02 Passionate Love - Peculiar People

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He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

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John 13, pg. 900

As one reads through the Gospel of John, the shadow of the cross grows longer and darker until now the reader stands at the foot of the cross on the evening before the Crucifixion. In just a few short hours (somewhere between fifteen and eighteen hours) our Lord would be suspended between the sky and earth as the sin-bearer of mankind. Before the sun set again he would breathe his last tortured breath. With the conclusion of chapter 12, there would be more public discourses. Chapters 13–17 record what we have come to know as the Upper Room Discourse. In these five chapters we see intimate teaching about service, love, the Holy Spirit, Heaven, our union with Christ, and prayer. When these verses are examined with proper reverential excitement, they will accomplish great good in our lives. The Upper Room Discourse begins with a dramatic call to follow Christ’s example as a servant—to be people of the towel. He tells us, if we are to be his followers, where we must begin, what qualities must be in our lives, and what we must do. John introduces this new section with a few short sentences that form a masterful introduction to the heady atmosphere of the upper room.

THE HEART OF THE SERVANT (vv. 1–3) The final sentence gives us his heart: ―having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.‖ The servant’s heart is a heart of love. The tenses at the end of verse 1, ―having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love,‖ means that in the whole range of Christ’s contact with his disciples, he loved them! In the Upper Room he consciously made that the overriding issue. SLIDE:

―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.‖ (vv. 34–35)

And in 17:26 the Savior tells the Father, SLIDE:

―I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.‖

Teaching his people to love was one of Jesus’ overall purposes in the Upper Room Discourse. Specifically, Jesus was saying to his people, ―If you want to be my servants, if you want to grow in this authentic aspect of discipleship, if that is what you really desire, you must allow your hearts to deepen in love.‖ Are we willing to do that? Are we willing to grow in love? Another aspect of the Savior’s heart is that Jesus knew exactly who he was. Notice the beginning of verse 1: ―It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.‖ Also, ―Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he

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had come from God and was returning to God‖ (v. 3). Jesus did not forget he was God and yet humbled himself. Being fully conscious of his supremacy and coming super-exaltation, he became the Lord of the towel! Here is the heart of our foot-washing Lord and Savior—a heart that is aware of its royalty while overflowing with a love that loves to the uttermost.

THE EXAMPLE OF THE SERVANT (vv. 4–11) The disciples were alone with Jesus in the Upper Room. The world was locked out. Only a handful of mortals and honored angels would see what happened there. Because it was a Passover meal, the disciples were reclining in the traditional posture, each with his left arm to support his head and his right arm to reach dishes on the table. Their feet were stretched out behind them away from the table. The Savior rose from the table and performed the last labor of his life. Considering the self-conscious, purposeful drama and the natural intensity it certainly evoked, there were probably a few murmurs and whispers and then silence. Our modern translations use the past tense, but the Greek uses the present.     

Jesus rises from supper just as in the Incarnation he rose from his place of perfect fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He lays aside his garments just as he had temporarily set aside his glorious existence. He takes a towel just as he took upon himself the form of a servant. He wraps a towel around his waist, for he had come to serve. He pours water into the basin, just as he was about to pour out his blood in order to wash away human sin. He washes his disciples’ feet just as he cleanses his children.

On this remarkable occasion Jesus perfectly staged a portrayal of his whole life from birth to death to resurrection! It was a dramatization of Philippians 2:5–9: READ:

Philippians 2:5 – 9

Jesus’ whole life was dominated by service! As Christ said of himself, ―The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many‖ (Matthew 20:28). POUR OUT WATER: With the uncomfortable quiet in that upper room, undoubtedly all could easily hear the gentle pouring of the water and the Master’s breathing as he moved from disciple to disciple. I wonder what he thought.   

Perhaps as he dried the feet of Thomas and Mark, ―These feet will be beautiful on the mountains.‖ And when he came to Judas, ―These will soon steal away in the dark.‖ Then he came to a pair of 13Ds—Peter’s!

Peter said, ―Lord, are you going to wash my feet?‖ Jesus answered and said to him, ―You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.‖ Peter said to him, ―No, you shall never wash my feet‖ (vv. 6b–8a).

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Good old Peter. Sometimes the only time he opened his mouth was to change feet! The Greek here is even more forceful! ―Lord, You, my feet do You wash! No, never shall You wash my feet until eternity.‖ Foot-washing was a servant’s task and not something to be done by the Master! The Midrash specified that foot-washing could not be required of a Hebrew slave.4 The Master dressed in a servant’s towel? Absurd! Never! Jesus answered in verse 8, ―Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.‖ Peter replied, ―Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!‖ (v. 9). I like Peter. ―All of me, Jesus!‖ But now the impetuous disciple was swinging too far in the other direction, as our Lord explained in verses 10–11: READ:

John 13:10 – 11

When one had bathed and then walked to another’s house, he only needed his feet washed in order to be clean. As justified believers, the disciples did not need a radical new cleansing, but rather a daily cleansing from the contaminating effects of sin. Jesus went on to finish washing their feet, and when he had finished, he rose again, put on his garments, and again reclined at the table.

