit of a strange breaking place.

If you've been with us

in the Gospel of John, you might remember that we began chapter 12 with a similar

kind of scenario, where Mary kneels at the feet of Jesus and washes him.

And here we have Jesus now enacting that a similar action.

Before we get there, John fills in some backstory for us.

In these introductory verses, the festival of the Passover was at hand.

Jesus, knowing his hour had come.

Now we have seen multiple references so far in this gospel.

That is not his hour. His hour was not at hand.

It was in his time.

Now Jesus, knowing his time

to depart, had come,

gets up and washes the disciples feet.

Having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end.

So we getting some backstory and then we get almost just in a passing mention,

the devil had already put it into

the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him again.

John is written to people who seem to know

the story already, and and John is retelling it.

So no big introduction, no explanation,

just oh yeah, that thing had already happened.

And now Jesus shows this sign of servanthood.

There are lots of things we could tell you about this text.

It was considered very lowly job to have to do.

Typically, it was the lowest servant that had to do this.

Jesus takes on that role for himself.

It is both a custom that was kind of expected.

And and in typical Jesus faction

fashion becomes something totally unexpected.

And so, again, I don't know, Michael, if we can be as shocked by this

as the readers and Jesus initial

hearers would have been, certainly, as the disciples would have been.

We we see this is very strange in foreign to our experience.

But anybody knowing Jesus world

would have kind of, I think, been flabbergasted by this.

Yeah, in some ways, I think religiously maybe even offended.

Yeah, that's a good word.

And I think as we turn into a text like this,

it is helpful, by the way, that we do this study.

There are downsides as well.

But I think one of the benefits of how we do this

study is that we can kind of connect the threads of the story as it goes.

And I do think it's really important that we just give one eye backwards

to remember, you know, this is what we went through last time.

Certainly watch or listen to that if you missed it.

But here, look at all this red text and all of this speaking about,

God's commandment being eternal life and

Jesus sharing what God has told him to do.

And I think in John, what Jesus does

now in chapter 13 is the incarnation

or the putting into action that the flesh of the teaching that we just had.

It's not just philosophical, it's not just theological, it's not just ideas.

It's not just head.

Jesus literally gets down onto his knees.

He uses this towel.

He washes his disciples feet.

It it it's the dirt kind of stuff that we find in the Gospel of John.

I can't help

but think of the story that we have of the woman where Jesus kneels down

and he writes in the dirt that Jesus is, yes, God.

He yes, understands the hour, right?

He understands what is going to happen, and he understands the timing of it,

and he assents to it.

He gives his own permission for it because he's the God incarnate.

He has the power.

But yet in the Gospel of John, that does not mean that

Jesus is not connected and earthly and have real, meaningful relationship.

He cries when he sees the pain and the morning in the thought of Lazarus,

who died.

In this moment, Jesus gets down onto his knees

and he does the dirtiest Machias job

that could be done by a household servant,

and that has significant meaning

as we come to interpret the kind of power, the kind of eternal plan,

the entire teaching that we were just talking about.

This gives us a litmus test of

what that power looks like when it's being lived out in the world.

Jesus is actively teaching his disciples, this is what I've come to do.

He gives us the teaching.

Now. Today, he shows us what it looks like to do what he came to do.

When he says to lower yourself, he doesn't mean metaphorically.

He means to take upon yourself the task of service,

even the one that is not pursued by other people, not the one sought after.

Know you.

You literally go and you put yourself in the dirtiest market place that you can be

and and ultimately as what's going to happen

in all of John's text, Clint, there's going to be misunderstanding,

which will lead to more misunderstanding, which will encapsulate

truth in a meaningful way that John invites us into exploring.

Yeah, they are they are shocked.

And I think that word offended is accurate.

Michael, you know, let's continue here because I think we see it easily in the,

the response from Peter.

Peter said to him, you will never wash my feet.

Jesus answered, unless I wash them.

You have no share with me.

Simon Peter said to him, then, Lord, not only my feet,

but my hands, and my head also.

Jesus said to him, one

who has bathed does not need to wash except for the feet,

but he is entirely clean, and you are clean, though not all of you.

For he knew who was to betray him.

