John 13:18-35 - Caleb Richardson

As we gather together, some mornings you guys

are all super excited, everybody's bouncing off

the walls, and then there's some days where everybody's

like half asleep. And today feels like that.

So, this is what we're going to do. I'm just

giving you a warning. I'm going to start off

with a question, and then I'm going to end with

a question, and I want you to engage, meaning

I want response back. So you guys ready for that?

Okay. So I want to start with this question.

What is radical love? What does it look like?

Like, how would you describe, if I said to you,

when I say radical love to you, give me some

examples of how you would describe what radical

love is. Unconditional. Good. Keep going. Yeah.

Say it one more time. Loving without receiving.

It's something you're extending of it, not necessarily

getting something back. Good. Inconvenient. I

like that one. When it causes you pain, that's

radical. What else? Sacrificial. Your marriage

is radical love. Yes. What's that? It's obvious

to everyone around, okay? Think of anything else?

So, radical love is an unconditional, self -sacrificing

kind of love. It doesn't ask, what do I get in

return? Radical love is given freely regardless

of how someone responds. Radical love is a demonstration

of grace and forgiveness. What is the word grace?

It's undeserving favor. And so in John, as we

look at these verses starting in 18 to 35 today.

As we unpack these verses, I think we could give

this sermon a title, which I never do. This is

the verses we're going through today. But if

I was, we would call this section Radical Love.

First of all, we're going to look at, if you're

taking notes, first of all, we're going to look

at Jesus and how he demonstrates radical love.

And then the second part is Jesus' radical love

is reflected. And so it's the demonstration of

his love and the reflection. of that radical

love. So let's start off with number one, Jesus'

demonstration of radical love. Remember the context

that we look at these verses today. Jesus is

in the upper room with his disciples. In fact,

a lot of John is what's happening in this upper

room, at least in this chapter and the one that's

coming. But he's in the upper room. This is his

last meal, last time with his disciples. Kind

of an instruction is happening. He's with his

closest. He's got 12 in the room, the 12. And

we don't believe there was anybody else. Just

these guys he spent three years with. And in

verse 10, it says this in chapter 13, verse 10.

It says, he loved his own who were in the world.

He loved them to the end. So Jesus is with these

12, and he deeply loves these guys. You've got

to think of that through as we look at these

verses. He deeply loves them. By the way, this

section is interesting. I haven't hardly ever

watched The Chosen, but I went back and just

kind of watched this section. It's fascinating

how they try to pull all of this stuff together

from all the Gospels, what's happening in here.

But even with that, watching it, I was like,

man. They're still missing the amount of love

that Jesus has for these guys. Jesus just, I

mean, so as we saw last week, by the way, Josh

did a great job last week. Just killed it. I've

been thinking about it all week. That's when

you know something happened is when you're thinking

about it the rest of the week. But he talked

about how Jesus took this role of a servant.

How he lowered himself, humbly took the role

of a servant, and demonstrated this radical love

by washing the feet of the disciples. So don't

lose sight of that. That's just happened as we

get to these verses, okay? So at the end, and

so just after this, he finishes washing his disciples'

feet, he has this to say in verse 16. He says,

truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than

his master, and a messenger not greater than

the one who sent him. For if you know these things,

you are blessed if you do them. But as he's instructing

them to live like a servant, to live like Jesus,

the next statement goes really dark. Okay, so

this is where we enter into our story today in

verse 18. And he goes from this instructing and

says, hey, as you've done this, if you see me

lead as a servant, that's what I want you to

do. And then it goes dark. It's kind of a weird

transition. He says, verse 18. I am not speaking

about all of you. I know those I've chosen, but

the scripture must be fulfilled. The one who

eats my bread has raised his heel against me.

What Jesus is saying is, guys, not all of you

in this room are blessed. Why? Because one of

you is going to betray me. One of you is going

to raise his heel against me. That's what that

means. This is a phrase, raise the heel against

me, comes out of Psalm 41 verse 9, where David

Psalms 41:9

is talking about and says this, he says, even

my friend in whom I trusted, one who I ate my

bread with, has raised his heel against me. So

he's actually pointing back, he's saying a phrase

that comes out of Psalm 41, and he's attaching

this moment to a story that they would understand.

