Washing the Disciples Feet
The Story - "An Interwoven Gospel" • Sermon • Submitted
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· 13 viewsHumility comes to bring love and show love
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Start of Upper Room Discourse
Start of Upper Room Discourse
As we start to look at the following chapters of John it is known as the upper room discourse. What has transpired and works with our passage today and next week. For there is much to pull out and apply from this passage so will do over three weeks.
Before Jesus rode into Jerusalem as a king, He was prepared for burial by His feet being washed. - (Jn12:3)
3 Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Jn12:3
The upper room discourse starts with being touched by Jesus before being taught by Jesus.
Where the first washing was with an expensive nard (perfume) the second was with a humble heart of love.
5 days has passed from:
1 Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
to get us to our passage today, much has happened but the cross is clearly in sight for Jesus. -
Christ loved them to the end - (Jn13:1)
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
Christ loved His own
His own sheep -JN10
His own bride - EPh5
His own body - 1Cor12
Where we may tend to elevate the Apostles they were not without fault, just like us. Still Jesus loved them to the end.
Regardless of past faltering - his love was without limit (Lk9:54)
54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
Regardless of future
54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
Regardless of future
Regardless of future failings (Lk22:31-32)
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Regardless of present flaws (Lk22:24)
24 And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.
Christ loves us with the same love today, regardless to those who are His own!
Here are His people, His own, His disciples who were bickering about being the greatest and all were reclining Jesus knew what needed to be done, not said, done, He got up and did it.
2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God,
4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
What had already happened during the supper (v.2)?
What did Jesus know (v.3)?
What did Jesus do (v.4)?
Jesus knew where they came from and where they were going, and it is the same for us today. It is only when we have faith in the past and our hope for the future that we can love in the present. Jesus knew where He came from and where He was going, we know where we came from and where we are going.
Something to ponder, Jesus, was with the Father, in the glory of the Father and left the glory to take on the flesh for us. Jesus chose to take on this assignment to take on the form of a man.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
In our passage today He laid aside His earthly garments whereas as before He laid aside His heavenly ones, heavenly glory.
He put aside the heavenly glory, His divinity, to put on the humanity of man and wrapped a the towel of humanity. This towel was believed to have been linen which is a picture of righteousness. So here we have Jesus wrapped in the humanity of man in human flesh, was like us but still without sin.
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
So the laid aside garments and the towel, in translation it is thought to have been linen which is a picture of righteousness
I. The action of love
I. The action of love
5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
What did Jesus do (v.5)?
Water is often a symbol of the Word. He shortly will tell the disciples they were cleansed by the Word (Jn15:3)
3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Paul speaks of the washing of the water of the word too (Eph5:26)
26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
God’s Word poured out tells us who God is, what God did, what we are to do with God and how to do it! This was God, becoming Word and dwelling among us (Jn1:14)
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Another point to ponder: Jesus said by the washing of the water of the word they were already clean, so as He does this washing it is not for salvation but for sanctification, not for conversion but for confession.
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In this world there is lots of dirt, we get dirty feet (sin) that comes upon us and we need to be cleansed, again, not for salvation but sanctification. (1Jn1:9)
See see Christ’s love for humanity, but we also see Christ’s humility in action for humanity. We may not fully understand everything, in our passage we see Peter did not understand, but would later.
6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.”
8 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
(expand on humility because slave would normally do it, but here no one was doing it)
Jn13
God does not always explain everything to us up front does He?
What did Jesus say to Peter (v.7)?
What did Jesus tell Peter in (v.8)?
The washing of feet was normally done by a slave, Jesus saw what was needed to be done and did it as mentioned before. It was an act of humility and even Peter would realize it later as the Lord said.
5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
We need to be people of humility, we need to be willing to get a little dirty for others and not expect perfection and cleanliness from them first.
Peter did not get it, but Jesus is going to use this teaching moment
9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
What did Peter think (v.9)?
What did Jesus teach (v.10)?
What did Jesus state (vv.10-11)?
Be ready to expand on each of the above, emphasis it is cleansing not for salvation but for sanctification! The betrayal by Judas (noted Jn13:2)
If we don’t commune daily, if we do not wash the sins, the dirt of the world off daily it is easy to be polluted and tainted by the world. Again this is not about salvation but sanctification.
Exo30 gives a picture of this when a Priest is called he is completely washed, our way is washed in baptism. From that point the Priest before entering the tabernacle would wash hand and feet, there is no needed for total cleansing again. We need that cleansing daily too don’t we? Cleansing that happens with a heart of confession.
18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I like what commentator Jon Courson says
“Confession is not promising never to sin again, but rather saying, ‘Father, Your Word is right. That’s sin, and I confess it as such. Have mercy upon me, Lord deal with me.’”
When we realize what we have when we look at the cross and what Christ said “It is finished” and we know we are still sinners who fall short of the glory of God. Confession is a good thing it helps us to have appreciation for the cross. When we realize the sin we still deal with we can’t help but marvel, be astonished by God’s love for us, knowing our faltering past, our present failures and out future flaws, still He went to the cross knowing we would get dirty feet again.
When we have the appreciation of the cross, we then can have a grasp of the grace that is offered because of the cross, because of the love that was poured out. When we think about what we have coming and God sent Jesus to take it on for us, think of this scripture
Lam3:
22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.”
Our prayers are of thanksgiving for what He has done and what He continues to do for us when He renews His mercy and His grace daily for us.
We need the daily reminder, the daily confession so we do not get daily caught up in the struggles and strongholds of this world.
—Mother Teresa continues to do for us daily. We are recipients of His mercy and His grace daily.
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
Our weapon is the daily cleaning for without it we have no part of Him.
8 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
May we go to the Lord and allow Him daily to cleanse us, take those things that can stumble or hinder our walk with Him, that hurt our commune with Him and our fellowship.
May we remember and embrace the promise of
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
(summarize this all and encourage everyone to read this passage Jn13:1-20 again before next week)
Next week we will look at the instructions to the disciple