Letters to the Prison - Week 149

Hello, everyone.  We’re continuing our study of John.  If you need a Bible, ask for one!  As we move into chapter 13, it is important to remember that John has committed 7 chapters (John 12-19) of his Gospel to covering the events of one week –one of the most important weeks in human history.  Further, the next two chapters we study are going to cover what happened during the course of one meal…  the Last Supper  --one of the most important meals in human history.  Another key thing to remember:  John wrote this more than 60 years after the events occurred.  He’s had plenty of time to reflect and consider what’s happened.  So, John writes from this profoundly wizened perspective that recognizes many things in retrospect that he (and the other disciples) did not recognize at the time the events occurred.  Hindsight is 20/20, as they say…   We should also remember the astonishing claims Jesus made in the closing verses of chapter 12.  It’s ok if we don’t quite remember these, though…  John is going to give us a refresher:
  • Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 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, … -John 13:1-3

Here, John is asserting that Jesus knew some profound things.  Consider these verses in reverse:  Jesus knew that he was going back to God from whence he came; he knew God has given all things into his hands; he knew Judas would betray him; and he knew his hour had come to depart in fulfillment of the Father’s will.  Add to that the assertion that Jesus loved his own to the end.  The implications of what John has said here about Jesus are simply staggering.  The position, power, authority, and knowledge that John has ascribed to Jesus with these simple observations is overwhelming… breathtaking.  At this point, we might be wondering:  Equipped with all this knowledge and all this authority and all this perfect love, what does Jesus decide to do?  What spectacular, stunning, mind-blowing thing does Jesus have in store for this grand moment in human history?  Let’s finish the sentence and continue:
  • [Jesus] rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. -John 13:4-5

Much is often made of how humble this act is…  how degrading… and (potentially) how disgusting… 1st-century men often walked wherever they were going… wearing little more than sandals, if anything at all…  and streets were often unpaved, dirty, and littered with animal dung and who knows what else…

Much is also made of the ensuing conversation between Peter and Jesus.  We’ll look at that next week.  But what we don’t always consider yet is clearly implied (as we will soon see), is that Jesus washed all the disciples’ feet.  That would include Judas… the one who would, in a few short hours, betray Jesus to the religious leaders who would have him put to death.  We’ll spend some time examining this amazing act.  Until next week, consider:  Jesus has given us this act as an example (John 13:15).  What does it mean for us today, right now, in our walk as Christians.  What does it mean to wash one another’s feet?  We love you!

Dean A.

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