See, as a result, David has this close friend

who betrays him, And as David's close friend

betrays him, he ends up going out after that

betrayal, not David, but his friend, goes out

and hangs himself. That's what's going to happen

to Judas. We're not going to spend all our time

talking about that, but that's what happens in

Judas. After he betrays Jesus, he goes out and

hangs himself. So there's this weird connection

there. Then in the next two verses, it tells

us, He tells his disciples something they need

to know, they need to hang on to as the future

events are coming. Look what it says in verse

19. I am telling you now before it happens, so

that when it does happen, you will believe that

I am he. Truly, I tell you, whoever receives

anyone I send receives me, and the one who receives

me receives him. who sent me. Jesus is saying,

keep this in front of you guys. Bad days are

coming. Heavy days are coming. And as these terrible

events happen, I don't want you to stumble or

lose faith. Also, when you receive me, when you

put your faith in me, you receive the Father

as well. That's what he's saying. Then he goes,

And then it gets really heavy in the room. You

guys, they're all sitting around lounging as

Josh was talking about last week around a table.

You can kind of see the candles flickering and

this just kind of gets heavy. Verse 21, when

Jesus had said this, he was troubled in his spirit

and testified, truly I tell you, one of you will

betray me. So he says it again. John describes

Jesus as troubled in spirit. Seems a bit flat

when we read it like that. But it's exactly the

same word used in John 11, verse 33, when Jesus

John 11:33

stood and wept at Lazarus' grave. Remember that

story? He was troubled. It's the same word that

Jesus used when He looked at the coming dread

on the cross. And He says in 12 .27, Now my heart

is troubled. The word troubled, we talked about

this, but the word troubled here is this picture

of what happens to the ocean when a hurricane

approaches. Its water is stirred up. It becomes

violent. It becomes turmoil. That's the trouble

he's talking about. And so this time, though,

all of his disciples could see that something

was different. Jesus was troubled. But this time,

his heart wasn't troubled for himself. This is

him being troubled for his betrayer. Jesus loved

Judas. Don't lose sight of this. Jesus loved

Judas and it wrecked him deeply because he knew

what was going to happen. I was trying to put

myself in Jesus' shoes knowing if I knew that

somebody was going to betray me, I would probably

not feel a great love toward them. But Jesus'

love toward him loves him so much that it just

troubles him. Have you ever thought that even

though That your sin, my sin, the sin we sin,

it grieves God. God is not an impersonal force.

He's a relational God who deeply loves you. And

so here's Judas in this situation about ready

to do a horrendous thing against Jesus. And Jesus'

heart toward him is troubled. It grieves him.

Now look what happens in the room as the disciples

begin to understand what is going to happen.

And they begin to understand that one of them

in this room is going to betray Jesus. Look at

22. The disciples started looking at one another,

uncertain which one he was speaking about. One

of his disciples, the one Jesus loved. That's

just John's way of saying it was me. You know,

he's like, hey, Jesus loves me. But he says he

was reclining. So you can just hear this dynamic

in the room, right? The one that Jesus loved

was reclining close beside Jesus. He's right

next to Jesus. And Peter, who's right beside

him, Simon Peter, motioned to him, hey, find

out. Find out who he's talking about. So John

leans back against Jesus. Remember, they're kind

of reclining down. It's not like they're sitting

around the table. They're kind of laying beside.

He leans back and asks Jesus, Lord, who is it?

No one in the room but Jesus and Judas knew who

was going to betray Jesus. Judas knew. You can

just feel this tension and their concern over

this situation. Think about if Jesus would have

told the room, hey guys, Judas is going to betray

me. what do you think would happen they would

have rose up and like strangled the cat they

were like whoa what are you doing i've taken

him out back and he would probably experience

some sort of beating or something like you're

not betraying our lord it's even interesting

when you read this account in the other gospels

which i would challenge you to do because it's

interesting um but when judas responds to jesus

and the other disciples are responding to jesus

the other disciples call him lord And Judas calls

him rabbi, teacher. They are looking at each.

But Jesus' heart toward him is like, he's broken

over this. So think about the continuous love

that Jesus shows Judas. First of all, as we talked

about last week, he washes Judas' feet. I mean,

you can imagine what that would have been like

for Judas as Jesus' eye catches Judas' eye. as

he's washing his feet and judas is thinking he

has no idea what i'm going to do to him and jesus

just announced he has every idea he knows exactly

what judas is going to do to him the second he

he warns him he predicts his betrayal in a way

that judas would understand thirdly i think he

here's the crazy thing is that and you learn

this as you look at all the other gospels that

jesus gives judas the seat of honor right beside

him, which in that day was a big deal, to be

seated right next to Jesus. So that's where Judas

is placed. The fourth thing, I think, is what

you see in verse 26. Look at what he says. Jesus

replied, he is the one I give the piece of bread

to after I have dipped it in. When he had dipped

the bread, he gave it to Judas, Simon. Ascariot's

son. Okay, now that's a weird thing. See, in

the culture of that time, if you take a morsel

of bread, a morsel of some sort, you dip it in

the dinner, and you hand it to a person, it's

a sign of friendship. It's a sign that you're

a gesture of special friendship, of deep love.

