John 12-13

Caleb Eissler

The Gospel According to John • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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As we look at the Last Supper we can see examples of Jesus and The Disciples Humility lived out through this meal. Combined with the startling differences between Mary Magdalenes response and Judas response.

Notes

Transcript

Preface

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Group Question 1:

What is the craziest thing you’ve done or been tempted to do to entertain yourself during the quarantine so far? Is it reogranzing your pantry? Cleaning your house? Or something crazier? The other day I saw some guys having a PIG basketball competition over Instagram where one of them would take a shot and take their opponent in the video. Then the opponent would video himself taking the shot and the process went back and forth like that. For me, the silliest thing I’ve done so far is getting my grandpa, also known as the G.O.A.T. to read children's stories for elementary school classes that needed videos of guest readers. He was super sassy the whole time and it was hilarious. So what is it for you? What’s the craziest thing you’ve done or seen people do for entertainment during the quarantine. Keep the answers PG-13 and share them with your group. After you all talk for a couple of minutes, elect a spokesperson to share on behalf of your group and we’ll go around and have the spokespersons share some of the best answers with everyone.

Introduction

In many ways, we’re in a time of humbling right now. Our economy is in shambles, the great nations of the world are scrambling to figure out what to do in the midst of this pandemic, we’re reminded of our frailty as the virus rages, our institutions are trying to figure out how to navigate new realities, and things we took for granted are now taken away from us. Being humbled can be scary, is always uncomfortable, but it also has its benefits. We’ve seen our fractured world join together over one cause with a kind of unity that I can’t remember in my lifetime. We’re seeing families and communities value connection and conversation when it was taken away from them. We’ve seen people and churches rally together to serve communities in amazing ways. And many of us have been forced to slow down in a way we never would have on our own. Despite its uncomfort and ability to jar us, being humbled can be a good thing. Tonight in our time together tonight we’re going to look at the theme of humility and humbling in two or three passages in John 12-13, and I think you’ll be surprised just how relevant and practical these stories are.

Group Question 2:

Before we dive into John 12-13, I want to give us another chance at some group discussion. In your groups, talk about some of the most humiliating experiences you’ve had personally or you’ve seen. These don’t have to be serious. These could be funny. And in fairness to you, I’ll share one of mine.

Deaf Party Example

Take 3 minutes to talk in your groups and then we’ll dive into John 12-13.

Elect a different spokesperson and have them share the best answers with everyone when we all come back together.

John 13

Ok, now let’s actually dive into our passage and see what our chapters this week have to say about humility. Turn or tap with me in your bibles to John 13 starting in verse 1. John 13:1. Jesus is here with his disciples at the Last Supper. Let’s dive in!

John 13:1-17

“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 has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was 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, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Reflections on John 13:1-17

This passage is overflowing with both examples of humility and people grappling with the concept.

Imagine the scene. Here you have Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity incarnate, the Lord of all. And at the very least, in the disciples’ eyes, you have a great teacher who they have followed for 3 years and have given their lives to as they’ve witnessed him do sign after sign and miracle after miracle. And this same Jesus, this incredible man, is stooping down to wash their feet.

I can just imagine the shock on their eyes. Washing someone’s feet was a patently menial task in those days. In fact, it was seen as such a low task that many Jewish masters wouldn’t let their own Jewish slaves wash feet; they would save the task for their Gentile slaves. It would be amazing enough if the disciples were washing each other’s feet, but for Jesus Christ, their leader, to do it was unthinkable.

It’s no wonder then that Peter tells Jesus that Jesus will never wash his feet. In a sense, Peter says to Jesus, “You? Wash my feet? Never in a million years!”

But Jesus’s response to Peter gives us a powerful view into what’s going on here. He says, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

Jesus’s Humility

Immediately we can begin to see a glimpse of the enormity of what Jesus is saying. Jesus is not simply saying to Peter that if he won’t have his feet washed by Jesus then he’s no longer friends with Jesus. Our Lord is saying something MUCH deeper. It’s no coincidence that all of this is taking place during the Last Supper. In fact, that’s very intentional. Jesus is trying to alert the disciples and us to a much deeper reality. Jesus is saying to the disciples that if they will not be washed spiritually clean, then they cannot be true followers of Christ. Salvation requires us to be washed clean of our sin.

Think back to the famous hymn: “What can wash me white as snow? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

You and I cannot be Christians unless we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus.

In all of this we see this stunning picture of humility within the various parties involved. Jesus Christ, the Lord of all and the leader of the disciples, the one whose feet the disciples should be washing, is stooping down to wash the disciples’ feet. In order to save us, Jesus humbled himself to the greatest degree, dying the most humiliating and excruciating death so that we could be washed clean by His blood.

