Disciples at the Table

Why does the Book of Glory begin with the foot-washing? Because this is Jesus setting in drama what he will do on the cross for the disciples and all of us. He will wash us and make us a part of himself forever.

Why is the long discourse of Jesus part of the Book of Glory? Because it is Jesus reassuring his disciples that God’s plan for them goes beyond this life and lasts forever. “In my Father’s house are many mansions…”

Jesus will be hung on the cross in the morning and die in the evening and be buried. A few hours from now it will feel like it is all over. But Sunday is coming, and Sunday morning will change everything for everyone on the planet.

"So He Got Up," John Reported:

A vivid memory.

Jesus knew four things:

1. that the hour had come: "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." (v1)
2. that Judas had decided: "the devil had already prompted Judas." (v2)
3. that the Father had put all things under his power (v3)
4. that he had come from God and was returning to God (v3)

We know similar things:

• that harvest time has come, as Jesus said
• that we will face opposition even from within
• that God is in control
• that or destination is the Father’s house

Jesus loved his own to the end.

• He loved his own who were in the world. That is, he loved his friends, his disciples, his companions whom he had selected to be with him.
• He loved them to the end—to the final hour, to the end of his strength, to the dying point.
• He demonstrated his love for them powerfully on this last night before he suffered.

We love our own as well:

• We have been given companions for our journey in this world. We love them.
• We want to love them with all of our strength.
• We want their faces around us when we die—right up to the end.
• We want to demonstrate our love for them.
• We want them to love one another and care for each other when we are gone.

Jesus moved into action: "so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 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." (vs 4-5)

• This is a vivid memory for John in a night that would hold many memories.
• Jesus stood up from his reclining position at the table. He took off his outer garment. He wrapped a towel around his waist. He got a basin of water. He is assuming the role of the house servant. Everyone in the room understands what he is doing. This is the low and menial task performed by slaves.
• He began one by one to wash their feet.

We must move into action, too.

• You’ve got to get up. You cannot sit in your comfortable chair all day and get this done.
• You’ve got to prepare yourself.
  • Don’t you hate having to change clothes in the middle of the day? If I have a funeral at 2, I want to wear my suit to mow.
• You must take the time and do it right, this service to which you are called.

“You Shall Never,” Peter Protested:

An awkward, dramatic moment (v8)

The realization that Jesus intends to wash your feet.

• It struck Peter so powerfully, like Jesus talking about suffering and dying on the road to Caesarea Philippi. Peter was upset then, too, and this is akin to it, for Jesus can only really wash our sins away through his suffering and death.
• I guess Peter thought that Jesus would skip him. He was the leader of the Twelve. He would most happily finish what Jesus had started in the circle of friends. He would be glad to drop to his knees and wash the feet of Thomas and Judas.
• But to have the Lord Jesus wash his feet—that just seemed so wrong, so impossible.

Put yourself in Peter’s spot. Jesus is asking to wash your feet. What are you going to say?

“You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” (v7)

• Peter did understand later. In fact, next week, Easter Sunday, we will see how Peter began to understand.
• Full understanding will come when the Spirit comes.

It’s “later” now, and we should understand.

1. We cannot cleanse ourselves no matter how proud we are or moral we are or smart we are or hard-working.
2. We must submit to the service of Jesus or we cannot be with him: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (v8).
3. Only Jesus can wash us of our sins.

“You Shall Never wash my feet.”

• Peter thinks he is being strong and bold, but he is only being stubborn.
• Once he learns that this is what must happen for him to be with Jesus, he is ready to be cleansed from top to bottom.

Our refusal to accept what Jesus freely offers is a factor of our self-righteousness, our self-sufficiency. How are you doing with that, by the way?

• This is the only way to come to the Father. We must let Jesus do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
• This helplessness is our confession of sinfulness, unworthiness, and total reliance upon Christ.

When I drive through southeast Texas, I still see those piles of debris. We used to call them “Cajun levees” because they covered Cajun country after Hurricane Katrina.

We created those levees by putting on masks and gloves, taking up shovels and wheelbarrows, and going into the personal residences of men and women in our community. Often they stood by weeping as we carted to the curb all the personal items, family heirlooms, and irreplaceable mementos that the flood waters had turned into junk.

It was very personal, almost intimate work—reaching into drawers and closets, looking for the things the homeowners considered valuable, showing them their condition, and casting them on the trash heap. We were gutting the houses. We didn’t realize we would also be discarding some of the things they valued most in this life.

I realized somewhere in the process that gutting a person’s flooded home was a form of foot-washing. We were following the example of Jesus. Sometimes an engineer or builder would say, “You shouldn’t bother. That house is not salvageable.” And our response was in part: “We don’t do this for the house. We do this for the homeowner.”

Jesus is washing away our valuables. We hang on to our own righteousness and goodness with tenacity. We don’t want to surrender the notion that we are better than most, even good enough for God. He is reducing our dependency to him alone.

 “I Have Set You An Example,” Declared Jesus:

“Do you understand what I have done for you?” (v12)

• Jesus wanted to make sure they understood, and he wants to make sure WE understand.
• So let me ask you, “do you understand?”

Jesus saved you by his grace, but he saved you for a purpose.

• Our cleansing from sin is not just an internal, personal event that only touches us.
• Our cleansing by Christ is his deliberate establishment of a norm and standard for our behavior.
  • His words are overt. They are heavy.
  • This is how we are to behave in the world—serving.

We suppose that this will reduce us, diminish us, and so it may. Putting on the clothes of a servant, taking on the tasks of a servant, may communicate to others that you are a servant.

• The servant is not greater than his master.
• The messenger is not greater than the one who sent him.

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (v17). We have a great blessing waiting out there for us when we take the towel and the basin. But we will never know the blessing until we do it.

Are you going to let Jesus wash your feet?