Participants: Deyvy Rodriguez & Jon Paulien
Series Code: JBOTB
Program Code: JBOTB00018B
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00:01 And welcome back.
00:02 We're in Chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, 00:04 and we're going to read verses 12 through 17. 00:07 So if you have a Bible with you, just follow along. 00:11 "So when he had washed their feet taking his garments 00:14 and sat down again, he said to them, 00:16 "Do you know what I have done to you?" 00:18 You call me teacher and Lord, and you say "Well, for so I'm. 00:22 If then, I, your Lord and your teacher 00:25 have washed your feet, 00:26 you also ought to wash one another's feet, 00:29 where I have given you an example 00:31 that you should do as I have done to you." 00:34 Most assuredly, I say to you, 00:36 a servant is not greater than his master 00:38 nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 00:42 If you know this--these things, blessed are you if you do them. 00:47 Well, Dr. Paulien, you know, this sounds like 00:49 what Jesus said earlier in the Gospel of Matthew 11, 00:52 where he says, "Learn from me, 00:55 I'm gentle and humble at heart." 00:59 And now here, we see that he is giving-- 01:01 He is giving them an example of gentleness, 01:07 of--of humility, and he even says, 01:11 "You know, this is the example for you to do as I have done." 01:15 Well, a couple of things to follow up on that. 01:17 First of all, washing feet is a slave's task. 01:21 So, that's one thing, but even more striking 01:24 as we saw in the very first chapter of this Gospel, 01:29 the disciple of a teacher in those days 01:32 was expected to do a lot of things for the teacher, 01:34 you know, wash the car, 01:36 mow the lawn and all that kind of stuff, 01:38 but the one thing the disciple was forbidden to do 01:41 or that the teacher was forbidden to ask of the disciple 01:44 is to take his sandals on and off. 01:47 In other words it was felt too demeaning for a disciple to, 01:51 you know, help you off with the sandals 01:53 and put them on, they'll be touching the feet 01:54 and the dirt and all the rest of that. 01:57 So, Jesus, their teacher is doing for them 02:02 the one thing a student 02:04 isn't even allowed to do for the teacher. 02:07 So, He is taking Himself from the highest place 02:09 lowering Himself to the lowest place. 02:12 So the humility is deeply recognized there. 02:18 In this part, He says, "What I have done for you, 02:21 you're to do for one another." 02:23 So in John 13, it shows us what God is like 02:28 and it invites us to follow Him in that. 02:31 In John 12, Jesus said, 02:33 "The one who wants to follow me 02:36 should be with me where I am. 02:38 Where is Jesus going? 02:40 He's going to the cross, He's washing feet, 02:43 the foot washing becomes the acted parable of the cross, 02:48 and then Jesus says, "What I have done for you, 02:52 I ask you to do for each other." 02:55 So, in the foot washing service, 02:58 John doesn't have Lord's supper that, 03:01 that occurs in hints in various places in the Gospel, 03:04 but here, he focuses on something else 03:07 related to that supper 03:09 and that is the preparation 03:10 of washing of the feet at the beginning. 03:13 And so here is the emphasis going the way of the cross 03:18 is the path for every disciple. 03:21 Notice that Jesus is called teacher and Lord. 03:26 A lot of people would like to be teachers, 03:30 where you change peoples' minds, 03:32 you give them fresh ideas, you pass on knowledge, 03:37 but there's a deeper dimension, 03:38 the Gospel of John is about that deeper dimension 03:40 that Jesus is also Lord, 03:43 that means he not only tells us what to think, 03:47 but also opens to us the way of life. 03:50 Belief is good, but without behavior, it's inadequate. 03:56 So, here, as teacher and Lord, he's influencing their behavior 03:59 what they will do as well as how they will think. 04:04 So, and the foot washing, 04:05 we see that the teachings of the Gospel of John 04:09 are intended to be practiced, not simply believed. 04:13 When John says, "Only believe, 04:16 it's a Hebrew concept of believing." 