John 13 One through 16 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, 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 everyone of you, for he knew who was to betray
him. That is 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. Truly, I say to you, a servant
is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than
the one who sent him the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God, you may be seated.
What are the qualities that you look for in your leadership?
What would you say makes a good leader in our church and your
businesses and the organizations and schools in your community
and our governments? We were just read one of the
greatest pictures from the greatest leader in the history
of the world, Servants leadership.
Our purpose here today is to be exhorted, encouraged, corrected,
and equipped by the text. But I ask you those questions
first because I believe if we were honest, what we as
individuals and collectively, what we as a society want from
our leaders, servant leadership is not often the first quality
that comes to mind. You probably say something like
intellect, competency, command, charisma.
We want leaders who win. We want leaders who are grand,
sometimes even larger than life. The amazing thing about Jesus as
a leader is he did win, and Jesus was grand.
But what's remarkable about the way that Jesus did it is that he
redefined what winning meant and what it would mean to be great.
This passage in the Gospel of John is the only time in the
Bible that we have the foot washing from the four gospels.
But in the Gospel of Luke, at a similar point in the narrative,
the disciples come to Jesus and they ask him who will be the
greatest amongst the disciples. What blows me away personally by
the Lord Jesus response is he actually does not rebuke their
desire to be great. He redefines what the word
means. He says to be great means to be
a servant, the one who does not try to be equal with those he is
even leading, but takes the posture of being less than.
That is what greatness means in Jesus world.
And just as Jesus challenged his disciples and their view of
greatness, those he spent three years of life with, he is doing
the same for us today. And we have the pleasure today
of seeing that through how he served them as he washed their
feet. Today we're dividing our text
into 3 sections, Washed, Prepared, and Sense.
We see that Jesus washes because he loves us.
Jesus prepares us because He has plans for us, and Jesus sends us
because the Father has provided us the opportunity to serve.
First. Jesus washes us on this
Ascension Sunday as we remember Jesus in his resurrected body
being raised to the heavens and leaving his people here on earth
with the gifts and the promise of the Holy Spirit.
We remember how we who are in Christ, we are destined to
heaven to follow Jesus to that place.
But for now, we wait. We wait for his return or we
wait for Him to call us home in in death, whichever comes first
by God's Providence. PCPC as we have just been
walking through the Gospel of John on this Ascension Sunday,
on this day, we're commissioning members to proclaim who Jesus is
in Dallas into the ends of the earth.
We find ourselves at a critical moment in the Gospel of John,
verse one from our passage now before the feast of the Passover
when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this
world. This is the third Passover feast
that we've come to in the Gospel of John, and we are at the night
of his arrest. Jesus will spend the next 5
chapters with his disciples explaining to him what is about
to happen. But John slows down in these
final hours. We have so much to learn from
our risen Savior. The second-half of verse one
tells us the explicit motivation of Christ through the washing of
the feet that He carries us into as He begins His farewell
discourse. And that is, it is His love for
those who are his, having loved His own, who are in the world.
He loved them to the end. On the eve of His death, Jesus
gives us his most emphatic expression of love that we have
seen up to this point in the Gospel of John, a love that will
be taken to the end with his dying breath.
And we see at this most intense moment, a love so intense that
it persists and endures even in the face of betrayal.
The dynamic of Judas is is entered in pretty quickly into
our narrative. And Judas, as we see the
betrayal that's there, shows us the contrast between how man
loves and how God loves. Jesus came to the dinner table
with the motivation to love the disciples.
It was a face to face interaction.
It was intimate. It was the fellowship of a
dinner table. Judas was there.
He was experiencing the same things that the other disciples
were experiencing. But what does the text tell us
was different, that the devil had tempted him away?
There was a misordered love in Judas's heart that he had
prioritized other loves ahead of receiving the love from God.
Personal wealth, Security. Jesus.
Judas's heart was cold to the love of Jesus, even as God was
manifesting it before his eyes. But Jesus loved to the end, even
in the face of his own betrayal. We hear the word Judas,
particularly if you've grown up in the church, and there's a bit
of a temptation to distance yourself from that.
And while we are not engaged in the act of betrayal of our
Savior, it would be foolish to believe that we're not more like
Judas than we'd like to think. The world and the sin that is,
that is in us, It tells us to love those who are like us.
It tells us to love those who can help us get something that
we need. That's something that our
hearts, those misordered love of the hearts, are longing for.
That might be social approval, it might be something that gets
us ahead in life. We are tempted to love based on
the favourites we keep, based on who is in our in list.
