John 13
Chuck Smith on John 13
Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verses 1-38
Let's turn to the thirteenth chapter of the gospel according to John. We have come into a new section of the gospel of John, which carries us through chapter 17. And chapters 13 through 17 cover a period of approximately thirty-six hours or so. Probably more like a twenty-four hour period is covered in these next five chapters. So, this is beginning the night that Jesus was betrayed. And, His prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John is offered sometime prior to the Garden of Gethsemane experience, some twenty-four hours later. So we're actually covering a short period of the life of Christ. But this is such an important period, that John devotes almost one quarter of his gospel to this twenty-four hour period. So, we realize the importance of this period of the life of Jesus Christ in the attention that John gives to it. In the overall record, he spends about one quarter right within this twenty-four hour period. And so, it is well for us to look carefully at these things that are recorded in this particular period of time, and surely we are now being exposed to the very heart of Jesus. The book of Revelation is the unveiling of Jesus Christ, but this unveils Him to us, surely, as we get this fabulous insight into the heart of Jesus.
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world going back to the Father, having loved his own which we were in the world, he loved them unto the uttermost ( John 13:1 ).
He loved them unto the completion; He loved them unto the end. Telos is the Greek word, and it means unto the completion; that is, unto the completion of their redemption. He loved them to the point that He was willing then to complete their redemption, which cost Him His own life. "Loved them to the uttermost."
In a couple of chapters we're going to read where Jesus said to His disciples, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man will lay down his life for his friends" ( John 15:13 ). That's love to the uttermost, and that's how much He loved His own. Now, it's glorious to realize that we are numbered among His own. How much does He love you? He loves you to the uttermost; He loves you to the completion of your redemption.
And so, this is just before Jesus is going to observe the Passover feast with His disciples, knowing that the hour was come. Now, you remember from the beginning of the gospel of John, we've been dealing with the subject, "My hour is not yet come, My hour is not yet come"? When they were by force going to make Him king, He hid from them for His hour was not yet come? That hour was always a reference to the hour when He would make that supreme sacrifice for your redemption. That was the hour in which He was to be glorified. Glorified by His submission to the Father by going to the cross and dying for our sins.
That is, the Passover supper itself, it's over. They've gone through, no doubt, the traditional Jewish Passover with His disciples.
and the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and was going to God; he rose from the supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself ( John 13:2-4 ).
So now the Passover supper is over. Satan has entered the heart of Judas Iscariot. And Jesus, knowing that this is it, this is the last time He'll be sharing a meal with the disciples, He took a towel and He girded himself with it. A man girded with a towel was a bond slave. This was the sign of a slave, a slave of the lowest order. And Jesus took this towel and girded Himself with it. The disciples did not understand what He was doing. Why would He gird Himself with this towel? That's what a slave did.
And after he poured water into a basin, he began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel. And when he came to Simon Peter: Peter said unto him, Lord, do you wash my feet? ( John 13:5-6 )
And I think the emphasis is on the pronouns. "Hey, wait a minute! You think that YOU'RE going to wash MY feet?" Peter realized how totally incongruous this was, that the Lord should be washing his feet. It's much like when John the Baptist was approached by Jesus for baptism. And John said, "Hey, no way! I should be baptized by You." And Jesus said, "Allow it to be. Go ahead, it's right that I fulfill all righteousness." So, Peter was sort of alarmed by this and
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I am doing you do not know now; but you will know in a little while ( John 13:7 ).
"You don't understand what I'm doing right now, Peter, but just hang on a minute and you'll understand."
Peter said unto him, You will never wash my feet ( John 13:8 ).
You know, that's just something that Peter felt was so totally inconsistent.
And Jesus said to him, If I do not wash you, you really have no part with me. And Peter said unto him, Well, Lord, don't only wash my feet, but wash my hands and my head ( John 13:8-9 ).
I like Peter, he doesn't understand too much, but he's all gung-ho for it, you know, whatever's right is right, "Let's go for it, Lord."
And Jesus said unto him, He that is washed needs not save to wash his feet, and he is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all ( John 13:10 ).
Now, the washing of the feet was a common practice in the Roman baths. After they had left the bath and returned to the dressing room, they would pick up dirt on their feet walking through. And so, they would always wash their feet when they got back to the dressing room before they got dressed and left. That would be their first act in returning to the dressing room, to remove the dirt picked up on the bottom of their feet, walking from the bath to the dressing room. They were totally clean, they had just been in the bath for maybe an hour or two, but they did pick up some dirt or defilement walking from the bath to the dressing room. So, what Jesus is in essence saying is that as we walk this path through the world, we may pick up some defilement just from the contact walking through the world. But that defilement is only surface; it isn't in the head, it isn't in the mind, it isn't in my life, it's just washing the feet. As long as your feet are washed, that's all you need. Your heart is already clean. Your mind is already set. Just get rid of that defilement. And coming to church is that kind of an experience. We've been mixing with the world all week long; we've heard the filthy language. We were sitting in a restaurant today, and there was the crudest, most foul-mouthed woman at another table. I hope she's here tonight, just so that she'll know how disgusting her language was. But she was loud! She was brash! And if you're saying those kind of words, you'd think you'd want to whisper them. I felt like, "Oh, Lord, you know, wash my ears, wash my mind. Just purge out the junk, the pollution that was coming out of her mouth." And we face it walking through the world. There is that surface defilement, and it's just good to come and just to sit back in the presence of the Lord. Jesus said, "Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." And just let the Word of God just sort of wash us, you know, and feel that cleansing of God's Word, as we just gather together in the sanctuary. And so, Jesus said, "No, it's not a matter of physical cleanliness now. I told you; you don't understand what I'm doing, Peter." Jesus said, "You are clean, but not all of you."