04:19 For the Hebrew, believing is not just an intellectual assent, 04:23 believing is a whole-bodied act. 04:26 For the Hebrew, mind and body are not separated, 04:29 whatever goes on in the mind affects the body. 04:32 So you know that you believe, you know that you have faith, 04:37 when you do the things that God wants you to do 04:39 and you do them willingly. 04:41 That is the root of faith when you trust God, 04:44 you do what He says. 04:45 If you don't trust God, you don't do what He says. 04:48 You could say, I trust God and do your own thing. 04:51 The--The things you do are putting the lie 04:54 on the things that you say. 04:56 So, Jesus, puts the whole package together here. 04:59 Why don't we read verses 21 to 30, 05:01 which is the climax of the foot washing story 05:04 and brings painfully to account the story of Judas. 05:08 "When Jesus had said these things, 05:10 he was troubled in spirit and testified 05:12 and said, "Most assuredly, 05:14 I say it to you, one of you will betray me." 05:17 Then, the disciples looked at one another 05:19 perplexed about whom he spoke. 05:21 Now, there was leaning on Jesus' 05:24 bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. 05:27 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask 05:29 who it was of whom he spoke. 05:31 Then, leaning back on Jesus' breast, 05:34 he said to him, "Lord, who is it?" 05:36 Jesus answered, "It is he whom 05:39 I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it." 05:43 And having dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, 05:46 the son of Simon, 05:48 now after the piece of bread Satan entered him, 05:50 then Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly." 05:55 But no one at the table knew for what reason 05:57 he said this to him for some thought 06:00 because Judas had the moneybox that Jesus had said to him, 06:03 "Buy those things, we need for the feast 06:07 or that he should give something to the poor. 06:11 "Having--up to what verse? Verse 30. 06:14 "Having received a piece of bread, 06:16 he then went out immediately and it was night." 06:20 A lot of stuff comes together in these 10 verses that-- 06:24 that's throughout the Gospel of John. 06:26 And first of all, when Judas leaves, it's night. 06:30 He's with the light, Jesus. 06:32 When he goes out, he goes out into the darkness. 06:35 That's the opposite of the journey 06:37 that Nicodemus makes. 06:38 Nicodemus comes in darkness, he comes by night, 06:43 but he comes to the light. 06:45 Judas leaves the light and goes out into darkness. 06:49 So, John throws this subtle imagery in there. 06:56 Another interesting piece that you-- 06:58 you talk about the bosom of Jesus, 07:00 leaning against the bosom of Jesus. 07:02 This beloved disciple is presumed to be John, 07:05 the author of the Gospel, 07:07 and that's kind of awkward language for us today, 07:10 you know, the idea of you know 07:11 guys kind of cuddling up or something. 07:14 That doesn't look-- always sit well with us today, 07:17 but this is something-- 07:19 This is very powerful in the Gospel of John. 07:23 This idea that John is the one who leans on Jesus' chest. 07:28 There's only one other place in the Gospel 07:32 where that language is used. 07:34 Do you have any idea where that is? 07:36 Well, that sounds a bit difficult to find out, but-- 07:39 Do you remember the prologue? Yes. 07:41 What happened in the prologue? Uh. 07:44 Jesus and the Father, they have a relationship there. Yes. 07:48 Jesus is the one who is in the bosom of the Father. 07:53 Now John, the beloved disciple, 07:55 is the one who is in the bosom of Jesus, 07:58 only occurs twice in the Gospel and in the Greek, 08:02 the wording is very odd and very unusual. 08:05 That the two are connected 08:07 because what the prologue of the gospel teaches is that 08:11 Jesus is the clearest revelation of God. 08:14 And we have seen that all the way through. 08:18 Now, here, we see that John 08:21 has the same relationship with Jesus 08:23 that Jesus has with his father. 08:25 Therefore, John is the clearest revelation of Jesus. 