Category: John 13

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John John 13 Luke Luke 22 Mark Mark 14 Matthew Matthew 26

A God who knows our weakness and accepts us anyway

The gospels

When Jesus told the disciples that he was leaving for a place they could not follow, it must have really troubled them. He was their teacher, and they couldn’t imagine life without him.

As usual, it was Peter who spoke out, saying,

Lord, where are you going… why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. (John 13:36-37)

Jesus then stunned Peter and the rest of the disciples by saying,

Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times! (John 13:38)

He then said,

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift (all of) you as wheat.

But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. (Luke 22:31-32)

Again, Peter declared,

Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death. (Luke 22:33)

But again Jesus replied,

I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me. (Luke 22:34)

Perhaps, at that point, the other disciples thought that Peter was the betrayer that Jesus had talked about earlier. Perhaps even Peter was wondering.

So Jesus said,

You will all fall away… for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. (Mark 14:27-28)

Still Peter continued to insist,

Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. (Matthew 26:33).

So Jesus made his declaration even stronger and more specific saying,

I tell you the truth… today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times. (Mark 14:30)

Even then, Peter refused to believe it, and insisted with all the other disciples that he would never do such a thing, even if it meant death. (Mark 14:31)

In the end, of course, they all did as Jesus had predicted. All of them ran away when Jesus was arrested, and Peter ended up denying Jesus three times.

What’s my point? Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our weaknesses, even when we can’t see them ourselves. And yet, he accepts us.

That’s the amazing thing of all of this. He never condemned Peter.

Rather, he tried to encourage him saying, “I’ve been praying for you that your faith will not fail. You will fall, but you will get up again. And when you do, encourage the others.”

In the same way, Jesus knows our weakness. Yet he doesn’t condemn us.

Rather, he, as our great high priest, prays for us daily. He reaches out to pull us up when we fall down. And when we get up again, he tells us to have mercy on the others we see around us who have fallen as well.

So in our weakness, in our failures, let us always remember,

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

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John John 13

That the world may know

John

With Judas now gone, Jesus begins his final address to his disciples before the cross. And to this bickering, prideful group, he said,

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

This was the group that even up to a few hours before, were arguing about who was greatest among them. Who were too proud to take the role of a servant to wash each other’s feet.

And so Jesus wanted to drive home what was really important to him: that they love one another.

Notice he doesn’t say, “Love everyone around you,” although most certainly he wanted them to do that too.

He said, “Love each other.”

Why?

Because that’s how people will know we are truly his followers.

Yet even today, the church is so lacking in love. We fight among ourselves, as prideful and bickering as the disciples were.

And when people walk into the church, they start to think, “Is this what followers of Jesus are like? Is this what Jesus is like? If so, I want nothing of it.”

I remember walking into a church once, and for some reason, the worship leader wasn’t leading worship. Another guy, who was just a beginner, was up there struggling to lead the worship.

The worship leader, meanwhile, was just sitting in the back stone-faced. And the tension in that room was utterly palpable.

I later found out that he had just had a falling out with one of the leaders just prior to my arrival.

The sad thing about it all? A visitor came that day. And I think she noticed it all. She never did come back, so far as I know.

If we can’t learn to love the people in the church, how can we love the people outside of it? And if we act just like the people outside of the church, how in the world are they ever going to see Jesus in us?

How about you? You can’t change the other people inside of the church and make them more loving. But you can shape your own attitude with God’s help.

How are you responding to those in church around you?

Are you looking down on others? Sniping at others? Tearing them down? Grumbling about their shortcomings? Or are you approaching them with the same love that Jesus approached you?

The next time you go to church, or even as you go to church today, think on these words. Meditate on them. And ask God to help you live them.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

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John John 13 Luke Luke 22 Mark Mark 14 Matthew Matthew 26

Betrayal

The gospels

As I’ve mentioned before, harmonizing these passages is a little tough.

One question is whether Judas participated in the first communion. Luke seems to imply so, while the other gospel writers seem to say Judas didn’t.

It’s just my opinion, but I believe Judas was there, and that the other writers, for whatever reason, didn’t keep things in chronological order.

At any rate, in these passages, Jesus dealt with his betrayer Judas.

There are some interesting things to note here.