I think sometimes even the broader secular culture under
the guise of tolerance, there's only tolerance for those who
share the same views that we do. There's an intolerance for
anyone who appears appears to be intolerance.
But Jesus shows us a better way. He shows us his service, which
is motivated by his love, even to those who would betray him,
motivated by love. In the middle of their Passover
dinner, Jesus stands up. He begins to undress.
He ties a towel around his waist.
He begins to wash the disciples feet.
Jesus laid aside his garments in order to take on the work of a
servant. He's doing this face to face
with the disciples. They're seeing the fullness of
the form of a servant. It's also in the presence of his
disciples whom he just called his own.
What I want to say about Jesus service, it is not
inconspicuous. He is not trying to just kind of
go around the edges and wash the feet that no one would notice.
It's in your face. He wants the disciples to feel
the intimacy of the moments. Those he was just around table
with, he's now looking them in the eye, down on one knee,
washing their feet, doing the work of a servant because he
loved them. He was going to love them to the
end. Now, this washing would have
been normal for a Passover meal, but what is not normal about
this particular washing is that that washing would have happened
before the meal would have started, and this washing
actually took place right in the middle of the meal.
And so I think even from this early phase of the narrative, we
sense that Jesus is showing them that this is a different kind of
Passover. Jesus is maintaining the
continuity of God's story that started with the people of
Israel, the promise of the Passover that had been practiced
since they had escaped from the land of Egypt.
But he's also showing there's a preparation here that's somewhat
different. The preparation is different.
It's preparing for a more complete Passover.
So now we see how Jesus prepares us, prepared because he has
plans for us. And this preparation has to do
with a deeper understanding of his relationship to us.
And we currently know and we see that in the person of Peter in
the story, Jesus is showing us he's preparing the disciples for
a calling. And we see from Peter's response
at first in verse 6 that he he gets it.
He gets that there is a significance here.
That's why Peter asks the question.
It's, it's, it's interesting to know everything about Judas and
Peter and how the contrast here. Judas, we actually don't hear
anything from the text that Judas refused his feet to be
washed. I think it's, we can assume that
actually Judas had his feet washed by Jesus that night.
Judas was willing to accept the washing even though he knew what
he was about ready to do. But in Peter, we have a disciple
who's eager to announce who Jesus is, eager to say that
Jesus is the Messiah. But his first gut reaction is, I
don't need that. Why?
Why would you do that to me? He his mind is still kind of
catching up with what is happening in front, in front of
them. We pick up Peters response in
verse 6. Jesus was working his way around
the room. John, the Gospel writer, he was
in the room. He was either waiting for his
turn for his feet to be washed or they had already been washed
at the moment. And he recorded for us this
interaction, this dialogue. Peter is using some personal
pronouns here. Lord, do you wash?
Do you, Lord Jesus, wash my feet.
So that intimate nature of the interaction, he's getting it.
He understands that there's a relational nature here.
But the servitude, the action, Jesus lowering himself to Peter,
it's just too much for him. He's not able to accept the
washing. That's pretty clear from the
dialogue. Jesus, ever patient with Peter,
tells him that though he doesn't understand now, he will
understand later. We get a sense of the journey
that Peter is going to be on in these next couple of days, in
the next week. But Peter's pretty clear.
He double s down on his refusal. He states that Jesus can never
wash his feet and in preparing Peter for the greater Passover,
Jesus drives a point home pretty clearly.
There is no option of Peter maintaining this relationship
with Jesus if he doesn't receive the service.
In order to be with Jesus, Peter has to let himself be served by
the Holy Messiah. The Son of God is looking into
Peter's eyes. Peter knows who Jesus is.
Peter is tempted towards misunderstanding Jesus's role in
misunderstanding his own salvation.
But by the grace of God, Peter is brought to the end of
himself. We see at play here the grace of
a Savior who's willing to receive Peter's refusal at first
to explain what this means and the significance of it.
And who's there to respond to Peter's repentance in the
moment. He is always willing to remind
his disciples, those whom he loves, that they will always be
in need of Jesus service to them.
I've been reminded many weeks or many, many times this week that
I try to proclaim independence from God, say I don't know if I
need it this week, Jesus, I don't know if I need you to wash
my feet today. But this image from the gospel
of Jesus undressing himself, he washes our feet that we might be
clothed in his own righteousness.
And from that point on, we have feet clean enough to spread the
good news of what he has done. So I, as I have pondered this
week about how I try to refuse Jesus's moments of, of his
service to me, I want to ask you, how do you try and refuse
the washing of your feet by the Son of God?
And do you hear that kind voice of our Savior who explains to us
that we won't have a share with him if we don't receive it?
