Participants: Deyvy Rodriguez & Jon Paulien
Series Code: JBOTB
Program Code: JBOTB00018A
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00:21 Hello, friends, and welcome again.
00:22 This is "Books of the Book." 00:24 My name is Deyvy Rodriguez, 00:26 and every time we're so happy 00:27 that you can take this time 00:28 and be with us in this Bible study. 00:31 We're studying the Gospel of John, 00:34 and with us is Dr. Jon Paulien, 00:36 and he is the Dean of Religion at Loma Linda, California-- 00:41 Loma Linda University in California. 00:43 And we're so happy that he is able to share his insights. 00:47 He is a Bible scholar, very brilliant, by the way. 00:50 Dr. Paulien, welcome back. You have a doctorate. 00:53 Tell us a little more about this doctorate, 00:56 what is it, when did you get it? 00:58 Maybe I should tell you what you don't want to hear. All right. 01:01 And that is that I started working on my PhD 01:04 before you were born. 01:06 How do you know when I was born? 01:08 You told me the other day, it was about 30 years ago, and-- 01:11 I started 32 years ago, 01:14 and it was at Andrews University in southwestern Michigan, 01:18 and I began the program in the fall of 1981 01:22 and finished it in the spring of 1987. 01:25 So it took about 6 years, 01:29 which is not too bad considering 01:31 that I was working pretty much full-time 01:33 5 of those 6 years so-- 01:35 Andrews University is in Michigan? 01:37 Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. 01:39 And a doctorate basically is three things 01:41 at least at Andrews University. 01:42 You spend time in class work 01:44 where you're learning from other people 01:46 who know your broad field, 01:47 New Testament, a little bit of Old Testament in my case 01:51 and then there's the comprehensive exams 01:54 where you spend 6 to 9 months just reading everything 01:57 you can get your hands on until it all sounds the same. 02:00 You know, when you're not learning anything 02:01 more from the reading, you've probably mastered the field 02:04 and you pass exams on all those topics 02:07 in the broad field of New Testament, etc., 02:10 and then the dissertation, you go deep into a narrow area, 02:15 in my case, my dissertation was understanding 02:18 the "7 Trumpets of Revelation," 02:20 with a particular eye on how they used the Old Testament 02:24 to bring out the message. 02:26 And so my primary contribution to world scholarship 02:30 is probably a methodology for studying illusions 02:35 to the Old Testament in the Book of Revelation. 02:37 So, if I'm interested in a doctorate, 02:40 would it be easy for me to pass your exams? 02:43 Well, in about 15 years, no-- It would take a while though. 02:50 You would--you would want to get a master's degree first 02:54 and then you would get into the course work 02:56 for the doctorate and then come the exams. 02:58 So, yeah, you might be 3-4 years away to where you are now. 03:02 And that's-- that's full-time study. 03:04 That's full-time study. 03:06 Well, today, we are in Chapter 13 03:08 by the way of the Gospel of John. 03:11 If you have your Bibles, you can get them 03:14 and open them with us. 03:15 We are going to be studying the spiritual gospel, 03:18 as Dr. Paulien says it. 03:20 So, Dr. Paulien, you said that now we are in the-- 03:22 in the private ministry of Jesus. Right. 03:26 With Chapter 13, you've made a transition. 03:29 Up until Chapter 12, Jesus is ministering in public places. 03:33 And-- He's not much of a teacher there. 03:35 It's more what he does, sometimes negotiations, 03:41 conversations with different people, 03:44 but here, from Chapter 13 through 17, it's private. 03:48 He's with his own disciples 03:50 and it's more of a teaching context. 03:53 He is sharing things that he wants them to know. 03:56 In particular, here in private, 03:58 he is preparing them for life without him. 04:01 So, in a sense, he is preparing the next generation. 04:05 He is the first generation. 04:06 They are the next generation, 04:07 and then, John is directed to those who follow, 04:11 those who don't know any disciples like us 04:14 and who simply need to make our way 04:17 in the world through the words 04:19 that John has left for us. Okay. 04:22 So, which verses are we studying here 04:24 and where do we pick up? 04:25 We'll be studying verses 1 to 31, 04:28 in Chapter 13, of the Gospel of John. 04:31 And we won't cover every verse, 04:33 but we will be able to cover, 04:36 I think, some of the main points here. 04:39 I would point out that you're definitely 04:42 in the Shadow of the Cross here, 04:44 in Chapters 13 through 17. 