Sermon Tone Analysis

On the heart of Jesus

Last week we read the longest recorded prayer of Jesus, as can be found in john 17.

We looked at Jesus’s heartfelt desire for unity to reign in the church, in our hearts and in the world that we interact with.

A unity between God and Us, A unity within the church, and a unity with the wolrd.

You will remember me telling the story of the night that Jesus was arrested and how Peter was so quick to rush for the sword, in the temple garden - cutting off the ear of Malthus the High Priests servant and how before Jesus could heal hurting humanity he had to stop a sword swinging disciple.

I mentioned what a normal bunch the disciples were, with their infighting, their ambitions, their family squabbles and how they often the did not meet the expectations that we as Christians some two thousand years later seem to have applied to them.

Seeing them as some form of ‘superhuman christian’

I find it kind of liberating that these 12 were so much like me and I suspect like you.

We hold the apostles up to be something amazing and in some respects they were.

They were walking so close to Jesus, they were his friends, his pupils and they experience his power and his glory.

After his death they encountered and were empowered by the Holy Spirit to do signs, and wonders and to take this good news that is Jesus - the source of hope and salvation to the nations.

But when Jesus was alive they were kind of normal, in fact they at times were quite clueless.

I take great comfort from that fact.

There are lots of times that I have not got a clue what I am doing.

But the same Holy Spirit that empowered the disciples is available to each of us when we rely on God.

That is kind of Amazing.

It is really easy to elevate the disciples to something akin to super heroes to people that we could never aspire to be, in doing so we downplay the Dynamis power of the Holy Spirit.

We seem to form the opinion that all the amazing things the apostles did was 90% the person and 10% the power of God.

When in reality it was the power of God despite the imperfections of the person.

The Holy Spirit empowered them to do Amazing things not because of who they were but because of their availability to be be used by God.

The is empowering and some what scary.

The only thing that stands in the way of each of us being used by God in amazing ways to affect the people around us is is out availability to be used.

It is not our abilities that make us available but our attitudes.

The disciples were not skilled

You know the disciples were not skilled at life.

Littered throughout the gospels are times when Jesus told stories to pass on wisdom about the Kingdom of God to the people who flocked to him, we call them parables.

Jesus would tell a story maybe about Sheep and Goats, or Seed falling on good land, weedy land or the path and the people he told it to would get it.

Time after time the disciples didn’t get it and booked themselves into after school ‘booster classes’

“Hey Jesus, that story you told earlier, at the lake.

You know the one that thousands of people heard and the went off nodding and praising God - What was it about?

tell us what it meant.

In many ways I think I most of you are more life skilled than the disciples.

Don’t believe me?

Let me ask you a question, who arranged a meal this week?

there you go, you are more skilled than the disciples.

After three years of living with Jesus they couldn’t even arrange a supper.

I have ordered curries with my iphone.

They couldn’t even arrange a supper without divine guidance.

Pick up on men not fetching water.

their lack of skills the disciples had was made up for by the power that is in Christ.

The disciples had attitude.

It was as another meal that we see an event that was clearly on Jesus heart as he prayed for his disciples and believers in John 17.

The account is in John 13

Jesus and his disciples were in an upper room having supper.

Now it was the custom of the day that you would not wear you sandals inside the house.

There was a real good reason for that you see the roads of the time were not paved.

The polite interpretation of this was that they were dusty.

The reality of the situation gives even more impetus to not wearing your shoes indoors.

The roads of the time would have been congested not with cars but with other modes of transport.

Transport who’s emissions did not float in the air like a puff of smoke but instead drop to the ground.

Over multiple years the roads would be squidgy in the wet and dusty in the dry, but whatever the weather they were in reality an open sewer, the only difference would be if it was wet you got donkey pollution squishing through the gaps in your sandals like a play-dough machine and when it was dry, dried camel waste being carried on the wind to give you a fake tan not to be proud of.

It didn’t matter how good your sandals were it would still get on your feet.

It doesn’t matter how careful you walk the roadways of life you're going to get some debris from the journey on you and you need to be a part of a group of believers that know how to wash away the dirt.

It was customary for sandals to be removed and feet washed so you did not bring the mess into the room.

The lowest servant would have been assigned to carry our the washing.

it is clear from the passage that this had not happened.

Jesus had sat through the meal, with the stinky, poo encrusted feet of the other disciples next to him, with the stench of life outside permitting his meal.

He gave you get them every opportunity to be the one who washed the feet.

Maybe they were thinking:

It not my turn I did it last time

Or

I’m too important, I’m going to sit at the right hand of God, my mum has asked

Or

I’m not doing it I’m the older brother

Or

I’ve already organised the food,

Or

I’m too busy

Or

Not one will notice if that job isn’t done,

Jesus would be aware of these undercurrents within his followers.

It would be easy to see these as excuses but i think Jesus saw them as the divisions that break unity.

Every church is in one of three states - Disunity, coming out of Disunity or going into disunity - The same is true of every family, every organisation, every relationship.

Why? because no mater how carefully we tread through the world the debris of this imperfect world stick to us.

Jesus would have heard the excuses as:

It not my turn I did it last time, it’s my time to be served, I deserve it.

Or

I’m too important, I’m going to sit at the right hand of God, my mum has asked.

Someone less important should do it.

Or

I’m not doing it I’m the older brother, he should do, it some one younger.

Or

I’ve already organised the food, let someone else do it, some one who does less should do it, I’ve earned my way to the top.

Or

I’m too busy doing important things to do that menial task.

Or

Not one will notice if that job isn’t done, it is not important to serve others, I’m happy as I am.

Having watched them Jesus stood up and as the magnificent Scripture in the king James version says He,

He he laid aside his garments he laid down his glory to pick up humility any picked up a towel and wrapped it around himself.

How ironic it is that we are quicker to pick up swords then we are to pick up a towel.

Unity is not achieved by swinging a word at everything moves.

Unity is created when we pick up towel.

I am not saying we should put down the bible or compromise our faith, but I am saying we should put down whatever causes division and called to pick up whatever we need to drive unity, whatever is needed to bring about Jesus heart felt call in John 17 that we looked at last week.

Action movies are great everyone loves a gun toting all action hero in film but but this world cries out to be associated with those who understand the power of the towel.

Jesus could bear the smell of the Feet and the stench of this brewing disunity no longer, without fuss or he picked up the towel

Can you imagine the awkwardness in that room as Jesus start washing the disciples feet.

As Jesus touched the very dirt that was smeared on those feet, as they travelled through life.

Do you remember the dirt that covered you before Jesus wiped it away?

Did the disiples suddenly realise just how smelly the room had become because no one had served their brother?

You can ignore the smell but it is still there and others notice.