And he accepts our repentance as we come back to him again and
again. I love the way Claire read the
passage for us because I think this phase two of Jesus dialogue
with Peter, it shows you kind of a little bit of how Peter's a
bit of a ping pong right in this dialogue.
He's willing to accept, but he still does not understand the
purpose accepting the washing. Peter's statement in verse 9, he
wants Jesus to go a step further with what he's offered him.
He said not just my feet, but also my hand and my, my head
also, my hands and my head also. And what I see here in Jesus
response is that upon hearing Peter's response, Jesus knows
what's in Peter's hearts, just as he knows which is in all of
our hearts. And he sees Peter, instead of
receiving the service, looking down at his Savior who was
serving him. And he takes his gaze off Jesus.
He takes his gaze, his gaze off his Savior.
Jesus primarily wants his disciples to see him in the
position that he is taking that is lower than them.
He uses the the cultural image of the time, of what it was like
to dine. And he's, you know, a dinner
guest at that time was not expected to come to the table
having been completely washed, completely bathed.
And we know that some of the hygiene of the time was quite
different than what we have today.
So there probably would have even been a sense of even though
the feet were clean, it would have been a little smelly.
But a dinner guest was not expected to have come to the
table completely bathed. They just need to have their
feet cleansed from the dust and grind of the road.
And then they were welcomed to the table.
I think you can summarize Peter's mistake here as he's
confusing this doctrine of salvation that we must be
cleaned. He's accepted that at this
point. He knows that.
He's confusing that with forgetting that it comes through
a person. He's missing the face of his
Savior as he's declaring what is right and true.
Jesus verses and 10:00 and 11:00.
It's amazing how in in those two verses he actually does away
with this idea of universalism, but he also negates any attempt
to try and to add on to his work as necessary for salvation.
As necessary as being called one of Gods.
God's table and fellowship with him can only be obtained through
allegiance to Jesus, and allegiance to Jesus can only be
received by accepting the service he gives you.
Cleanliness here is symbolized by the washing of the disciples
feet. But the preparedness that Jesus
is demonstrating comes from our union with Christ.
It comes from knowing and believing and remembering that.
It comes from seeing our Savior face to face as He is below us,
washing our feet that we might be cleansed, being welcomed to
the table of God. So we must be careful not to
make the mistake of Judas, of misordered loves of the hearts,
but not also not make the mistake of Peter, of forgetting
that it's all about allegiance to a person, not to just a right
way of thinking. The preparation for the ultimate
Passover is that the one who needed no cleansing, the one who
would become the Passover lamb given over for all of our sins.
He was the one willing to cleanse and act as a servant,
not just living the perfect life through the absence of sin, but
living the perfect life through his commitment to serve to the
end. This is the only preparation
that can prepare Jesus's disciples for what He was
calling them to. As we think about the depth of
the foot washing scene, we see many ways in which it shows the
beauty of who Christ is. He is loving.
That was his motivation. He is forgiving.
He's forgiving Judas as he washed his feet.
He is enduring knowing what lies ahead is mere hours away,
serving to the very end. He is patient with Peter.
He is kind and gentle as he washes.
And I was reminded in this week from a sermon from a one of my
professors from seminary Doctor Tim Keller.
He preached a sermon on this text in 1998, and he talks about
how as we view the beauty of Jesus in this scene, it actually
brings out the Trinitarian nature of our text.
Remember, Jesus is getting ready to to begin his final discourse.
These are some of the most explicit chapters that we have
in the Bible on the relationship between the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. But in preparation for that
discourse, Jesus is showing the fruits of the Spirit and all
that he is doing before them. He's living out the discourse
right now as he washes their feet, showing the senteness of
the Father, the relationship and submission of the Son to the
Father, and their fullness of the fruits of the Spirit on
display in Jesus's act. We have been washed because of
Jesus's love for us. We have been prepared because He
has a plan for us. And that plan is that He is
sending us out because He desires for us to serve.
Jesus continues to explain to the disciples what what they
were not only supposed to believe, but how they are to
apply their union with Christ, with one, with one another.
He got dressed again and went to work explaining that which would
only be ultimately clear at the crucifixion.
You see, the foot washing is a visible tangible picture of
servanthood, that at the cross it has its fullness.
So thus disciples right now in this moment, they can understand
the visible sign of the foot washing as their teachers
becoming a servant, but they will understand that much more
deeply just hours from that moment.
I want to take us to a time as we look at Ascension Sunday, a
time when Jesus was actually had already been raised from the
dead. His body has been resurrected
and he is waiting for his ascension comes from the Gospel
of John, chapter 20. It's just one verse, chapter 20,
verse 21 and Jesus says to his disciples, he's he's raised from
the dead, he's waiting for his ascension.
