Jesus Washes his Disciples’ Feet

John 13:1-17

Key vs. 13:1b  “Having loves his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

It seems that America enjoys the 4^th of July most. Every talk show, newspaper and TV station hosts the stories of Independence. Freedom is the most cherished gift we men enjoy. Yet freedom is not free. Many signers of the Declaration of Independence suffered in prisons, their properties burned and their wives and children wandered as refugees. Because of their sacrifices, this nation has enjoyed the freedom. The Passover is like the 4^th of July for Israelites. Today we are going to study what Jesus did at the last Passover meal, to give us true freedom from sin and freedom to serve him freely.

John 13 thru 17 is called “The upper room dialogue” From chapter 1 thru 12, Jesus taught the people by healing, preaching and teaching. But in this upper room dialogue, Jesus sat face to face with his disciples, teaching them very intimately. Here we can see the depth of his love and his eagerness to share personal relationship with each of his disciples. Some people say that if we really want to grow as Jesus’ disciples, we should meditate on these upper room discourse. I pray that we may know the love of Jesus deeply and grow as his disciples.

The theme and background

Vs. 1 set the background and theme of this upper room dialogue. Let’s read vs 1. “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”  Israelites ate the Passover meal and celebrated it the next day. So it was Thursday evening Jesus ate the last Passover meal. We call it also the Last Supper. Therefore less than a few hours later, Jesus would be arrested, condemned and tortured by the religious leaders; less than 12 hours later, he would be hung on a cross and die for the sin of the world. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to die as the Passover lamb. I asked one of my sheep what he would do if he knew he was going to die soon. He said without pause, “I want to eat the best food and travel.”  Normally people want to do their life-long wishes before they die. At the MBA meeting when James Park was asked what he would do. He said he would repent of all his sins, then call his sons to tell them his last word. Let’s see what Jesus did.

Let’s read vs 1b. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” Jesus showed them the full extent of his love. What does it mean “the full extent of his love.”  We can interpret it in many ways. It could mean that he loved them fully. He showed them fully the depth, width and height of his love in this action. When Jesus met a Samaritan woman, asking, “Will you give me a drink?”, we see his humble love. When we see Jesus open the born blind’s eyes, we see his compassionate love. Every act of Jesus’ ministry shows some characteristics of his love. But this act of Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet shows fuller, richer characteristics of his love. Of course, when we see Jesus hung on a cross, we can see the ultimate love of God to the fullest extent. John did not describe the ceremonial aspect of the meal as other gospels did. Other gospels emphasize that Jesus gave the disciples bread and wine, saying “This is my body, this is my blood, which is poured out for you” But John rather describes the love of Jesus giving his life for us. In this dramatic action, Jesus showed them the full extent of his love. How did he show the full extent of his love?

First, Jesus’ unconditional love.

Let’s read vs 2. “The evening meal was being served and the devil had prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon to betray Jesus.” When the Jews ate the meal, it is said that they reclined at the table (12:2), instead of sitting straight up. It is more relaxed posture. The meal time should be more relaxed and enjoyable. However, the last meal Jesus ate was anything but relaxed one. It says that the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. It did not mean that during the meal time, the devil prompted Judas. It says, “The devil had already prompted...” When you study Luke’s gospel account, Judas had met the religious leaders a day before the Passover meal, discussed the business and consented to betray Jesus.

Judas’ life must be the most painful experience with Jesus. Jesus loved him and called him to share the life together for the past 3 years. Jesus taught him, loved him, and gave him chances to experience the love of God. But Judas never accepted Jesus’ love. He never repented of his sins. He always thought he had his own ideas how to run his own life. He thought the word of Jesus very relatively. He seemed to live an independent life, and he acted as his own man. He did not know that he was the victim of the devil. Jesus’ heart must be broken all along. It is hard to bear such uncommitted proud sinners. Now Judas crossed the line of no-return. He was looking for the opportune time to hand him over to the enemy at the meal. Judas was sitting among the disciples, hiding his evil intent and pretending to be normal.

