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Reading:          Jn.13:1-20

Text:                Jn.13:12 "Do you understand what I have done to you?"

There is such a gulf between Jesus and his disciples. As we progress through John's gospel looking at some of the questions that Jesus asked we are struck again and again by the differences between them – on the one hand there is Jesus who is fully in control of what is happening to him and fully aware of how others are reacting to him whereas on the other there are the disciples who struggle time after time to understand what Jesus is getting at. We are presented with, on the one hand, Jesus who knew and understood so much and, on the other, with his disciples who knew and understood so little.

In this section that we're considering together this evening we find this contrast again – John leaves us in no doubt whatsoever about the fact that Jesus knew what was going on. But for the moment the disciples don't understand. Jesus knew that they were to come to a clear understanding later on and taught them what he did now so as to encourage them to believe in him.

v.19 "I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he."

The disciples of Jesus' day walked and talked with Jesus Christ on a daily basis but they did not grasp clearly what he was about nor did they see clearly how he was fulfilling his mission. And yet they continued to follow, trusting him even when they didn't understand much at all.

We are not in the same situation as them. They were involved in the unfolding of the very events that form the historical foundation of the gospel message but we live centuries after those events actually occurred. They were seeing piecemeal and only when all the pieces of the puzzle were in place were they able to see the big picture. We have the advantage of having the whole picture spread out before us and we have the whole of the Scripture written that not only records the events but explains their significance too.

Nevertheless it is just as incumbent upon us as it was to them to make every effort to understand this extraordinary man Jesus Christ and his mission. The more we understand clearly what the Christian gospel is all about the more sure will be our confidence in our Lord Jesus and the more comfort we will enjoy in our spiritual lives.

As we turn to consider the familiar event of Jesus washing his disciples' feet let us keep Jesus' question in our minds "Do we understand what he has done for us?"

Before John feels free to describe what was to take place next he wants to tell us that none of it would take Jesus by surprise. He would not surprised by what was about to take place in the Upper room and nor would he be surprised by any of the subsequent events that John would record in his gospel. He would not be surprised by his betrayal, his arrest, his condemnation and execution. Nor would he be surprised by his resurrection. In fact the way John writes it is clear that he wants us to realise that Jesus acted in the just the way he did because he was fully aware of who he was, why he had come and how it was all to end and that very soon.

v.1 after the initial time marker John immediately turns our attention to Jesus:

1.      He knew that his hour had come

2.      He knew that this meant leaving the world and returning to his Father

John then tells us knowing these things Jesus set himself to provide a full and complete manifestation of his love for his followers. He had already demonstrated his love for his own but now he was about to put the finishing touches, as it were, to this love.

v.1 "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end."

Or as the NIV puts it:

v.1 "Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love."

Many good commentators prefer to read the last words of the text like this: 'He loved them unto the uttermost' rather than 'unto the end'— taking them to express the depth and degree of his love rather simply referring to the permanence and perpetuity of it.

Now the reference is not by any means to be limited to what takes place in the Upper room alone – those events are certainly included but we must look further and think primarily of what would occur in Gethsemane, at Golgotha and then subsequently at Bethany from where Jesus would ascend into heaven!

With this then in mind we are ready to consider just why Jesus washed his disciples' feet and why John records it for us to read. John's careful and serious introduction will stop us casually reading what happens next as just one more interesting episode in Jesus' life.

If v.1 serves as something of an introduction to the rest of the gospel v.2 introduces more specifically the scene in the Upper room and once again John makes it clear what Jesus knows. In v.2 we're reminded that Judas is the one who will betray Jesus – but it is, obvious as the story unfolds, that this is something that Jesus is well aware of even if it was completely unsuspected by the other apostles.

Then in v.3 we're told more. We're left in no doubt that when Jesus acts he does so with full knowledge of the facts:

v.3" 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,"

In the full light of all this Jesus goes into action. I wonder how long they had been at table before Jesus rose to get the towel and the basin? The pitcher and towel had been there all along but none of the disciples wanted to undertake the task – it was so demeaning to wash someone else's feet and after all they'd not long before been talking about who was the greatest… The need was obvious and the means of meeting that need were there but none was willing.

In the full knowledge of just who he is Jesus leaves the table and takes the towel, fills the basin and proceeds to wash the feet of the others present in the room.

Here is a demonstration of his love for them. He who is the Master nevertheless humbles himself and adopts the role of a servant to meet their needs. This foot-washing is an essential part of Lord's humiliation:

Phil.2:6-7 "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men."

It would seem that the first apostles accepted this (probably in horrified silence) but Peter couldn't cope with it at all. He baulked at the humiliation that this entailed for Jesus – he baulked too at having to receive freely what he did not deserve from his Lord and Master!

I wonder how we would have reacted had we been present?

