John 13:12-17
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. 1 Peter 2:21-25 ²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ²² He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. [Isa 53:9] ²³ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins [Isa 53:4] in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. [Isa 53:5] ²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray, [Isa 53:6] but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Before it is anything you do, It is something he has already done for you.
Thoughts
- The Question Jesus Asks (12) Jesus finishes the most shocking act of the evening, sits back down, and asks the question that freezes the room: Do you understand what I have done for you? The disciples have just watched the Lord of glory take the place of the lowest slave. Peter is silent (finally!). There is a deep sense of awe. Before Jesus sends them out, he forces them to reflect on the gift. If this gift doesn’t grip us, we aren’t yet ready to go. The first movement is not “go and do likewise,” but rather, Do you understand what I have done for you? Everything else flows from that. Until the love of Jesus lands on us with weight, our service will be duty or performance. Once it lands, service becomes overflow. ➤ Jesus grounds everything he asks of us in what he has already done for us: love for one another begins in grasping his love for us..
- The Pattern Jesus Sets (13-15) The word Jesus uses for example (hypodeigma) means a pattern to be copied. He is not offering a squishy ideal of love, but rather a razor-sharp picture of how agape-love acts:
- Agape confronts. Real love isn’t indifference. “Whatever” is not love; it’s apathy. Love binds up wounds, even when it means crossing someone’s will.
- Agape is willful, not emotional. The feet weren’t attractive. Jesus doesn’t wait until he feels like serving: he chooses to love – and for those of us emulating him, we let our feelings to follow our will.
- Agape sees without judging. He washes every pair of feet in the room, and includes Judas. Jesus meets need, not merit. Love opens our eyes to see people clearly, beyond their brokenness. This is the same pattern Peter later holds up: Christ left us an example so that we should follow in his steps.
The Lord we rightly call Master knelt at our feet, and he makes his stooping the measure of ours. ➤ Love is not about what we feel, but instead about what we will kneel, and do.
- The Blessing Jesus Gives (16,17) Jesus ends with a promise: makarios \= blessed, deeply contented. The blessing is not in knowing the example, but in doing it. The world prizes power that lords it over people. Jesus shows a different power: lording it under people with love. The path to true greatness and real joy is downward. When we take the towel, we discover the life we were made for. ➤ A servant is not above his master, so the sent ones go the way he went. The blessing is driven by the doing.
Reflection
- Whose feet have you decided are beneath your washing? What would it cost you to pick up the towel for that person?
GoJ 13:18-30-15:27