Notice the similarity in language to Jesus washing feet in John 13 to the language used to describe Jesus’s humbling for our salvation.

John 13:4-5 says

“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.”

Now notice the language of Phillippians 2

“Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

By removing his outer garments to wash the feet of the disciples, Jesus literally would’ve been taking the form of a servant, especially in his dress, as he stooped down to wash the disciples feet clean. And Philippians 2 is telling us that Jesus took on the form of a servant as He stooped down from His throne in glory to wash us clean of our sin at the cross.

This is humility like the world has never seen! And He experienced all of this for you and for me.

Just as Jesus stooped down in humiliation to wash the disciples feet clean, including Judas, the very one who would soon betray him, so He stooped down in humility at the cross to make a way for even the worst of sinners to be saved!

The Disciples’ Humility

But I don’t think the application of the humility of this passage stops here. Remember that, it wasn’t just Jesus who had to humble himself in the washing, but the disciples as well. The disciples had to humble themselves to let Jesus wash their feet. Now that may seem like a questionable thing to say, but it is undoubtedly true in more than one way.

First off, by allowing Jesus to wash their feet, they were allowing Jesus to touch the dirtiest part of their body. Walking around a Middle Eastern desert with sandals meant that your feet would be caked with mud and dirt and filth by the end of the day. Plus, imagine the smell. Remember there was no “Tough Actin’ Tinactin” for athlete’s foot in those days. Their feet would’ve been disgusting and yet they had to be willing to expose them to Jesus.

Second, we see their humility in their submission to Jesus. Peter tries to be humble at first by not letting Jesus wash his feet because Peter recognizes Jesus as his great leader. But ironically, but not obeying Jesus’s word, Peter is being arrogant. Peter is essentially saying that his word has more authority than Jesus’s word. By finally, humbling himself and allowing Jesus to wash his feet, Peter is allowing Jesus’s command to take precedence over his own desires.

Those very same things take place when we come to Christ. We must expose even the worst and most sinful parts of ourselves to Jesus and allow him to reach out and touch them to wash them clean. When we recognize Jesus as the Lord of Lords, our response should not be to keep him from touching our sin and washing it clean, but to humbly submit to His command that He must wash us clean.

Salvation requires humility, both from Jesus and from us.

Humility is at the very essence of being a Christian. In fact, the term “arrogant Christian” should be an oxymoron. We have every reason to be humble because of our sin and what our Savior did to wash us clean of that sin.

But I don’t think the parallels to the disciples’ humility stop with our salvation. I think they continue on into our everyday Christian lives.

Each of us have an area of our lives where our gut reaction is like Peter’s, where we say, “You will never wash that clean in a million years, Jesus! Don’t touch it!”

And even though Jesus commands us to bring those things to him, the things we’re most ashamed of, the things we don;t want anyone else to know about, we struggle to. And we can dress that struggle up in as pious language as we want, but no matter how you look at it, it’s arrogance. We must humble ourselves before Jesus if we want to actually follow Him and love Him.

So what is that thing for you? What is it that you struggle to bring to Jesus? What is it that you don’t want Him to touch? What is the part of your life that you’re most ashamed of? Is it a sin that you habitiually struggle with like pornography or gossip? Is it a calling that God seems to be placing on your life, either in this season or permanently? Maybe it’s a calling to ministry, or singleness, or a way to serve that you want no part of.

Ministry Calling

For me, it used to be my calling to ministry. You’ve heard me talk about this before, but public speaking used to be my biggest fear. I would visibly shake and stumble over my words even if speaking to just a few people in a school classroom. Public speaking terrified me and so when I begin to feel the call to ministry, I ran the other direction because I knew it would involve public speaking.

I was ashamed of my fear of public speaking.

And because I saw no gifting of my own in ministry or public speaking, I blew off any sense of calling to ministry. I was being just like Peter and was saying, “Jesus, never in a million years will you wash my calling clean.” And for as pious as I thought I sounded, I wasn’t being humble. I was being immensely arrogant. I was telling Jesus that my desires and my words matter more than His in my life. It wasn’t until I finally humbled myself and brought my calling and fears to Jesus that He washed them clean. And he has redeemed them in ways I could’ve never dreamed as a terrified high schooler. And He can do the same for you.

Reflect:

So what is it for you? What are you struggling to bring to God right now? What are you struggling to let Him wash clean? What area of your life are you saying to him, “Never in a million years years will you touch this?” I want you to take 30 seconds and reflect on that in silence. And as you identify it, go to Him in prayer about it!

