Scripture: John 13:1-14
Now
before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this 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 son of Simon Iscariot to betray
him. And during the 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 into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe
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.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my
feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I 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, “One who has bathed does
not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of
you.” For he knew who was to betray him;
for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on
his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I
have done to you? You call me Teacher
and Lord---and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed
your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Sermon: The Hour
What is the
Hour?
Our
text this morning begins with the acknowledgement that Jesus knew his hour had come. This terminology, the hour, is an important one to the gospel writer, and we have
already seen it mentioned several times throughout the book of John. At the wedding of Cana, for example, we
recall that Jesus tells his mother that his hour has not yet come.
Likewise, when Jesus claims to have come from the Father, we are told
that the people of Jerusalem attempt to arrest Jesus and are prevented from doing
so because his hour has not yet
come. What John is doing by scattering
this terminology throughout the gospel, is building anticipation for what is to
come. The hour, referring to Jesus’ death and glorification, is the
climax of the gospel story, and the series of events to which all others
point. By the time we get to chapter 13,
the reader knows that this highly anticipated hour has come at last.
Of
course we should be, by now, quite familiar with this approach of building
anticipation for what is to come. For
the past 40 days or so, we have been walking together through the season of
Lent. For some of us Lent has been
defined by the additional mid week service we attend on Wednesdays at
noon. For others, it may have been a
time of fasting from a particular food or giving something up in order to focus
more energy towards God. But for all of
us, if we have truly understood the season, Lent is a time, which prepares us
for the hour that is to come.
Tomorrow
we will stand and watch as Jesus is tried, and then gather at the cross where
Jesus will be crucified. On Saturday we
will wait with anxiety, as Jesus lies in the tomb, seemingly defeated by the
powers of the world. And then, on that
magnificent Sunday, we will join with all Christians around the world to
celebrate His glorious resurrection.
This is the hour, of Jesus’
death and glorification, that John has been pointing to and that we have been
preparing for.
But,
lest we get ahead of ourselves, before all of that we find ourselves in
Jerusalem, in an upper room perhaps, around the time of the Jewish celebration
of the Passover. And while John wants to
draw our attention to the connection between the Passover and Jesus, it is the hour that we should be concerned
with here. It is important to recognize
that the intention of the author is not to cultivate anticipation for the
Passover, but for what Jesus is about to accomplish on the Passover.
And
of course we cannot over emphasize the tension present in that upper room. Perhaps the disciples were unaware of the
events to come, but verse one tells us that Jesus’ knew that his hour had come. This hour,
though highly anticipated, will not proceed in a manner that anyone was
expecting. What is to come is betrayal,
a trial, and a cross. This is the hour that has come, and of this
Jesus is perfectly aware. And so it is,
with all of that is about to happen weighing heavy on the heart and mind, with
all of the tension and anticipation bubbling up inside, Jesus determines to
inaugurate His final meeting with His closest friends, by washing their feet.
How Jesus Initiates the Hour
Washing feet. That’s a strange thing I think. It’s not a practice I’m very familiar with at
all, and I can’t say that I have ever washed anyone’s feet, other than my
own. I can’t imagine it would be too
much fun. And while I can’t speak to the
art of foot washing first hand, I do know a thing or two about washing
cars. You see when I was younger I used
to spend my Saturday afternoons in Powell, Tennessee with my grandfather,
washing the family cars. I would take
the sponge, dip it in the bucket, and begin to wash the body of the car. He would come behind after me and rinse off
the soap with a garden hose, and then we would take rags and dry the car before
the sun could create water marks. To be
honest, I had a lot of fun washing cars.
It wasn’t too much work, and I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my
grandfather. But there was always one
part that I really dreaded. Once the
body of the car had been washed, rinsed, and dried, it was time to clean the
wheels. Now wheels are an entirely
different beast. You have to get down on
your knees, in the soapy water, and scrub as hard as you can to chip away the
dirt and dust that has accumulated in between the spokes of the wheel. And of course, a simple sponge won’t do. If you really want to clean a tire you have
to take a tooth brush, preferably one that is ready for retirement, and you
take it and you scrub the wheel until it shines.
I
think, in a way, feet are kind of like that.
They are the wheels of the human body if you will. They are the quickest to get dirty, and perhaps
the most difficult to clean. I imagine a
simple rinse would not have been sufficient.
No, to wash the feet would have required scrubbing the soles, getting in
between the toes, getting down on the hands and the knees and washing feet. It seems quite uncomfortable don’t you think?
Well, while the
task of washing feet would not have been very glamorous in Jesus’ day, it was
not so uncommon as we might think. In a
culture where folks reclined to eat, that is laid down in a lowly position, the
feet could be very prominent. And, if
you have to have someone’s feet next to your food, you would probably want to
make sure that the feet had been cleaned.
The amazing part about this scene is not what’s being done, but who’s
doing it.