And for this reason he said, not all of you are clean.

So, once again, pause there.

And this is twofold.

This is partly the way that John likes telling stories.

And this is an example of how Peter, generally the poster child

among the disciples for getting it wrong, gets it wrong in this moment.

You will never do this.

I will never let you bow to me.

I will never let you do this.

I and what is Jesus saying then?

You're putting yourself above me.

Then you are.

You can't unless you let me do this.

Unless you understand what this means.

You have no share with me.

So Peter misunderstands again because he thinks

it has something to do with the feet and the ceremonial cleansing.

But that's not it at all. Jesus says,

if you've bathed, you're already clean.

This is this is a lesson for you, though not all of you are clean.

And I think if there's a thing that amazes me about this text, Michael,

in John, it's that we forget

that Jesus washed Judas's feet

after Judas's path was set.

You know, I think sometimes we separate those things,

but John makes it very clear to tell us

Judas was already planning to do what he does,

and Jesus already knew that it was going to be done. Yep.

And yet he kneels before his own betrayer and washes his feet.

And if you need a spiritual understanding

of the physical act that is taking place here,

I don't know that there's a better one than that.

Jesus serves all of the disciples.

He humbles himself.

He he washes them,

including the very one who's going to turn him in.

And I think that's I think that's not only astounding,

I think I,

I like to think that John does that intentionally.

The twists and turns and the Gospel of John,

you know, could be subject of conversation all day long.

And and we've said this numerous times

in our conversations that one should be careful.

Certainly, when you're talking about things that are not in the gospel.

But I can't help for just a moment so, well, warning that, you know, there's,

just a little bit of,

prodding of the text here, but isn't it really interesting that in verse nine,

Simon Peter's response to Jesus, I think, is just classic Lord,

not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

And I think you're right, Clint, to say that Peter's often the poster

child for getting it wrong because, he

not only misunderstands Jesus, but he doubles down on it being about him.

And notice the response that Peter gives.

It's not.

Oh, then let me take the the towel.

Jesus, let me wash the disciples feet with you, like,

let me get down on the ground.

But, you know, at that point Peter's like, all right, I'm all in.

Yeah, let's let's make it about me.

And and there's a fascinating contrast.

And I think it's surprising contrast, Clint,

because ostensibly this book is given

to the earliest generation of Christians to help them know who Jesus is, what

Jesus's call to the first disciples were, and therefore what Jesus says

call to the earliest church was to be followers and and what's striking

is how comfortable all of the Gospels are, but also the Gospel of John.

And this is a great example of it

really using the first disciples as an illustration of getting it wrong.

And that's a surprising thing.

You you would expect that some of those early documents, you know,

like Peter's, that earliest generation of leadership,

there's going to be a lot of honor and respect in that in the early church.

And the stories that we have of him encountering

Jesus are ones in which he often is getting it wrong.

Now, he's also a man of great faith.

He's wise.

He grows into the position that Jesus gives him, and he becomes

a winsome and, even a very inspiring figure.

So to take nothing from him, I just think it is really interesting

that part of the story is that he still is fixated on himself,

that he has the revelation of God washing his feet, and and he's moved

and offended by it, but then he's moved in, offended in the wrong direction.

Once Jesus starts giving the explanation,

there's just something rich, and I think engaging about that,

because that's the temptation we're going to have when we read

the scripture is we're going to see this revelation ourselves,

and we too are going to be tempted to, like Peter once again,

make it about us, double down about what it means about us, and miss one.

That's trying to tell us.

How about the center of the character who is Jesus Christ?

At the risk of slowing us down even further?

You know, this is one of those texts, Michael, that I think is it

functions really in two ways, two great ways.

As a biblical text. It's interesting.

It raises lots of great questions.

Why don't we have this in other gospels?

What's going on here?

I mean, there's lots of interesting Bible questions

you can ask about this text and the language and the customs and etc., etc.

but when it comes to also functioning at the level of discipleship,

this is a

great preaching teaching text, right?

Who it of all the people,

of all the people who would be least in that room.

Everybody knows it isn't Jesus.

If the disciples are going to argue out who has to be the lowest servant

and wash the feet, Jesus is not in the conversation, right?

And yet he does it.