This is not to be confused with the communion

meal, by the way, although it happens during

the same time. But this is something where, jesus

is showing like in pulling out this bread and

handing it to judas it's a picture of his radical

love for judas judas he says in a sense here

is my friendship here is my restoration judas

here is my heart of love for you and just as

quick side note like i don't like i said i don't

believe this is the piece of bread at the last

supper this is a different morsel so as jesus

hands Judas his last gesture of love. Judas takes

the bread, but in full rebellion, eats it. And

Judas' heart is dark. Look at verse 27. After

Judas ate the piece of bread, Satan entered him.

And Jesus told him, what you're going to do,

do it quickly. None of those reclining at the

table knew why he had said this to him. Since

Judas kept the money bag, some thought that Jesus

was telling him, buy what you need for the festival,

or that he should give something to the poor

after receiving the piece of bread. He immediately

left, and it was night. Underline that part.

One of the commentators I was reading said, it

certainly was the midnight of Judas' soul. It

was the night that he would know no morning.

Judas had chosen his own place of darkness and

doom. Now as Judas has gone, he's moved out,

the scene in the room changes, and it brightens.

Look at verse 31. When he had left, Jesus said,

now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified

in him. If God is glorified in him, God will

also glorify him in himself and will glorify

him at once it's kind of hard to understand how

that all fits what's going on there but we'll

get to it little children i am with you a little

while longer but now look you will look for me

and just as i told you the jews so now i'll tell

you where i'm going you cannot come all right

so jesus is heading to the cross next that's

what he's saying And on the cross, he will pay

the penalty for the sins. Your sin and for my

sin. And as we have looked already, the cross

is what gives Jesus glory. This old nasty cross

is the thing that God is going to give glory

to Jesus. And through the Father. So in verse

33, we see... Again, Jesus' deep love for his

followers. He calls them what? Little children.

It's a weird statement for us. Like, little children.

But it's a word of affection. Jesus is like,

man, I love you guys. I love you guys. Then with

that, Jesus turns from the demonstration of this

radical love. Because the radical love that Jesus

had portrayed, we've seen it throughout his whole

life. We see it in the upper room with him washing

their feet and then being able to embrace Judas,

even in the midst of a betrayer. He's still there.

He's still showing love in how he deals with

him. And then he turns to his disciples and he

says, this is now how you're going to radically

reflect my love. Look what he says in verse 34.

I give you a new command. Love one another just

as I have loved you. You are also to love one

another. By this, everyone will know that you're

my disciples if you love one another. I'm sure

you guys have heard this part of the Bible before.

It's pretty famous, you know. But here's the

thing. Loving one another is not a new command.

Like, what's Jesus talking about? It's not a

new command. It was talked about in the Old Testament.

We are to love one another. But for the disciples

of Jesus to love each other with the sort of

love that's modeled by Jesus was a drastically,

extremely different, extremely dramatic kind

of love. Like he's saying, this is not normal.

To love one another was a normal command. But

to do it the way that Jesus said is not normal.

That's the new command. Love is what characterized

the relationship between Jesus and God the Father.

His radical love was manifested in his obedience

to the Father's will. So that love that he's

talking about started with obedience to do what

the Father had asked him to do. It was that kind

of depth of love. And the disciples... Not just

in obedience to Jesus, but also looking at everything

Jesus had done with his life. The disciples are

now called to reflect that radical love demonstrated

by Jesus. So before we go any farther, I said

I had a question. Here's another one for us.

When you think about all of the life of Jesus

up to this point, from John chapter 1. In the

John 1 · chapter mention

beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

God, and the Word was God. And then what did

he do? He showed up on the scene. Like, he dwelt

among us. The God of the universe comes to us.

