John 13:1-17 – Dependence Day

We love our independence. We love to be free. We like to make our own choices, set our own direction, be in control of our own lives. We like to be independent. We have a whole day set aside for it in the summer time. We regularly thank God for the freedoms in our nation. It feels good to be able to take care of business, to live by our the wits of our mind and the strength of our back, to make a good living with good hard work. That gives us the satisfaction we want in our lives. That helps us, here on Sunday, to take a rest, because we know how hard we work, and we earned this day where we can take a break. We are independent. We can take care of our own business.

And it bothers us, a little, when someone doesn’t take care of their own business. I mean, we understand that there are times when things get tough. We know that you can’t always plan for the future. No one could really see how bad things were going to get right now, how tough it would be to keep a home or a job. We understand. But then, you get back up on the horse and you try again. You dig yourself out. You fix the problem. You take care of business. After all, we do. We take care of ourselves, and you take care of yourself. We’ll help, to a point. We’ll lend a hand, to an extent. But there’s a limit to how far we’ll go. After all, you, me, we, we are independent.

Here in John 13, Jesus declares Dependence Day. Here in John 13, Jesus states, there are no limits to what a disciple of Jesus will do. A disciple of Jesus serves to the same extent Jesus served, and Jesus served us all the way to His death.

We’ve just come out of a month of seeing what a disciple of Jesus looks like. Loving God, loving our neighbor, loving ourselves, and then going into the world and helping people love God and neighbor and themselves. And here in John 13, Jesus spells out what it means to be His follower. He teaches a shocking lesson, but He doesn’t use words. He teaches a parable here, but at first, He doesn’t even speak.

Verse 1:

It was just before the Passover Feast.

The time has come. Jesus has been teaching and healing for 3 years now, all over Israel. But now it’s time to really get down to work. For three years, Jesus has preached and proven the kingdom of God, but His real work will happen in the next 24 hours. Verse 1 again:

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

For 3 years, He had taught both His own disciples, and anyone else who would listen. But so many had rejected Him. He had said strange things, like anyone who wanted to be saved had to eat His flesh and drink His blood. He had claimed to be the same “I AM” as the God who had spoken to Moses out of the burning bush. He had said too many whacky things for some people, and they had given up.

But not everyone. Some still followed. They believe Him when He told them those strange things. They believe Him when He claimed to be God. And for those people who believed, He now showed them the full extent of His love, a love with no limits. We know where this would end. We know that His display of His limitless love would be complete on that awful cross.

But His display of His love begins already in verse 2, in the upper room, at supper. Verse 2:

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.

John creates the scene for us. Jesus and the twelve disciples are gathered around the table. Jesus and the twelve. What Jesus is about to do will be shocking, but the fact that Judas is there is offensive.

Because look what Jesus does. Verse 5:

he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He washed his disciples feet. If that doesn’t create a little knot in your stomach, then maybe you’re missing the point. These are feet that Jesus is touching. 24 feet. 240 toes. 24 toenails. Get the picture? 24 feet that have been walking around in hot dust. Sweat and dirt have mingled together to gather between the toes. Yeah, now we’re getting it, now we’re feeling what the disciples feel.

Think of it like this. You’re having guests over for dinner. You’ve set the table, prepared the food, invited everyone to sit down to eat. Except one of your guests, one of your friends, someone you have a lot of respect for, one of them pushes back from the table, opens a closet door, pulls out the toilet brush and begins to clean your toilet. This is an offensive scene. We’re supposed to be repulsed. The 12 disciples certainly are. This is just wrong, absolutely wrong.

But it’s actually so right. Jump back to verse 3 a moment:

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Jesus had been given all power. He was fully in control. He was in charge. He was King, and He still is. And Jesus had enough power, enough sovereignty, enough authority…to be a servant. That seems backwards, doesn’t it? If you have authority and power, then you don’t have to do things a servant does, right? You do great jobs, not gross jobs.

But not Jesus. See His authority is so great, His power is so strong, His majesty is so noble, that His act of service becomes an act of nobility. He loses none of His sovereignty as He becomes a servant.

His disciples, though, are not so comfortable with this. Would you be? I know I don’t have the prettiest feet. I know I wouldn’t want a guest cleaning my toilet. And neither did Peter. Verse

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Lord, are you going to touch my toes? You’re going to scrub my insoles?

