Sermon - John 13:1-17, 31b-35 - Loving Others

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Churches

Sermon - John 13:1-17, 31b-35 - Loving Others

Maundy Thursday, April 17, 2014

This is the 38^th day of Lent. Lent is a forty day period, excluding Sundays, when we are prepared for the event that comes this Sunday. We remember the forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness preparing to enter the promised land, and Jesus' forty days of temptation preparing for his ministry on earth. We are preparing ourselves for Easter by gathering in a solemn assembly on this Thursday night. Let us pray.

O Lord, as I rest in you this night, keep me faithful. Let my dying and my living be precious in your sight so that I may rest in you forever; I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.¹

John 13 1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The conversation tonight that we are looking at is between Jesus and the people he loved the most, his disciples, on the night before he died. Jesus wants them to know about God's love. Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover. This festival was meant to help the people of God remember how much God loved them. He loved them so much that he freed them from slavery in Egypt. It was understood that God loved his people by blessing them and cursing their enemies. The Israelites were blessed by being allowed to leave Egypt to worship their God. The Egyptians were cursed by having all the firstborn of both the people and livestock struck dead. It was a awful curse God gave the Egyptians, but we are told that God did this to free his people. And so Passover teaches us that God's love comes to us as blessings upon us and curses on our enemies. Let's continue.

2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;

Jesus and his disciples are sitting around low tables in a U shape. Jesus and two of them are at the head table. Five each are at the side tables. Everyone is on the outside of the U. They are all reclining on their left side and their heads are support by their left hands. They are reaching for food with their right and their feet are pointing away from the table. Let's see what Jesus does.

4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Jesus has done the unthinkable. The work of washing guest's feet is the responsibility of a servant. The leader of the group should remain at the table talking and eating with others. But Jesus got up, removed his cloak and tied a towel around his waist the way a slave would to begin washing the guest's feet. Jesus has humbled himself, taking the form of a slave. Let's listen to the reaction of his disciples.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” 9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

The disciples thought that Jesus was washing the dirt from their feat. But this is not at all what Jesus was doing. Jesus was doing what we do in baptism. When we pass through the baptismal waters our sins are washed away. Through Jesus that night, God was forgiving the disciples and washing their sins away. Let's listen to Jesus' explanation.

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

The responsibility of the disciples is to wash each other's feet just as Jesus had washed theirs. They are to do what Jesus did, but not to literally wash feet. Rather, they are to forgive others just as they have been forgiven by God. Please note that the feet of all twelve of Jesus' disciples had their feet washed and their sins forgiven. Even Judas Iscariot, the one who would betray Jesus' location to the religious authorities, was forgiven. If Jesus can forgive the man who betrayed him, then he can certainly forgive everyone who has done something wrong.

What Jesus has done here is to radically redefine what we mean when we say that God loves us. The disciples had thought that God loved us by blessing us and cursing our enemies. But Jesus wants us to know that cursing our enemies is not what God is all about. God loves us so much that he forgives our enemies and wants us to do the same. By forgiving us Jesus has glorified God. And if we forgive others we too glorify God. Jesus put it this way.

31b “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him ,God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

God loves you by forgiving you and washing away your sin. He does not hold grudges. He is not concerned with your past disobedience at all. All he wants is for you to confess and turn away from sin. And, of course, he wants you to love others by forgiving them too. This is why Jesus came to earth. In the Kingdom of God we are to love one another. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we know that in Jesus Christ you love us. Jesus loved us do much he died for us. Help us to love one another as much as you love us. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

1Kimberly Long, Feasting On the Word Worship Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 129.