04:46 Jesus knows He's going straight to the cross. 04:49 Disciples probably are not yet sure what's going on, 04:53 but it's clear, He's going away 04:55 and so they feel like they're about to lose Him. 04:57 They're not entirely sure why in this gospel. 05:01 So, the Shadow of the Cross is over 05:04 the upper room here throughout, 05:08 and the purpose really of writing all this 05:12 is for that second generation, 05:14 who has to live without Jesus and without the disciples. 05:18 After John's death, Chapters 13 to 17 05:22 give the solid spiritual grounding 05:25 of that everyone needs to relate to Jesus. 05:28 So we're going to spend several programs 05:30 on this section of the gospel. 05:34 So you have, first of all, the foot washing story 05:38 and then there's a discourse 05:40 at the end of 13 and Chapter 14, 05:43 and then, Jesus says, 05:45 "Let's go," and they're gonna go to the garden 05:49 where He will be betrayed, 05:51 but I guess when they get up from the table like we often do, 05:55 people still hang around and talk, and so-- 05:58 For Chapters 15 and 16, 06:00 they kind of got up to go, but Jesus keeps on talking. 06:03 The interesting thing about this whole section, 06:06 it's not a coherent sermon or conversation. 06:10 It's almost as if John was collecting 06:13 bits and pieces of all kinds of good stuff 06:16 that Matthew, Mark, and Luke didn't share. 06:18 Nearly all of this is new to John, 06:22 and so, it's almost like sound bites 06:25 like a highlight film of some of the best sayings 06:28 that Jesus said that Matthew, Mark, and Luke didn't notice. 06:32 So if you try to read Chapters 13 to 17 06:36 through as a coherent narrative, it's hard to follow. 06:39 But it seems almost like collecting bits and pieces 06:43 that they go together. 06:44 So why don't we go to Chapter 13 and verses 1 to 3 06:50 setting that up in ancient times, 06:52 of course, people didn't have showers, 06:55 you know, and bath tubs and all that kind of stuff. 06:58 So most people were pretty accustomed to dirt, 07:01 and if they took a bath, 07:04 if they washed everything and we're clean, 07:08 which they would do before going to a banquet for example, 07:11 then, walking to the banquet, it's very dusty, 07:15 and so the feet would get dirty. 07:16 They'd just have sandals on, some would even go barefoot. 07:19 So when you get to the place of the banquet, 07:21 you need to have a foot washing 07:23 in order to be truly clean for the banquet. 07:26 So that's the setting behind this 07:29 and foot washing was normally done by slaves. 07:32 It was not something 07:34 that a person of any kind of status would do for another. 07:37 So that's the setting for what Jesus was about to do 07:41 and totally shock the disciples. Verses 1 to 3. 07:45 "Now, before the Feast of the Passover, 07:47 when Jesus knew that his hour had come 07:50 that he should depart from this world to the Father, 07:52 having loved his own who were in the world, 07:55 he loved them to the end, and supper being ended, 07:59 the devil having already put in 08:01 into the heart of Judas Iscariot, 08:03 Simon's son, to betray him, 08:05 Jesus knowing that the Father had given 08:08 all things into his hands, 08:10 and that he had come from God 08:12 and was going to God." 08:15 And Verse 4, "Rose from supper, 08:16 and laid aside his garments, 08:18 took a towel and girded himself." 08:20 Now, these verses are very, very deeply meaningful to me. 08:25 First of all, Jesus knows who He is. 08:29 He knows that He is God 08:31 come down in the flesh at this point. 08:33 He may not have known that completely as a child, 08:35 but He certainly knows it here. 08:37 He is conscious of who He is. 08:40 He is also conscious of who the disciples are. 08:44 The disciples are a mess, and one of those disciples 08:47 is right now thinking 08:49 of how he is going to conveniently betray Jesus, 08:53 and yet Jesus doesn't pick and choose. 08:57 Well, here's the good disciples, here's the bad ones. 08:59 No. He washes all those feet. 09:02 He knows what He is doing, 09:05 and to me this is so precious 09:08 in that He doesn't turn away from Judas, 09:12 but He washes Judas' feet too. 09:14 He treats them all the same even though some, 09:18 at least one, is about to betray Him 09:20 and He does this conscious of the cross 09:25 and conscious that He is God in the flesh. 09:29 If I'm going to the cross and I know it, 09:32 I'm thinking about me and Jesus in-- 09:35 in facing all of that is thinking about his disciples. 