What Jesus was doing for his disciples was both real and symbolic. It was real in that he actually did take a towel and wash the physically dirty feet of his followers. It was symbolic because it also represented the full and complete humiliation that Jesus would undergo as he was first rejected by his own nation, then handed over to the Gentiles, and finally crucified in ignominy and shame upon the cross of Calvary.

We sing about these things in some of our hymns:

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

in my place condemned He stood;

sealed my pardon with His blood:

And we don't hesitate to go on to sing the fourth line:

Hallelujah! what a Saviour!

When we understand the gospel we can sing this and with a full heart! But if we don't understand the gospel, even if we sing the words, we'll not moved by them but we'll find them strange, bizarre.

But all that Peter could see for the moment was the shame – it was so impossibly strange to him. It didn't fit in at all with his ideas of what was and what was wrong.

"Are you going to wash my feet?"

And so often when that's the case we reject what is presented to us – Peter couldn't take this humiliation of his Lord but if he couldn't accept this humiliation would he not baulk also at the greater humiliation that his crucifixion would be?

And this is exactly what Jesus presses on Peter as he responds to his petulant follower. Jesus has already told Peter that although he doesn't understand it all now he will in the future but Peter wasn't prepared to walk by faith just yet he stands in need of the very severe warning that Jesus is brought to issue:

v.8 "Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”"

Jesus is not referring to the foot-washing itself but to the passion to which the foot-washing points. Unless the Lamb of God has taken away a person's sin, has washed that person, he or she can have no part with him!

In vv.6-8 Jesus has used the foot-washing episode as a symbol for the whole of his impending cross-work. To have one's feet washed is, then, synonymous with receiving the initial and fundamental cleansing that Christ provides at conversion and new birth.

If one has been washed by Christ with that initial bath of new birth/conversion there is no need for that initial experience to be repeated (nor indeed is it possible that it should be)!

But Peter has entirely missed the point. As ever Peter swings from one extreme to another – hearing that his whole approach might lead to him being cut off completely from the Lord Jesus Christ he changes tack dramatically and asks for far more! His response may be enthusiastic but it is thoughtless for all that. He is thinking too physically ("not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" v.9) and not spiritually.

So Jesus must continue to explain just what he does means:

vv.10-11 "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.”"

In response to Peter's misunderstanding Jesus applies the foot-washing symbol to make a different point. The bathing of a person corresponds here to the justification that comes through being washed in Jesus' blood (soon to be shed on Calvary) – all his sins have been forgiven. For such a person who is fundamentally clean the only thing that he or she needs is now sanctification which is signalled by the reference to feet.

The picture would have been readily comprehensible to those in the Middle East. A person might well take a bath before leaving home for a supper elsewhere would not need to take another bath upon arriving at the banqueting hall – all that would be necessary would be to wash off the dust from his sandaled feet.

But we must keep in mind that Jesus was talking not about physical matters but spiritual. He had spoken in ch.3 about spiritual rebirth, in ch.4 about spiritual water, in ch.6 about spiritual food, and here in ch.13 he was talking about spiritual cleansing.

There is an important point that we must not miss in what Jesus has to say about them not all being clean. Yes, we understand from this that Jesus knew that one of his followers was a traitor who would shortly betray him (he knew exactly which of the disciples it was too) but there is more. Judas was not being treated in any way that set him apart from the other disciples – if he had been these differences would have been noticed by the other disciples who would then have easily identified him as the one about Jesus was speaking. So we are led to this consideration:  Rituals don't save! Having the symbol or the outward sign does not of itself save. We must never be content to settle for the form while lacking the substance! Judas, we understand, had had his feet washed but that did not bring about the type of cleansing he so desperately needed but never experienced!

Jesus knew that his disciples still couldn't grasp it at the moment – they simply weren't getting it. He knew, too, that they would later after he had died and been raised to life again and as the Holy Spirit came to them leading them into all truth

But there was another part to what he had done in washing his disciples feet that they could understand straightaway – it would be an application which would continue to be relevant to them even when they had come to understand the rest too!

"Do you understand what I have done for you?" v.12

Not entirely, would have been the answer but they had some understanding and they must act upon that.

vv.13-15 "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."

1.      Make sure that you washed by Christ! Don't take offence at Christ! Don't be afraid about following a humiliated Saviour – it is his humiliation that has merited the redemption you so much need!

2.      Don't put your trust in religion or in religious rites etc. Remember Judas! He participated in the externals but knew nothing of the inward reality of it all and was lost.

3.      Make sure that you make progress on the way of sanctification. The initial cleansing that has delivered you from sin is no licence to go on living in sin. If there are slips along the way go quickly to him to clean the dirt off your feet!

4.      Follow Jesus' example. He saw a need that he was able to meet and met it. He didn't stand on his laurels or act as though service was demeaning but he stooped to serve his utterly unworthy followers. If he was willing to do that for such as us let us banish the idea that we should only offer our help and service to the deserving! When we see a need that we are able to meet let us meet it too to the glory of our Saviour!

Amen.