THE CHALLENGE OF THE SERVANT (vv. 12–17) Jesus then asked them, ―Do you understand what I have done for you?‖ (v. 12). I believe they knew! In Luke’s account of the last meal we read (22:24): ―Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest.‖ When the cross was only a few hours away, the disciples were still arguing about matters of pride. Usually when there was no servant present to wash the guests’ feet, the first one or two to arrive would perform the ceremony for the rest of the guests. But here the first arrivals were not in the mood. Perhaps the ―who’s the greatest?‖ controversy had actually begun as they journeyed there. They were willing to fight for the throne, but no one wanted the towel! Jesus’ act was a powerful lesson in servanthood, and they were missing the point! So Jesus issued a potent challenge in verses 13–16: READ:

John 13:13 – 16

Jesus employed the compelling logic of a lawyer’s argument: ―If it is true for the greater (me), how much more for the lesser (you).‖ In 1970 at the Inter-Varsity’s Urbana convention, John Stott gave a masterful application of the truth of this passage. He told a story about Samuel Logan Brengle: In 1878 when William Booth’s Salvation Army had just been so named, men from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of himself as a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. He was a Methodist minister, Samuel Logan Brengle. And he now turned from a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Salvation Army. Brengle later became the Army’s first American-born commissioner. But at first Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, “You’ve been your own boss too long.” And in order to instill humility into Brengle, he 4

Midrash Mekilta on Exodus 21:2, quoted in Brown, Gospel According to John, p. 564.

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set him to work cleaning the boots of the other trainees. And Brengle said to himself, “Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?” And then as in a vision he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, unlettered fishermen. “Lord,” he whispered, “You washed their feet: I will black their boots.”5 If we are to count ourselves as followers of Christ, there must be humble service in our lives. We must be people of the towel. More specifically, we are to wash one another’s feet. While Christ does not exclude washing the feet of those outside the church, it is meant primarily for brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. That is in some respects more difficult. It is easier sometimes to humble ourselves and wash the feet of those we do not know. But those in our own families? Or fellow believers whom we loathe, that we have not spoken to for years? But Jesus’ instruction was clear: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” When we do this, it will have a cleansing effect upon other believers. Jesus is saying that the church has received the essential cleansing by him in the forgiveness of sins, but we can help take away the day-byday dirt of the world by humbly serving one another. By doing this, we will encourage one another to godliness.

CONCLUSION ―Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them‖ (v. 17). Jesus did not say we will be happy if we think about these things or learn about them or, as is so often thought, have them done to us. ―Happy are you if you do them.‖ Happy are we if we wash our wives’ feet! Happy are we if we wash our children’s feet! Happy are we if we wash our parents’ feet! Happy are we if we wash a detractor’s feet! We do not need to learn more about this. We need to do it. Like its physical counterpart, spiritual foot-washing is dirty work! We cannot make people clean by scolding them or lecturing them or patronizing them. We must get our hands dirty if we are going to be involved in a ministry of cleansing. How do we become people of the towel? 1. First we must observe the marvelous example of our foot-washing Lord and Savior and then listen to Jesus’ challenge: ―Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.‖ 2. Perhaps most important, we must have the quality of Jesus’ heart. ―Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.‖ We are to be overflowing with love. 3. Finally, we become people of the towel by realizing who we are. The power, the impetus, and the grace to wash one another’s feet is proportionate not only to how we see Jesus but to how we see ourselves. Our Lord saw himself as King of kings, and he washed the disciples’ feet. Recovery of a kingly consciousness will hallow and refine our entire lives. We are ―a royal priesthood‖ (1 Peter 2:9). 5

John Stott, Christ the Liberator (Downers Groove, IL: InterVarsity, 1971), p. 25.

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“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

This is just as much a mandate as his words ―This do in remembrance of me‖ were for the practice of the Lord’s Supper. We celebrate communion, but foot washing is a lost art. Of course we no longer walk along dusty roads in sandals, but it’s a basic and precious symbol of service. To wash the feet of a brother or sister means that we must set aside our pride and any personal agendas or grudges, and humbly stoop to minister to another person's needs. Would you take time to minister to a person if you knew he would betray you for money? Our Lord did, and we are not greater than our Master (v16).

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