08:29 So if somebody comes to you and says, "What is God like? 08:34 How can I relate to God? 08:36 How can I know what God is like?" 08:38 John, the Gospel of John, 08:40 is the clearest revelation of Jesus 08:43 and Jesus is the clearest revelation of God. 08:47 So if you want to know what God is like, 08:49 go to the Gospel of John. 08:51 And just as Jesus has that 08:53 intimate relationship with his father. 08:55 So we too can have that intimate relationship 08:58 with Jesus Christ. That's right. 09:00 Our relationship with Jesus now is, 09:03 if you will, getting into the bosom of John. 09:06 John is the vehicle through which we encounter Jesus, 09:09 and then Jesus is the vehicle through which we encounter God. 09:13 So starting point, you know, 09:16 if you get to somebody who doesn't know 09:17 anything about the Bible and just says, 09:19 you know, "where do I start?" Gospel of John. 09:22 It was designed for people who don't know how to find God. 09:26 It was designed for people 09:28 who need to learn that deeper spiritual walk. 09:31 It's designed for people who want to know what God is like. 09:34 So there is the one book in the whole Bible, 09:39 where one most clearly sees what God is like and that's-- 09:44 Maybe the reason why so many people come to this gospel. 09:49 Another little piece in the story is-- 09:51 is you see the eyewitness character of all of that 09:56 and that is that Jesus says, 09:58 "Somebody is going to betray me." 10:01 Is it I? Is it I? Is it I? 10:03 Disciples are all worried, who is this, 10:05 and Peter wants to know, but he's afraid to ask. 10:11 Ever feel that way, huh? 10:13 He wants to know, but he's afraid to ask. 10:15 So he kind of gestures to John, you know, ask Jesus. Right. 10:21 And John gets the gesture 10:24 and he turns to Jesus and says, "Who is it Lord?" 10:26 you see, I mean who would even notice 10:30 such a detail unless you were in the room. 10:32 Now, the other detail about that is that 10:34 he's the closest to Jesus 10:36 and they probably want to whisper, 10:38 you know, that no one else can hear-- Yeah. 10:40 But I-- I'm just thinking here, 10:42 trying to imagine the scene. Yeah. 10:45 And the beautiful thing about all this is Jesus knows, 10:48 the disciples never suspect what Judas is about to do. 10:53 They think, here's the narrator showing up, 10:56 he's giving you details that nobody there knows, you know. 10:59 We discover from the narrator, they think, 11:02 Judas is going out to get 11:03 some more supplies for the banquet 11:05 or he is going out to give something to the poor. 11:08 At Passover, Jews often give special gifts to the poor. 11:12 So disciples are thinking that Jesus knows, 11:16 someone's going to betray me. 11:19 They never suspect Judas, and what does Jesus do? 11:23 Jesus never betrays him. 11:27 Jesus doesn't tell anybody what He knows about Judas, 11:30 and that-- that strikes me to heart. 11:33 How easily we talk about other people 11:35 especially when they're not around. 11:37 Jesus never betrays Judas. 11:41 He never lets on what he knows is going on. 11:44 He lets Judas keep face, keep his reputation, etc., 11:49 until he totally trashes it all by himself, 11:53 but the spirit, the character of Jesus 11:56 in the setting is so remarkable that, 12:00 as John constructs this, 12:02 it just gives us a beautiful, beautiful picture. 12:05 This is what God is like, 12:07 and I-- I just find this an amazing story. 12:11 It is amazing to know that 12:12 Jesus knows what's in our hearts. 12:15 And He doesn't go about the public telling everybody 12:19 what is in our hearts. Yeah. 12:21 And He gives us an opportunity to come to Him, 12:24 to confess to Him, and allow Him to transform us 12:29 and Jesus gave that time to Judas, 12:33 but Judas has more time to closer, 12:36 his heart was hardened 12:38 until eventually he just couldn't do anything about it. 12:41 He just wouldn't give, surrender his life to the Lord 12:45 and allow God to change him. 12:47 Already in Chapter 6, Jesus knows where he is heading 12:51 and he still walks with him that whole time. 12:54 And friends, we want to give you that assurance that, 12:56 in Jesus Christ, we can have eternal life till next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17