For Jesus knew who it was that would betray him; that is why he said, You are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and he had taken his garments, and had sat down again ( John 13:11-12 ),
You see, He had set aside, in order to gird Himself with the towel and take the place of a slave, His garments. And so, now He had taken on His garments again, and He sat down.
and he said unto them, Do you know what I have done unto you? ( John 13:12 )
Now, I'm surprised Peter didn't say, "Yes, you washed my feet." But he would have missed the whole point. Jesus said,
You call me Master and Lord: and that is correct; for that is what I am ( John 13:13 ).
You're right in calling Me Master and Lord; I am your Master and Lord.
And if I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done unto you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them ( John 13:14-17 ).
Now, because of this, some churches have practiced the ritual of washing feet. And there are some churches that have regular foot-washing services on sort of a regular basis as one of the church rituals. And I have no case against them; if they want to have foot-washing services, that's fine. It doesn't bother me. On occasion, I've had some rather strange individuals who came and who wanted to wash my feet. They used cold water; I would have appreciated it had they used warm water. But, it's something that I can handle. But I think that in having the ritual of having foot-washing services, people are really missing the whole lesson. The whole lesson is that of serving one another. Now, in those days, serving another person was demonstrated by washing their feet. Now, we don't live in the days of slavery anymore, and we don't live in the days of open sandals and dirt footpaths. So, washing a person's feet isn't a general kind of a practice at all in our culture. You might better fulfill this by going over and mowing your neighbor's lawn, or washing out his garbage pail. It's whole thrust is that I am not so great, but what I cannot serve you in your needs. And I should be willing to take the place of a servant to serve my brothers for the Lord's sake. I'm not too big to serve you. And, it's just taking that place of, "Hey, I'm not too big to do that." Now, my father came from an aristocratic family. My grandfather was the Vice President of the Southern Pacific Railway, and my father grew up in prep schools, with servants always in the home, and things of this nature. And thus, my father had certain ideas about certain things. And a Smith would never do dishes, he would never scrub a floor, he would never meddle in mechanics, he would never mow a lawn. That was beneath the Smiths to do. And that was just the way he grew up and that's the way he was acculturated. Scrubbing a floor was just beneath him. Now, my mother became a Smith, but somehow it didn't work that it was beneath her. But I mean, this was just something that was ingrained in him. There were just certain things that he would not do, because that was beneath his dignity. He always wore a suit and a tie; every meal, always had to have a white linen napkin. You know, and the rest of us were using paper towels and all, but my dad was just different. Now, Jesus, in essence, is saying, "Look, no task is beneath you. Serve one another. Take the attitude of a servant towards each other. Be willing to give yourself to serve another person's need. Don't put yourself on pedestals. Don't exalt yourself. Don't get so high and mighty that you begin to demand people to serve you. Look, I've set for you an example here. The example that I have set is for you to take the place of a servant." Now, basically, He is talking to His disciples who were to be the first ministers in the church. And as a minister, you're not to get a glorified, exalted opinion of yourself in thinking that people ought to start waiting on you, because, after all, you're the minister. They ought to bring you a cup of coffee when you come in, they ought to come over and ask if they can do something for you, you know, and make you comfortable. And after all, "I'm the minister." And unfortunately, many ministers get that kind of a mindset, that, "Because I'm the minister, I should be waited upon and taken care of." Not so. That isn't what the word minister implies at all. The word minister is the word servant. And what it means is that I am the one that should be bringing you a cup of coffee, and bringing you a chair and taking care of you, making sure that you're comfortable. And whenever I think that I'm so high and mighty that you've got to wait on me, then I need to get into some other business. When I'm not willing to serve, and to take care of someone else's needs, then I've become bigger than my Lord and then I'm in big trouble. I don't have the same attitude as my Lord, and thus, I'm not His true representative. And so, this attitude of a servant. Jesus said, "Do you see what I've done? Now, if I, being your Lord and Master, and you call Me Lord and Master, and that's right, but if I being your Lord am willing to serve you, then you ought to be serving one another. Don't set yourself up on a pinnacle, don't set yourself up where you're waiting for men to serve you. You get out and you serve the needs of the world." God help us; we need more ministers who are servants. That's the true minister of Jesus Christ.
"Now if you know these things," He said, "happy are you if you do them." Not if you know them, because knowing isn't enough. James said, "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only" ( James 1:22 ). The joy of serving one another in the body of Jesus Christ is a great joy indeed.
Now I admit that there are times when I don't find it so much joy. Some of the service that I have done, I have griped and I will frankly admit it. I always feel guilty after I gripe, but I do gripe occasionally. Mainly when I have to pick up the cigarette butts around the church. That's one task I just detest, and that's again, from the time when I was a kid my mom told me, "Never touch a cigarette." And I feel like I'm disobeying every time I pick one up. I hate to touch 'em. And so, quite often, as I'm picking up cigarette butts, I will be grumbling a bit. Until the Lord speaks to me and says, "Who are you doing that for?" And I say, "I'm doing it for You, Lord, and nobody else." And He says, "Then why are you griping?" "I don't know. I'm sorry, Lord. Forgive me." But most generally, I find it a joy to serve. For Jesus said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it to me" ( Matthew 25:40 ). So, I'm serving the Lord by serving my fellow man. Whatever I do for others, I'm really doing for Him. I'm His servant, that He has commanded me to serve the body of Jesus Christ. So, in being His servant I'm only obeying His orders as I serve the body of Christ; and in serving the body of Christ, I'm really serving Him. So, you can't really separate it, it's all tied up together.
I speak not to all of you: for I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. Now I am telling you before it comes, that, when it is come to pass, you might believe that I am ( John 13:18-19 ).