To all the miracles and miraculous stuff that

Jesus did. To washing the feet. Like, all these

things. Popcorn it out. So, the first question

is, how has Jesus loved? I don't like popcorn,

okay? How has Jesus loved? Think about every

example you can right now. Of all the ways that

Jesus loved. Let's just popcorn it. You know

what I mean by that? Like, you get to yell it

out. What is it? What are the ways you've seen

demonstrated Jesus' love? Healed people. What's

that? Gave them food. Okay. What's that? It's

time. Say it again. Weeping. Yeah. Weeping over

the loss of his friend. I didn't hear that. Preemptive

forgiveness. Okay. How has Jesus demonstrated

love? Huh? Serving. like he just took on that

role lowered himself calm good just a calm does

i say that right okay i'm getting old i need

some urinates i'm going to do this you guys gotta

help me out here all right what else love okay

how has jesus demonstrated his love tangibly

like because he says right here and this is not

like a trick but it kind of is he says As I have

loved. How has Jesus loved? Taught. Okay. He

was a teacher. He just got down to the level.

What's that? Patience. Okay. Got to know people

personally. In their world. He's the God of the

universe. Came down to the level. What was that?

Acceptance. Okay, so I want you just to sit here

and think about this as we go forward, okay?

What did, how did it look? Who God is and what

he has done, it, church, it defines who I am

and how I am to live. And so if this is what,

who God is and what he has done, like the demonstration,

Jesus is the one that determines who we are and

how we live. Then we look at Jesus and say, okay,

what was this cat all about? How did he love?

We don't live to earn God's favor or earn his

love. That has been given to us freely. We live

in response to God's favor and to his love. We

live our life in response to that. We live reflecting

what we have been given. His love in us. That's

the vertical. His love in us is reflected through

us. That's the horizontal. And Jesus is saying,

as I've done this, that's how you do it. As I've

lived this way, this is how you do it. Husbands,

you love your wives as Jesus loves. Wives, you

love your husbands as Jesus loves. Dads, you

love your children as Jesus loves. Moms, you

love your children as Jesus loves. For those

in your GC, love as Jesus loves. Those in this

church, look around you. Love each other as Jesus

loves. Those outside of this family, love as

Jesus loves. Those you don't agree with politically,

love as Jesus loves. Those who offend you, love

as Jesus loves. That's what he's calling us to.

That's why it's a radically new command. Because

to say, you just need to love them, it brought

weightiness to it. But now this is much different.

That Jesus himself, who would go to the cross,

suffer in our place, is demonstrating love to

us over and over and over. He says, now I want

you to live that way. I want you to reflect what

you've experienced. So that's why your vertical

matters. Like if you don't have a relationship

where you understand the love of God towards

you, that you understand what you've experienced

in the love of God, then how in the world are

we going to have a life of reflecting God in

love? We'll do it out of duty to earn God's favor.

But when we realize that the good news of Jesus

had been freely given to us, and we live from

that place, then it changes the way that you

and I even deal with each other, how we love

each other. And then in verse 35, it says this,

by this, everyone will know that you're my disciples.

By this, by your way you love one another, that's

how you're going to be known as a follower of

Jesus. The band, you guys can come up. Each week

we celebrate the incredible love of Jesus as

we take communion. So in the other gospels, we

know that when Jesus broke the bread and gave

the wine, it was right during this big experience.

We don't understand all the details of where

exactly falls, a lot of debate about that, but

it did happen. And so it's in this time that

Jesus also takes the bread and it says, and as

he's serving communion, he says this, this comes

from Matthew 26. John leaves this out, but Matthew

26, 26 says this. As they were eating, Jesus

grabbed his piece of bread. He took the bread.

He blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples.

He says, take and eat. This is my body. This

is my body. When he had taken the cup, and after

giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, drink

from it, all of you. This is my blood of the

covenant, which is poured out. for many, for

the forgiveness of sins. What's the biggest demonstration

of Jesus' love? His sacrificing and giving of

himself for us. And so he just says, look, this

is the way I'm rolling. So as you go to take

communion today, if you are a follower of Jesus,

I just encourage you, by the way, don't take

it if you're not. It's kind of weird. But as

you take it, you're literally saying, Jesus,

thank you. So this radical love that you poured

out to me when you went to the cross on my place

and your body was broken and your blood was shed

for me, creating a new way for me to have deep

and intimate love with you. That vertical. So

as you take communion, think about that radical

love of Jesus being poured out for you. Let's

pray. Lord, we probably could call this entire

book of John radical love. Because from the beginning

all the way through, over and over, we see a

love that does not make any sense. And Lord,

I know that from, if I left up to myself, there's

no way I could even begin to love like you. But

you call us to that and you enable us by the

power of your spirit to begin to love the way

you do. And so Lord, I just pray and ask that

as we fix our eyes on you, that you will make

us a church where everybody around us will go.

They're different. They look like Jesus because

of the way they love one another. Lord, will

you help us learn to love you and to love each

other with the kind of love that you demonstrated

to us. In your name we pray. Amen.