And the challenge that gives to each of us who do we serve?

And in what ways do we get up and take off our robe

and fill up our bucket and and wash, serve our neighbor?

In what ways are we willing to lower ourselves

in the name of Christ to serve others and

and to lower ourselves?

Not you know, we

so much of the world is is about moving up.

And here Jesus teaches

what it looks like to humbly move down and to to be a servant.

And I that's such a challenging passage.

It's such a beautiful picture of discipleship.

Yes. The the bread and cup, the passing,

the traditional Last Supper text also has something to say to us.

But this is just such a compelling story

that I think,

even though people don't always know that it's only in John.

I think people know this story.

It's just it's memorable.

It's challenging, it's interesting.

This is a great text.

It is a story

that plays really

well into John's intention of teaching.

Because the red text that's going to come here next,

as we get to it, is the kind of stuff

that that really keeps you

from being able to stray too far from the point, right?

When Jesus does this act,

it really could be interpreted in lots of different ways, right?

It could be that.

And we've, I think, circle around many of them.

The idea of the scandal of, even washing the feet of your betrayer,

knowing it's going to be that person or one of your chief disciples

kind of being a knucklehead, never understanding

exactly what you're teaching and making about himself.

I mean, there's a lot of messiness in this text, and yet

there's a very clear, resonant point that Jesus is demonstrating

what the way of God is in the world as he reveals it, it's

radically different, and I can't help but be calling to mind the jars.

The purification jars

used to turn the water into wine that we had the beginning of the story.

Another image of water, and washing.

And I think we have in that also,

that just that the image that we have so often that throughout the Gospels

that the Jewish purification rites were a matter of rote ritual and order.

Everyone knew to do that

because it was not only polite, it was just part of the culture.

But Jesus sees them in a radically different way.

In fact, in light of his life, in reality,

he he tries to help the disciples see how they've been all turned

on their head, and that ultimately

it becomes an opportunity for him to show them the extent to

which God is going to be willing to go for the sake of their salvation,

and they might be offended by him getting down to clean their feet.

They have no real conception

of the humiliation and pain and shame

that Jesus already knows is coming with his hour.

And it's just a very a poignant,

I think, a very loaded story.

And it's told by John in such a way so that the whole thing

is going to first get our attention, and then he's going to sort of

hold our faces like a little child, you know, trying to get right up in your face.

He's going to hold our faces

and he's going to say, now, this is what Jesus wants to teach you in this story.

I think the last thing I would add would just has to do with a word

in the front of the story.

Having loved his own, he loved them to the end.

And I think John would be remiss

if we didn't make the connection here between love and service

as a way of

serving those disciples as an example to them, as a model

to them, of what it meant to be Jesus, to be their Savior.

He he does. So he does this thing.

He did this out of love that the connection of love and service.

And again, which I think leaves us the very poignant question,

how do we show love to those around us?

Not just those who do good by us,

not just those we trust and those we care about and agree with, but

even the betrayer, even the wayward one, even the one we disagree with or dislike.

How is it that we show them love?

By serving, by lowering ourself and elevating them?

And I think again, just leaves us with such a

a spiritual challenge of discipleship and practice.

This is a the very powerful story, the very powerful act.

Your point about this being an important contribution in the Gospels,

I think, can't be emphasized enough, because it reminds me of the fact that the

this is a difficult teaching throughout all of history.

In fact, one of the core calls of the Reformation was that

the church itself had got this wrong and that people of religious power

were being put in position over others, that they were lording it over that,

and that it's not just a reformation dynamic that happens throughout time

as as you know, we're humans and our human institutions get it wrong.

And I just think there's some deep and meaningful calls to action here

that remind us that just because it's hard doesn't mean

that we get a pass to not wake up setting ourselves again to do it.

That that Jesus did this for his disciples.

And and we are not greater than the master.

And that is a transition to what we're going to do tomorrow.

So I sincerely hope you'll join us for that conversation,

because some of the red leather stuff here really matters.

And I think that's a significant way of forming our imaginations.

Yeah. Glad you could be with us. Thanks for joining us.

Hope you can be with us again as we continue

through the rest of this text and the rest of the gospel.

See you tomorrow.