Knowing all these, Jesus could rebuke him and squash him right away, but what did Jesus do? He shared the meal with him and loved him despite all his evil. Jesus did not stop loving him. Jesus’ love is unconditional. He loves sinners regardless of our sins and weaknesses to the end. Jesus knew that he had the power to do all things and he could have squashed Judas with his power, but he chose to love him and serve him to the end. These days young men and women vow to love each other till death part them. But when their love gets cold, they do not love them to the end. They switch their partners like a tire. When your tire runs well, you enjoy it. But when it wears out, you replace with new tire. 

Human love is so conditional that we love others when they are lovable. When they become  unlovable, we become bitter and blame them for everything. When people become unthankful for what we do for them, we don’t want to help them again. When people misunderstand you and accuse you of wrongdoing, you close your heart and harbor resentment in your heart toward them. What will you do when a trusted friend betrays you and wants to destroy your life? Probably you want to destroy his life before he destroys your life. Our love is so conditional. Depending on how the recipient of your love responds, you adjust the temperature of our love. Human love is like thermostat. Our love goes up and down depending on the responses from the recipients. But Jesus’ love is unconditional. He loves us to the end regardless of our sins.

How could Jesus love sinners to the end unconditionally? Let’s read vs 2-3. “Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” Though men were wicked and the devil seemed to manipulate everything at will, Jesus believed that the Father had all the power over all things. Though his ministry seemed to be falling apart, he believed God was in absolute control over all things and working out his eternal purpose. So he knew that he was going to accomplish his mission and returning to the Father, though he had to go through suffering and death. Therefore, he used his power to love sinners, even Judas unconditionally to the end selflessly. 

Second, Jesus’ humble love

Let’s read vs 4-5. “So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” Why did Jesus get up all of a sudden and began to wash their feet during the meal? I guess he must have smelled the unbearable odor. When he looked around the room, he found the source of the smell. Jesus had experienced fragrance when women poured perfume days ago. But this time only bad odor! However, no one bothered to wash their feet. According to the Jewish custom, when the master comes home, the servant must bring the water and wash the feet of the master. Since there was no servant provided, the disciples did not bother to wash their own feet. So the dirty smell must be vibrating in the room. John’s gospel did not mention the atmosphere of the meal. But Luke’s gospel describes that disciples were disputing as to who was the greatest among themselves (22:24). Perhaps they misunderstood that Jesus would establish the earthly messianic Government when they saw the crowds shout, “Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” They were busy forming a new government and appointing the cabinet positions among themselves. Peter appointed himself to be a chief of staff at the White House. He appointed Matthews secretary of Treasury, Nathaniel secretary of Defense, Bartholomew secretary of State. Then James and John blew off their heads and tore up the plan, because they had expected at least secretary of Defense and State.  “We will form a new Government ourselves!” The disciples were jockeying themselves for the highest position, determined to exercise the maximum authority over others. It was so sad that they were arguing such things while Jesus was about to die. No one wanted to wash other’s feet as well as their own, because it meant to acknowledge that they were lower than others. Their hearts were smellier than bad odor from their feet. What did Jesus do?

Jesus humbled himself and served them like their servant. Though he was the Son of God, he did not claim his right. Rather he gave up his right and humbled himself to serve smelly and proud disciples. He could have claimed his right at least for this last meal, but he not only gave up his right, but also he determined to serve them humbly. He did not rebuke them, saying, “What did you learn for 3 years? Did I not deserve one last meal time to be served properly?” He rather took the form of a servant and began to wash their feet one by one. In this world, higher position means more money and higher authority; higher authority means more respect from others. As the master and teacher by washing their feet, Jesus showed them that humble serving is true loving, and all positions are meant to serving.  

We all have some kinds of titles or positions. At home, I am a husband and father. At the center, I am a fellowship leader. At work, I am a database architect. All these titles come with some authority and responsibility. As a fellowship leader, I expect everyone of my fellowship to listen to me and respect me. If someone does not listen to me, I would feel hurt and rebuke him or her. Sometimes I wish to teach him or her a lesson. I want to use a little authority given me to demand obedience and respect. But Jesus is saying that this position is given me to serve others, not to enjoy my authority or perks. Husbands often demand wives, quoting Ephesians 5:22: “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” They demand absolute submission and then get in a big trouble. I learned a long way. They do not know that their positions are given to serve and love wives humbly. They forget God’s words for them. “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved his church.” All authorities and positions are given to us so that we can serve and love others. Jesus demonstrated that one who humbly serves is truly great.