Wait 30-60 seconds

Group Question 3:

Now I want us to take a moment to talk about all of this in our groups. Where in your life do you need to humble yourself? Or what is a way God has humbled you in the past? These don’t have to be deep or profound answers. They could be little things, but they don’t have to be. And if you’re struggling to think of any time you have humbled yourself before God, you need to know that that’s a scary sign. So take 2-3 minutes in your groups and talk about ways you need to humble yourself before God now, or ways He’s humbled you in the past.

After Jesus washes the disciples he takes his message another step deeper. Not only does his message in washing feet apply to our salvation and our response to Him, it also applies to how we treat others. Look with me at John 13 starting in verse 12. John 13:12:

“When Jesus 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? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

As Jesus spoke, and as He washed the feet of the disciples, in their shock and silence, I wonder if in those awkward and mind boggling moments the disciples suddenly remembered an event that they’d witnessed just a few days before; an event that beautifully embodied everything Jesus had been teaching them just then.

Turn with me back to John chapter 12 verse 1. John 12:1.

John 12:1-8: The Anointing

John 12:1-8

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

Reflections on John 12:1-8

Summary

So what’s going on here? Jesus, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and the disciples are gathered together for a dinner in honor to Jesus for raising Lazarus from the dead. And as they gather, Mary anoints Jesus with oil. And not just a little bit of oil, but an extreme amount. It would be the equivalent of pouring a soda can of perfume on someone. And if that wasn’t enough, this wasn’t just WalMart brand perfume or oil. This was some of the most expensive perfume you could buy. 300 denarii was a full year’s worth of wages. That’s an insanely expensive anointing! While we’re supposed to picture her anointing Jesus’s whole body, John specially points us to this fact about the anointing: Mary anoints Jesus’s feet and wipes them down with her hair. Seeing this Judas complains that Mary could’ve given the worth of the perfume to the poor. Jesus closes the passage by defending Mary.

So what are we to make of this? What can we learn about humility here?

Mary

For starters, Mary was willing to sacrifice the very best she had at the feet of Jesus.

And not only that, but after she anointed him, Mary wiped Jesus’s feet down with her hair. 1 Corinthians 11:15 reminds us that in that day, hair was a woman’s glory.

So not only did Mary lay the best she had down at Jesus’s feet, she laid her glory down too.

To top it all off, the beautiful smell of her humility and sacrifice for Jesus filled the whole room. Her sacrifice was so profound that it was noticeable.

And Mary did all of this as an act of worship. Here she is looking out upon a table full of friends where she sees smiles, laughter, and best of all her brother who Jesus had just raised from the dead. Her sacrifice was one of abundant gratitude for all Jesus had done for her. John Piper puts it this way: “Having freely received, she freely gave.”

Mary > Us

Mary embodied everything the disciples were supposed to...and she embodied everything we’re supposed to be as well.

Her sacrifice was costly, out of a heart of worship, and immensely humble. She stooped down at Jesus’s feet with the best she had and it was beautiful.

Like Mary, we should humbly lay our very best and all of our earthly glory at Jesus’s feet in worship for who He is and all that He has done for us.

When was the last time you made a costly and humble sacrifice for Jesus? Maybe ending a bad relationship pulling you away from God? Or maybe submitting to a call to missions or ministry? Or maybe finally sharing the Gospel with a friend or family member? May we make mighty sacrifices for Jesus by washing the feet of those around us like Jesus did.

Judas

What about Judas’s response on the other hand?

Judas’s response is full of evil.

Even though He has seen sign after sign that Jesus is the Son of God, he has no category for true worship and humility. Instead, Judas says lofty words, about caring for the poor, but he never actually acts upon it. We never hear stories about Judas donating to the poor. Instead, John immediately points out that Judas is a thief and only wants money for himself. Judas’s words may sound pious but they come with a hiss. Only Mary actually does something with her gifts and gratitude.

It’s so easy to stand back and criticize the sacrifices of others, but its a totally different thing to make sacrifices ourselves. Until you actually give up something of significance for Jesus and to serve others, your opinion matters not a bit and warrants nothing but a rebuke from Jesus.

No matter how much you attend church and no matter how pious you sound your love for Jesus and others is nothing if you’re not willing to wash the feet of others as you lay down your very best for Jesus. When was the last time you did that?