While it was John who sat on one side of Jesus (assuming that he is “the one Jesus loved,” there seems to be a good chance that it was Judas that was on Jesus’ other side. It seems hard to believe that Jesus could say what he did to Judas without the others hearing unless this were so.

Unlike most pictures you see of the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples did not sit in chairs. They sat on couches.

And when they reclined, they didn’t lean back, rather they leaned to the side, resting on their left elbow, right near the bosom of the person on their left.

Thus, it seems John was on Jesus’ right, and Judas on Jesus’ left.

Like I said before, to be seated next to Jesus at the table was an honor to the people there. And Jesus let Judas sit next to him. In short, he honored Judas.

Yet despite all of this, Jesus never fooled himself concerning Judas’ true nature. He told the disciples,

I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me. (John 13:21)

This of course, shocked all the disciples, and they started to ask Jesus one by one, “Is it I?” Judas himself asked “Surely not I, Rabbi?” (Matthew 26:25)

Perhaps Judas thought he had fooled Jesus. But Jesus whispered to him, “Yes, it is you.”

Imagine the look of shock that must have come on Judas’ face. He was totally exposed. Perhaps he was afraid that Jesus would now denounce him before his disciples and have him killed.

At about that time, Peter nudged John and said, “Ask Jesus who he’s talking about.” (John 13:24)

When John did, Jesus replied, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” (John 13:26)

He then (in the eyes of the other disciples watching) honored Judas once again by offering a morsel of bread to Judas.

To everyone except John, they must have been thinking, “Wow, Judas is more special than we thought!”

Judas himself must have been wondering at all this honor that Jesus was bestowing upon him. Maybe he thought he had misunderstood Jesus. Then Jesus told him,

What you are about to do, do quickly. (John 13:27)

And Judas quickly realized that Jesus knew exactly what was in his heart. And he went to betray Jesus.

What can we learn from this? Two things.

There are people that will betray us. That will hurt us. And it is easy to get bitter against them. To dishonor them as they have dishonored us.

But just as Jesus honored his betrayer, we are to show the same kind of honor and respect to them.

At the same time, however, we should know exactly what kind of person they are. We should not deceive ourselves about their nature. And we should protect ourselves from them.

When you look at the life of Jesus, he always did this. When people sought to kill him, he got out of there. The only time he didn’t was with Judas, and that was because it was his whole purpose to die. His time had finally come.

But God generally does not call us to submit to abuse from others if we don’t have to. Stay away. Keep your distance.

And if that’s not possible for some reason, keep your armor up around them. The chances of them hurting you deeply is much less if you have not fooled yourself concerning their character.

That said, we are called to forgive them. And even more, to treat them with respect and honor. As Peter wrote,

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. (1 Peter 3:9)

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John John 13

Getting our feet cleaned

John

One more point from this story before I go on.

As Jesus went to wash Peter’s feet, Peter exclaimed,

No…you shall never wash my feet. (John 13:8)

When Jesus replied that Peter would have no part with him if he refused, Peter then went over the top as he usually did, and said,

Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well! (9)

But Jesus replied,

A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you. (10)

What was Jesus saying?

He was telling Peter, “Because you have put your faith in me, you are already clean. Once you’ve been made clean from your past sins, the only thing that you need to deal with is the sin you accumulate as you walk through this life every day.”

The same is true with us. When we come to Jesus and put our faith in his work on the cross, he washes completely clean from all the sins of our past.

But each day, as we go through life, we get stained by sin once again. We do things that hurt God, hurt others, and hurt ourselves.

This does not mean that we are no longer Christians and need to be saved again. But it does mean that every day we need to come to Jesus so that we can be cleansed once again. Not for the sins of our past. But for our sins of the day.

And John tells us in his first epistle that when we do, that

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

I have to admit, I need to get my feet washed a lot more. Too many times, I forget to look back on my day and confess my sins. And that sin can put a barrier between me and God if I let it go unconfessed.

So let us make it a daily practice to come to Jesus and get our feet washed. To confess our sins, and to ask his forgiveness.

And if we do, he is faithful, and he will wash us clean.

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John John 13

The ultimate servant

John

The Bible is full of pictures concerning Jesus and his work on the cross, starting from God’s promise of someone to come stomp on the serpent’s head even while getting his heel struck in the process, to Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, to the tabernacle sacrifices.

And this is not even including all the prophesies made by Isaiah, and the ones made by David in the Psalms.