He says peace be with you as the Father has sent me.
Even so I am sending you. So part of what Jesus is
teaching the disciples is he is teaching them how they are to be
sent. When they heard those verses
with Jesus resurrected body, they would have remembered what
it was like to have their feet washed by Jesus.
And what I see here and how Jesus sends us is he sending us
and demonstrating to us a type of character that we were
supposed to have as he sends us out into the world.
Now I think it, I want to be very, very careful at this point
because I believe it could be possible to leave having heard
this sermon, having listened to this text, and to leave here
thinking this is all about imitating a morality that we are
saying go and be servant leaders because that is how you are to
be saved. And I think what I want to be
very explicit about is this is about the nature, the character
of our servanthood that is meant to imitate how Jesus was
submitted to the Father. When we talk about that, our
mission here at Park City's Presbyterian Church is to extend
the transforming presence of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ
here in Dallas into the ends of the earth.
That is meant to encompass a type of character, an experience
of the Kingdom and how we go out where people can sense through
our service, through our character, the type of Kingdom
that Jesus is extending. And it's 1 of servant
leadership. It's one of submission one to
another. And I talk about this in this
way because I think there's a lot that our culture tries to
tell us about calling. Our cultural, our culture today
puts a lot of pressure on the individual to find calling.
But as we consider what we are being sent to, I would say that
the word, the world puts too much emphasis on it.
They put too much emphasis on what we are being sent to.
What is that thing that we are being sent to?
And it's dangerous because it deemphasizes the way in which we
are meant to be sent. Our character and how we are
sent, I argue, is actually far more important than what the
specific thing is that we are being sent to.
What would it look like to be a church that embraces A radical
acceptance of serving to the other most, wherever, whenever,
to whomever, by God's Providence, He is sending us to.
We miss opportunities to wash one another's feet because we
are too concerned about what's that person doing, what's that
person doing and where do I fit into it.
To our short term missionaries this summer, you will be sent
into all kinds of opportunities, all kind of circumstances as a
team. There will be moments when
someone on the team has an opportunity that you want and
you're going to wonder why am I not the one getting to do what
they get to do? Be a servant leader.
We have professionals amongst us right now that I trust perhaps
or even waiting for an opportunity, waiting for a job,
wanting that next step up and they're thinking that God has
forgotten them until they've got they get it.
God is sending you also into this moment.
How can you without be a servant leader as you wait for God's
Providence to give you that next opportunity.
There might be someone here who has recently experienced a big
discouragement, lost an opportunity you wish you had
back. You can still live in the
fullness of the servanthood of Christ, even as we wait for
God's Providence to show us what that is.
How we go matters. But as I think about that,
that's a big ask. I can even feel and remember it
in moments where I felt that tension of wanting a different
calling than the one that God had given me.
It could be on that given moment.
It could be on that given day. It could be talking about career
job level. And so I kind of as I remember
what I needed in those moments. I'm sure you're asking where do
we get that strength to serve? It comes from looking,
remembering the the picture of Jesus.
We look to him. We are reminded, we allow the
text to to correct us, to exhort us, to show us what this picture
looks like. But on this Ascension Sunday, as
we remember Jesus being raised to heaven, it also comes from a
look for the future. And so, as I conclude, I want to
leave you with a quote that came from the end of the Chronicles
of Narnia, CS Lewis's work, The Last Battle, that speaks about
what future we have to look forward to as we wait for Christ
to come back. And as he, King Aslan, spoke, he
no longer looks to them like a lion.
But the things that began to happen after that were so great
and beautiful that I cannot write them.
And for us, this is the end of all the stories.
And we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever
after. But for them it was only the
beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and
all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the
title page. Now, at last, they were
beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on
earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter
is better than the one before. Let us pray.
God, I thank you for these pictures of leadership that
correct us, that show us the better, the deeper way, and even
show us that the categories which our world tries to define
things, you are the one who needs to define them.
And so as we close our time here in the Word this day, I pray
that you would, by your Providence, by your sovereignty,
to allow one needs to remain in the lives of our brothers and
sisters, hearts that they would be sustained.
Sustained in the act of understanding who they are in
Christ. Preserved in the preparedness
that you've showed them, and strengthened and encouraged to
go out and be sent wherever it is that you might be sending
them to do the work that you, Jesus, have showed us to do.
Imitating you, Jesus, who was submitted to the Father, and
that you are filled with the Holy Spirit.
We trust you and thank you for this day.
And I pray this only with the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.