We also see that Judas only valued Jesus as far as Jesus benefited Him, but the moment Judas could profit in another way, He dropped Jesus immediately. We do this all of the time. For example, we might even fall into this now in this quarantine season. One of the things this period of time without physical worship in churches will do is show you whether or not you desired to worship God in the first place. It’s one thing to hang around when it’s convenient, when it’s for your gain, when your friends are around, when you’re looking for the cute guy or girl in worship. It’s another thing to seek out worship when you can’t meet together and no one would be there to call you out for missing. It’s another thing to seek God out in prayer and His Word. Do you actually desire worship? Judas didn’t, but Mary did. Do you?

Nothing about Judas’s response is humble. Infact, it reeks of arrogance.

We want to be like Mary and not Judas.

So what do you need to lay at Jesus’s feet in worship and gratitude in this season? Sacrifice in this season for the good of others may look like sacrificing your desire to binge another Netflix show, play another round of video games, scroll aimlessly again through social media and instead call your grandparents to check in on them, call your friends and family, send a card to a loved one, donate food to a local food drive for the needy. It may look like fighting the desire of laziness to engage in God’s Word, and in prayer, and in worship. Whatever that sacrifice needs to be, does it actually cost you something? Do you have the humility to sacrifice your desires at the feet of Jesus?

If we would be willing to sacrifice humbly and profoundly like that Mary did, people will notice the sweetness of it all.

Group Question 4:

What does your sacrifice need to be in this season? What does washing feet like Jesus look like for you in this season? Talk about that in your groups for 2-3 minutes.

The Triumphal Entry

If we had time and could read on right after Mary anoints Jesus, we would see the telling of the famous Triumphal Entry of Jesus where Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey as a great crowd cries, “Hosanna” and places palm branches before him.

In this story, we see Jesus heading to claim his throne as king, not as the warrior and political leader riding in on a white horse ready for battle like the crowd expected, but on the back of a donkey in peasants clothing in the fullness of humility. Jesus would go on from there to be raised up on the cross, the most humiliating death in that day. Rather than claiming his throne as an arrogant dictator, Jesus claimed his throne in the most humble and powerful way possible. People believed his death was the very way he would lose his power, when in fact, his humble death in submission to God’s will was the very way he would secure the victory, not just for Him, but the whole world.

The Connection: 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

So what does this have to do with everything else we’ve talked about? How is this relevant? Let me connect Jesus washing the disciples feet, Mary annointing Jesus, and Jesus’s triumphal entry with one final passage.

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”- 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

In ancient times, after a victory in battle, the king would often lead the soldiers through the city in a parade as many tossed flowers and other sweet smelling things as they marched. The scent would’ve filled the city as a sign of victory and gladness. The enemy had been defeated and hope was secured.

Through Jesus’s humble sacrifice at the cross, and our humble sacrifices for His sake in our lives and the lives of others, the whole world can be filled with the beautiful scent of the hope of Jesus.

Through your humility in Jesus by serving others and proclaiming Jesus’s name, the whole world can see the beauty of Jesus and be able to respond to Him.

Through our humility, which pictures Jesus’s humility, the whole world gets to sense the sweetness of the Gospel as we show our gratitude for Jesus as we march in His victory parade in this life.

This humility, modelled by Jesus at the cross and in washing his disciples’s feet, is meant to be the intended posture of our Christian lives. And it’s meant to be the means to our joy in Jesus.

Humility is the way to joy and victory.

James 4 says- “Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded....Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”(‭‭-James ‭4:6-8,10‬)

Humility is the way to exaltation. And its the way of Jesus.

Remember what Philippians 2 told us?

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”- Philippians 2:5-11

You want to be exalted like Jesus? You want to follow Jesus? You want to experience the joy of Jesus? You want to sense the satisfaction of Jesus? You want to rule and reign with Jesus? You want to be with Jesus for eternity? Then be humble like Jesus! Humble yourself before God and wash the feet of others in service. Humble yourself before God by bringing your sin to Him and submitting to His call. And if you do that, John 13:17 tells us, “blessed are you if you do them.”

Humility is the way to blessedness. Humility is the way to joy. Humility is the pathway to peace. Humility is the way to Jesus.

Humility Through Prayer: Group Prayer

We’re going to close tonight, by displaying our humility in another way

Prayer shows our reliance on God; that He is in control and we are not. Prayer shows our humble submission to God’s will.

Maybe one of the first ways you need to humble yourself in this season is to actually pray or pray more.

May we humble ourselves now in prayer together. Pray for each other’s needs and the needs of those in the world in the midst of this pandemic. Take 2-3 minutes and I’ll call us back to close us in prayer.

Group Prayer

Pray

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