And now, just before the cross, Jesus gave two more pictures.

One, of course, is communion which we’ll get to in a few blogs. But the other is right here in this passage. And because of the beauty of the picture Jesus painted, I would be remiss in not talking about it.

It says that Jesus got up from the meal, he took off his outer garments and wrapped a towel around his waist.

What was this a picture of? The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:5-7)

Jesus, though he was God, made himself nothing. The NASB puts it this way, “He emptied himself.”

He took off the outer garments of his glory and became one of us. But not only did he become one of us, he wrapped a towel around his waist, and in so doing, took the very nature of a servant.

Paul goes on to say,

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8)

Just as Jesus humbled himself and washed the feet of his disciples, so did he humble himself, going to the cross, that our sins might be washed away by his blood.

That’s why when Peter objected to Jesus washing his feet, Jesus replied,

Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. (John 13:8)

In other words, “Peter, you’re messing with my picture here. Just as I am washing your feet, so will I need to wash away your sins. And unless you allow me to wash away your sins, you will have no part with me. You cannot have a relationship with me.”

After Jesus finished washing their feet, he then put his clothes back on and returned to his place at the head of the table. And in the same way, Paul tells us,

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and underr the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Now Jesus asks us the same thing that he asked his disciples.

Do you understand what I have done for you? (John 13:12)

Do you? Do you understand all that Jesus gave up and sacrificed for you so that your sins might be forgiven? If you do, then Jesus tells you,

You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:13-15, 17)

Jesus was the ultimate servant. And he calls us to be like him. Are you?

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John John 13 Luke Luke 22

True leadership

The gospels

Trying to harmonize the gospel accounts at this point is a little sticky. I get the impression that things were not always told in chronological order and that there were little asides thrown in.

This passage in Luke, in my opinion, is one of them.

It says that at the meal that the disciples started arguing with each other about who among them was the greatest.

I don’t know how this argument started, but at a guess, it started when they were deciding the seating arrangements after arriving at the upper room to celebrate the Passover.

In their culture, the person sitting to the right of Jesus would be considered the most important, and the person sitting to his left would be second most. And the further you sat away from Jesus, the less important you were considered.

And so it may be that they were arguing about who should sit next to Jesus.

Peter may have been saying, “Hey I’m the leader of all you guys. I should sit there.”

John may have replied, “Yeah, but Jesus loves me more.”

Even Judas might have gotten into the act. “Everyone knows I’m the most important. I handle all the money.”

How long Jesus watched this, I don’t know, but perhaps after everyone finally settled down into their places, with some still grumbling about where they were sitting, Jesus did something that shocked them all.

It was customary in situations like this meal, that someone would wash the feet of the others. With everyone wearing sandals on dirt roads, feet could get pretty filthy.

Usually, a servant would do the washing, but in circumstances where a servant wasn’t present, typically it was the lowest person on the totem pole who would do this.

John, being the youngest, might have been expected to do so. But he apparently somehow managed to weasel his way right next to Jesus (John 13:23) and was not about to give up his place to do a “servant’s job.”

And after this big blowup, none of the others were inclined to do so either.

Jesus could have rebuked them. But instead, Jesus “showed them the full extent of his love.” (John 13:1)

He got up, took off his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist, and started washing their feet and drying them.

How embarrassed the disciples must have been that Jesus was doing the job that one of them should have been doing.

After Jesus had finished, he sat down and asked them,

Do you understand what I have done for you… You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. (John 13:12-14)

He continued,

The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.

But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest and the one who rules like the one who serves.

For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table?

But I am among you as one who serves. (Luke 22:25-27)

He then concluded,

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:15-17)

What was Jesus telling them? These were the men that Jesus had chosen to have great responsibility.

The day will come when they will sit on thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel. They will have the privilege of sitting at Jesus’ table and eating and drinking with him. (Luke 22:28-30)

But as he had pointed out earlier, leadership is not about lording it over people. It’s about servanthood.

Jesus served them by washing their feet. Jesus served them and all of us by dying for our sins. So now he tells us that as leaders we are to do the same.

And Jesus tells us that the true blessing of leadership comes not from all the “privileges” we receive as leaders. It comes not from exercising our authority over others and telling them what to do. Rather it comes from serving as Jesus did.

That’s what leadership is all about.

How do you see leadership? As being served? Or as serving others?