In Jesus’ day, the
task of washing feet would have been reserved for servants. The word, in the Greek is doulos, and it can
mean servant or even slave. With the way
we tend to romanticize the “servant” role in our culture, I don’t think the
later definition, slave, is at all inappropriate to imagine. Jesus is placing Himself in the position of a
slave. So, when we find objection from
the voice of Peter, I don’t think we should be at all surprised. This is a radical thing the Master is doing,
reversing roles in His final hour. Perhaps a better question to ask might be why
Peter is the only one objecting!
Who Jesus Spends the Hour With
But
if taking on the role of a slave was not enough, I want us to think for a
moment about who Jesus decides to begin this final hour with. There is of
course Peter, reluctant, and then almost comical in his objection and
enhancement, having to be reassured by Jesus that all of this serves a
purpose. We see James and John arguing
over who is to have cleaner feet in the Kingdom of God. There’s Thomas, probably not certain he wants
to even go through with having his feet washed.
And then, possibly emerging from the corner of the room, comes Judas. Reluctantly he makes his way over to the
chair where Jesus will wash his feet, avoiding eye contact, perhaps even in
tears, knowing what he is about to do.
Did you catch that? It is not
until Jesus has shared the bread and foretold of His betrayal that Judas exits
the scene, so we can be certain that the man who is to betray the Lord is present
and accounted for as Jesus washes the feet of the twelve. Isn’t that something. The man who is responsible for the betrayal,
the event that is to precipitate the trial, beating, and crucifixion of our
Lord, has his feet washed by the very One whom he is about to betray.
In Dante
Alighieri’s epic poem, The Inferno,
he writes that the deepest pits of hell are reserved for the treacherous, for
the betrayers. And while Dante’s poem is
fictitious of course, his priority of betrayal, as the worst of sins, reflects
the piercing sting imposed by such a grievous deed. There is no worse pain than that of
betrayal. This is not an enemy we
encounter in Judas, but a beloved friend who is about to inflict the worst kind
of pain upon Jesus. And yet all the
while, there’s Jesus, kneeling and washing his feet. This is the scene that John paints for
us. Of Jesus, in his most difficult hour, taking on the role of a slave
despite being the Master and Lord of all, and washing the feet of both His
friends and of the one who is responsible for the betrayal that is to come.
What Are We to Do During Our Own Hour?
And
as the disciples stand there, taking in all that has just transpired, Jesus
turns to them and says, “You also ought to wash one another’s feet. You should do exactly as I have done.”
With a very vivid example, Jesus is
telling the disciples that they must love one another in the same way that
Jesus has loved them. In John Calvin’s
commentary on these verses he suggests that Jesus is, “laying down a rule of
love, for love does not exist without the voluntary subjection to serve one
another.”
We
have all gathered here this morning to recognize the Christian celebration of
Maundy Thursday and, as is the case with all religious holidays, the intent is
not to simply recall the stories of old, but to remind ourselves of why they
matter. Here in John, in a book that is
shrouded in mystery and suspense, Jesus gives us the most blatant example of
Christian living in all of scripture. On
the night before He is to die, Jesus is telling us how we are to live.
We
are, I think, quite happy to imitate the Jesus of Easter, the Jesus who stands
triumphant, having won the victory over sin, death, and the powers of the
world. But I think we are far more
reluctant to imitate the Jesus we find here in John 13. The example Jesus gives us here is far more
taxing. There is no triumphant victory
as of yet, only humility and love. There
is no glowing messenger, only clumsy disciples and a dark betrayer. The work is not glamorous, but the task of a
common slave. And yet this example is
one that we are capable of embodying each and every day.
During
this time of the year we tend to look forward to Sunday. You undoubtedly have plans for Good Friday
and certainly for Easter, and for good reason.
No matter what the season, our eyes should always be focused on both the
cross and the empty tomb. Our final
destination, like Jesus, is with the Father in glory and we anxiously await the
celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter for we look forward to the day
when we join Him. But before the
resurrection must come the cross, and before the cross comes this example.
Most
of us will not have the opportunity to lay down our lives in any literal
fashion today, nor will we be granted the glorious resurrection we so eagerly
await, but there is not a one of us in this room who will not have the
opportunity to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters this very hour.
Every single one of us will have the opportunity to make ethical and
moral decisions that, though they might compromise our own comfort, will bring
glory to the Christ we celebrate this season.
Every single one of us will have the opportunity to smile at a stranger,
even if smiling is the last thing we feel like doing on this somber day. We have the opportunity to apologize when we
are wrong, to take the time to call a friend, to practice patience, to speak
honestly, and to serve others even at our own expense. It is in the mundane, ordinary, day-to-day
activities that we live for Christ, and if we wish to follow His example, we
must be diligent to take every opportunity to humble ourselves and serve one
another.
The hour of Jesus’
glorification is upon us, and as we walk with Him through His final moments on
earth, let us seek that courage and humility to follow His example, to wash the
feet of those in our midst, and to reflect the love of the Master who, at his
darkest hour, took on the role of a slave that we might learn to do the same. In just a few days the world will watch as
Christians everywhere celebrate Easter Sunday.
And as they do, might they see those of us who have taken on the title
of His followers, embracing not only His victory, but the road that He took to
get there and the example He left us to follow along the way.