And Jesus, patiently, replies:

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

And now begins the struggle, because Peter is independent. He has been an independent business owner, his own fishing business. He has taken care of his responsibilities, he’s his own man. And while it’s okay to hire a servant to wash his feet, because that’s what everybody did, to have Jesus washing was absolutely unacceptable. Verse 8:

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

But that presents a problem:

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.

If Peter does not accept this act of service from Jesus, then he and Jesus are done. Their relationship must end. They can’t go on together. Because if Peter won’t accept this act of service from Jesus, of washing his feet, then he certainly won’t accept the act of service from Jesus that is just hours away, the act of being whipped and beaten, mocked and ridiculed, nailed and gored and hung on a piece of wood to die.

Well, Peter wants to stay with Jesus, so quickly, enthusiastically, Peter responds, in verse 9:

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

But Peter doesn’t need to take a bath. He just did. Peter doesn’t need to be completely washed. He already was. Peter knows who Jesus is. Peter knows what must be done. Peter knows that he is a sinner, and only Jesus is able to do something about that. And that is what made Peter clean. Peter accepted Jesus’ act of service. Jesus was going to lay down His own life for Peter, and for James and John and you and me, too. And anyone who knows this, anyone who accepts this is clean, completely clean. We never need to be washed again. Verse 10:

Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean,

You are clean, if you’ve accepted Jesus’ sacrifice. You are washed, if He died for you. You are pure, you are innocent, you are perfect in the eyes of God, if you know that Jesus laid down His life for you.

But that is hard for us to accept. Paul calls this the scandal of the gospel, in 1 Corinthians 1:23, a stumbling block, foolishness. It is as hard for us to accept the gospel as it was for Peter to have his feet washed. It is so hard for us to believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection were enough to take away all our sins. We know He died. We know that we needed Him to die. We just tend to contribute to Jesus’ saving act. We want to help. We’re independent, after all. We’re responsible. We can take care of our own business, and if we need Jesus to help, great, but we’d rather do it for ourselves. Picturing Jesus, our Savior, our King kneeling before us, scrubbing our toes doesn’t fit with our independence. Knowing Jesus, our Savior, our King hung on the cross for us, bleeding for us, suffering hell for us, that doesn’t fit.

Either He did it all, either we accept that He did it all, or, as Jesus put it, we have no part with Him. If we think that we need to add one little work to what He did, then Jesus needs to part ways with us. He laid down His life, He became humble, lowly, for us. He washed us, and all we could do was let Him do it. That’s hard to accept, isn’t it? You know what? If it’s not hard to accept, then we’re really not understanding what Jesus did. If the cross doesn’t offend, then we don’t understand the cross.

And for the next few weeks, we’re going to look closely at what Jesus did, serving us with His death, washing us with His suffering. Through this season lent, leading up to Good Friday and Easter, we’re going be offended, and that’s a good thing. We’re going take a better hold on Jesus’ act of service for us because, Jesus says, in verse 14:

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Now, which is harder, to be washed by Jesus, or to do the washing? To be served by our Lord, or to serve another? Tough choice, huh? But don’t worry, because we’re going to get our chance. Verse 16:

I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

And for the next few weeks, we’re going to see what it means to wash each other’s feet. We’re going to find ways that we can serve one another, like Jesus has served us.

And our service will not always be pretty. In many different ways, we’ll be scrubbing toenails. We will go into homes that smell. We will befriend people that have totally different values than we do. We will endure embarrassing, humbling situations, because that’s what our Lord did.

But we will do this in the same power as our Lord. All power and authority had been given to Jesus to be a servant to us, and now He gives us His power and His authority to serve one another. Nothing is beyond our limits when it comes to what we do for each other. Nothing is beyond our limits for how we serve our community. There are no limits. Everything is in play.

But just like Jesus rose from the dead, just like glory came out of the serving, verse 17:

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

We’re not independent. We’re not independent of Jesus. We need Him. We’re not independent of each other. We need help. We need help from each other. We need to help each other.

Who around us needs our help? Take a look at their feet, so to speak. Who needs us to come alongside? They won’t like it, anymore than the disciples did with Jesus, any more than we did with Jesus. But they need it. And we need to serve. Who needs a friend? Who needs help with their house? Who needs a babysitter? Who needs a job? Who needs a ride into town? Who needs help filling out Medicare forms? Who needs help with the immigration process? Who needs a phone call?

Are we ready? Are we on our knees? Are we humble enough to serve, to serve anyone? Jesus did it, He did it for us. There was no one, not one of us too sinful, too smelly, too scary that He wasn’t ready to serve. He washed us. Now it’s our turn, our turn to wash.