A Place for Faith: The Table

We are going to do something vitally important on this Lord’s Day before the election. We are going to come to the table and observe the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

This ordinance of remembrance is centered in the death of Christ. Three of the gospels tell how Jesus broke bread and passed the cup at the Last Supper.

John departs from this pattern. In his gospel, he records an event in the Upper Room that evening that is full of meaning for every follower of Jesus. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.

We are going to serve one another in the Lord’s Supper as a conclusion to this message. For now, I want us to ask ourselves this question: How is the living parable of the foot-washing related to my life in Christ?

Love to the End:

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. - John 13:1

John describes the final moments of Jesus’ life on this earth: the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.

• metabasis— “depart;” preposition “with” combined with basis which refers to the foot. The hour had come for Jesus to walk out of this world and go to the Father. John does not say that his walk will be down the via dela rosa, the road of suffering. Few ever departed this life enduring greater agony than the Man from Galilee.

• This is the faith way that Jesus will go to the Father.

Jesus knew.

•  Jesus knew that Judas had betrayed him even though Judas was still sitting there at the table.

• Jesus knew that his enemies would deploy the temple guard to come and get him in just a couple of hours.

• Jesus knew what kind of death he would die.

Final words and actions may express our faith. When someone we love is about to die, we hang on every word. We want them to be comfortable. We want to attend to their every need. We want to hear their words.

• If you knew that you had only two or three hours of freedom before the soldiers came to get you, what would you do? If you knew you were going to die in less than 24 hours, what would you do?

• Jesus does what many of us would do. He tells his disciples that he loves them. He does so not just with words but with an astonishing act of service.

• Jewish hosts had a custom. Their servants would wash the feet of dinner guests. Their feet were always covered with dust from walking the dirt pathways of that day.
• No servants were present in the Upper Room. No one else had volunteered to take care of this task.
• The basin and pitcher of water were provided already there by the doorway to their Upper Room. Their feet are extended away from the table, coffee-table height, where they recline. Jesus takes off his outer garments, takes the basin and towel, and begins to wash their feet.

Cora Webb was on her deathbed, as it turned out. I found her in ICU on a gurney, lying there waiting for the doctor to see her. I spoke to her briefly and suggested that we have prayer. She took my hand and said, “Pastor, let me pray for you.” And Cora prayed for me as she lay flat on her back suffering from the heart condition that would end her life in just a few days.

Wash Away the Debris:

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” - John 13:8

Peter was embarrassed for the Lord Jesus. Jesus was not acting like the leader, in Peter’s view. He was stooping too low. He was doing what the servants do.

Jesus was washing away the dust that accumulates in any journey on a dirt road. But it was a picture of the forgiveness that he was extending to the disciples. Through his final act of love he was going to make it possible for their sin to be washed away forever.

• “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me,” he told Peter. This washing enabled the continuing relationship of love between him and the disciples.

• Jesus was saying, “You men are imperfect. Dirt gets on your feet all the time. I am washing your feet right before I die so you will understand that I cleanse you from head to foot, removing every sin and all shame.

We must wash one another’s feet in this same way. Every person’s journey on this Earth (dirt) soils the feet. It is inevitable. Our feet are clay just like the earth we walk on. We wash each other’s feet by extending forgiveness one to another. We wash away the debris that comes between us. This is what the table does for us. It pronounces and enables the forgiveness that is required if we are to live together in love and peace.

Do As I Have Done For You:

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. - John 13:15

Jesus is not asking you to do anything that he has not already done for you. This foot-washing that he commands may seem lowly, but the servant is not greater than his Lord.

Those feet of yours will be hammering the earth all your days. Sometimes they will be injured. You will wear a protective boot. You will buy special shoes. You will experience pain in the soles of your feet.

And you will experience pain in your soul. You will suffer injury and heartache. You will experience moral failure. You will be ashamed, guilty, self-condemning. Jesus will wash your feet.

And we must wash one another’s feet.

• A CNN reporter, Laura, asked me about the moral failure of someone we all loved. She said, “Would you have forgiven him?” I said, “Yes. I have already done it a hundred times.” She said, “What about this Ashley Madison list?” I said, “We are all on the list. We all fall down.”

This is the table where we come to get our feet washed from the inevitable sin that accumulates. And this is the table where we resolve again to wash one another’s feet, to forgive and receive forgiveness.