Jesus’ act of humble serving is the foundation of all God’s work. He is God who deserves to command us to worship him, but he came down, born in a manger. He is prince of the heaven, but humbled himself to live among sinners. He is the Master, but humbled himself to serve sinners as a lowest servant. He did not claim his right, but humbled himself to serve sinners like us. When we know the humble love of Jesus, we can grow in his image and our lives will display his glory.

As a believer, we know that we should serve others. But it is not easy to serve weak brothers. When we see others’ sins and weaknesses, the first response is we don’t like them. When the same weakness is repeated, we keep our hearts closed toward them, carry resentment in our hearts, and blame them for everything. We pray that God may change them. But you don’t have joy in your hearts. We ask why. The reason is that we are too proud to humble ourselves. It is only possible to serve sinners when we receive Jesus’ humble love for sinners like us. Everyone has weaknesses and sins. That’s why Jesus died for us; We are forgiven because Jesus humbled himself to die and pay for our sins. We should humble ourselves to say first, “I am sorry, forgive me.” Do not insist your position: I am a leader. I am husband. I am his boss. If Jesus claimed his right, there is no place for us. When we receive Jesus’ humble loving, we too can serve others humbly.

Third, Jesus’ renewing love.

Let’s read vs 6-11. Peter could not believe his eyes when his Master was washing their feet. So when Jesus approached him, he said with unbelieving voice, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet? No. You shall never wash my feet.” I am sure every one including ourselves feels the same way as Peter did. But only Peter had courage to say it as he felt. Then when Jesus said, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Peter asked Jesus to wash not only his feet, but also his hands and head as well. We never doubt Peter’s loyalty to Jesus.   

Then what does it mean when Jesus says to Peter that ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” To understand this, let me explain vs 10 first. Jesus said that Peter was clean already, just like a person coming out of his full bath. Jesus was saying that all true believers are clean, and right relationship with the holy God. Once we believe in Jesus, we are children of God. We were purchased at the blood of Jesus. Now by washing our feet, Jesus wants to maintain personal relationship with us. For example, these days housing price is so expensive. College Park area commands about $300K. When you purchase a house, you think about many benefits: You don’t need to throw away monthly rent. You can receive tax benefits etc. But as years go by, you will learn that you need to maintain the house. You need to cut the lawns, you need to fix water pipes. You need to replace the roof tiles. Unless you maintain the house, even the new house can run down quickly. When Jesus says, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me,” he means that we need maintenance of our relationship. Unless he washes our feet, our relationship can also run into trouble. This means that Jesus not only purchased our souls, but also he wants to maintain and deepens his relationship with us by washing our feet. This was the reason he insisted on washing Peter’s feet.

Once we believe in Jesus, we are clean. You don’t need to wash your whole body again, but wash your feet only. Do you go back to full bath when your hands are dirty? No. You just wash your hands in the sink. As we walk outside the house, the feet gets dirt quickly and smells bad. In the same way, while living in this world, we can be tempted and sin easily, and grieve the Father. That is the reason Jesus was so interested in washing our feet. He wants to upkeep our relationship with God. How does he wash our sins daily?

Read the first John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  When we confess our sins, he is ready to forgive and purify us from all unrighteousness. This is the way Jesus deepens our personal relationship with him every day. How do you feel when you wash your feet? Feel good and refreshed! In the same way when we confess our sins and Jesus cleanses our hearts, we feel refreshed and grow in intimate relationship with him daily. I remember someone shared his testimony that he had taken his shower once week. He smelled so bad that girls did not want to sit next to him. Last summer when I visited Germany, I was told that Germans take a bath once every other day. One Korean missionary came and took a bath every day, and she received training because of this. It is better to confess our sins right away and cleansed and refreshed. You don’t need to accumulate all your sins and confess once a week or month. 

Let’s read vs 12-17. Jesus says that we should do as he has set an example. Jesus says that we are blessed if we do. Knowing is one thing; doing is another. Love is very practical. Serving is very practical. We should receive Jesus’ humble love daily and practice his love toward others daily. This way we can grow in Jesus’ image and display his glory in this world. May God fill us with his humble love.

One word: Jesus humbly serves us and loves us.