09:38 That's amazing. 09:39 And the whole point is, knowing that He's God, 09:43 He is now going to demonstrate what God is like. 09:47 There are so many people that think of God as punitive, 09:51 as arbitrary, as severe, you know, judgmental, 09:57 and here you have the clearest picture of God 10:00 that we will ever see. 10:01 God in the flesh at a moment of crisis 10:04 when He's about to be abused by just about everybody, 10:09 sits down to wash the feet of disciples 10:13 who don't even care. 10:14 They're all talking about, who's going to be the greatest, 10:16 you know, and the greatest of all, 10:18 of course, would be Judas 10:20 and He washes their feet nevertheless. 10:22 This is a God, who keeps on loving, 10:25 keeps on giving no matter what we've done 10:27 and for me, that's important, 10:28 because for people who have been afraid of God, 10:31 people who feel insecure about their faith 10:34 to realize what Jesus did here, put yourself in Judas' place, 10:39 Jesus would wash your feet too. 10:42 Have you done anything as grievous as Judas did? 10:47 If the answer is no, I haven't gone that far. 10:50 Then, there's hope for you. 10:51 Jesus would wash your feet too, right now, today. 10:55 And that's the message that comes through 10:57 so powerfully here. 10:58 And that's very encouraging, verse 1, it says that, 11:02 "He loved them to the end," 11:05 and that statement right there is just so powerful. 11:08 Even to--on the cross, He's thinking of them. Right. 11:11 He's thinking of His mother. 11:13 He's thinking of the beloved disciple 11:15 even on the cross and that's not so much to say, 11:19 boy, you should be like that although we can aspire to, 11:22 but it's telling us what God is like, 11:26 that God is other centered, that God is us centered, 11:31 even in the midst of all the complications 11:33 the universe might present. 11:35 In the midst of that, Peter resists, 11:38 he's the only one that resists 11:41 and it shows you the two sides of resistance. 11:44 You have the rebellious side of Judas 11:46 who doesn't really care. 11:48 He's going to go out there and do what he wants to do 11:50 and then you have the true believer, 11:52 Peter, the ultra conservative. 11:54 He will follow Jesus anywhere except to have his feet washed. 12:00 What's up with that? 12:01 Somebody will go anywhere for Jesus, 12:04 but doesn't want his feet washed. 12:07 It's a pride thing. 12:09 Even in our eagerness and devotion to follow Jesus, 12:14 sometimes we're doing it ultimately for ourselves. 12:16 We want to be there with Jesus 12:18 when he's crowned King of the Universe, 12:19 you see, and so, this subtle human side comes in. 12:24 And Peter says, "No, you won't-- 12:27 you know, no way in all eternity 12:30 is kind of the meaning of the Greek there 12:32 that Jesus could no way in all eternity 12:34 you're gonna wash my feet, you see. 12:37 Peter comes face-to-face with the fact 12:41 that the gospel is free, but in order to have the gospel, 12:47 you need to come in humility, 12:50 the key to receiving the gospel is admitting our need 12:54 and that's where some of us fall short. 12:57 The one thing we don't want to admit is our need. 13:00 The one thing, you know, how many marriages have gone on, 13:03 no one ever used the phrase, "I'm sorry," you see. 13:06 There's something about us to say 13:08 "I'm sorry, to truly admit, need to admit mistakes." 13:12 It seems to go deep against the grain for human beings 13:15 and Peter, the most faithful disciple of Jesus in many ways 13:20 falls into this trap, where he says, 13:22 "No way, you're not washing my feet." 13:25 And Jesus is about to teach him 13:27 that great lesson of humility-- Yeah. 13:30 And he-- Here he is so proud, 13:32 and Jesus is going to teach him that lesson of-- 13:35 contrary to his character. 13:37 Let me say one thing. 13:39 I mean, when you hear something like this, 13:40 there's a temptation to say, oh, I got to be more humble. 13:43 "No." You can't produce it. 13:45 Human beings can't produce it. 13:48 Humility is a miracle of God, 13:50 and if you recognize in your own heart right now, 13:53 you know my pride is right out there, my humility is zero. 13:59 The only way I know to deal with is take it to God, 14:02 just say, "Lord, help me to do that 14:05 which I can't do myself. 14:07 Help me to totally yield myself to you 14:09 to be used by you any way you wish." 14:12 If you ask Him to do that, He will do it for you. Amen. 14:16 Well, friends, we're going to continue 14:17 on the Gospel of John in Chapter 13, stay with us. |
Revised 2014-12-17