Jesus Serves | Holy Week @ FPC

00:00:00:14 – 00:00:25:25
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining us on Wednesday. Holy, great and holy Wednesday it is. We learned. Sometimes called. We could call it the Wednesday of Holy Week. And so as we look through some texts that have to do with Holy Week that take place during Holy Week, we actually find ourselves jumping ahead because we’re on a four day week.

00:00:25:30 – 00:00:48:43
Clint Loveall
We’re going to look at a Thursday text and one that sort of stands out on its own. Today we’re in the 13th chapter of the Book of John. You will know this if you’ve been around churches, if you’ve done Easter seasons in churches, you will know this text. If not, that’s fine, too. It’s called the foot washing or Jesus washing the disciples feet.

00:00:48:48 – 00:01:18:11
Clint Loveall
It only John tells a story. And interestingly enough, John does not tell us a Last Supper story. This is kind of John’s equivalent of what happens the last time Jesus is with his disciples gathered by themselves. And I don’t know, Michael, this is in some ways this is the themes of this text, I think resonate pretty well. And we can we can get in touch with them pretty easily.

00:01:18:16 – 00:01:40:36
Clint Loveall
But this is also a very culturally bound text. It’s it’s odd to us in some cultural ways, in some ways in terms of the time and place. And so it’s it’s not a text maybe that is easy for us to connect with in terms of the content, but I think some of the themes stand out for us.

00:01:40:40 – 00:01:44:31
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, no doubt. I think so. Let’s just jump into the text and then we’ll look over it.

00:01:44:36 – 00:02:15:42
Clint Loveall
Okay. Well, basically, so here’s what happens. I mean, you can you can find your Bible. You can certainly read this. Basically what happens, Jesus gathers with the disciples. They gather for Passover dinner and it is custom that feet are cleaned. And because they walk in sandals, because they’re walking culture, because the roads are dirt, you can imagine that that is not that is not a pleasant task.

00:02:15:43 – 00:02:51:10
Clint Loveall
There is a kind of reluctance to touch each others feet that I think most of us have. In fact, if you maybe you’ve been in a church that does a foot washing service and most people are very reluctant at the idea of uncovering their feet or having their feet touched. And so that’s not different in Jesus day. In fact, there is one there is one law of Jesus Day that said, the only the lowest servants on the totem pole had to wash feet, that some of the higher servants couldn’t be made to wash feet.

00:02:51:10 – 00:03:22:55
Clint Loveall
And so the disciples are sitting around and whether they expect this or not, you can almost imagine that maybe they begin to think, okay, we have to wash feet, but who’s going to do it? And for the person to do that is to admit that they’re lowest on the totem pole, that they’re lowest among their peers. And to their surprise, Jesus himself gets up and gets water and a bowl and a towel, and he begins to wash the disciples feet.

00:03:22:55 – 00:03:51:09
Clint Loveall
And again, Michael, I don’t know if we can I don’t it’s very difficult, I think, for us to connect to the awkwardness of that moment socially. We can kind of get it, Jesus is their leader and he’s doing the servant thing. But but that borders on offensive. I mean, almost unimaginable in their context that the rabbi, the teacher, the leader would be the one who literally stoops to that task.

00:03:51:09 – 00:03:54:58
Clint Loveall
And I don’t know, I think that’s a little hard for us to wrap our heads around.

00:03:54:59 – 00:04:11:52
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, no doubt. I completely agree. I think as we look at a text like this, we have to understand a few distinctive things. And so let’s first of all recognize where we’re at. We’re in the gospel of John and then the Gospel of John. Jesus Christ is a supernatural son of God. He is the person who knows everything.

00:04:11:52 – 00:04:31:38
Michael Gewecke
He’s always in control. He he’s never running into things accidentally. And we’re going to see that distinctive right away in a text like this verse three Jesus, knowing that the Father, given all things in Jesus hands and that He had come from God and was going to that God knowing those things, everything is his and that everything that goes through him is from God.

00:04:31:38 – 00:04:56:29
Michael Gewecke
Knowing that then Jesus is going to go and He’s going to wash the disciples feet. Clint That only accentuates what you’re saying. Yes, there is a cultural upside down this to this text no one would expect the teacher at the top of the social totem pole to be the one to wash feet. That would be nearly reprehensible in that culture.

00:04:56:29 – 00:05:20:09
Michael Gewecke
Certainly not understandable, which we can see in Peter’s response to this, by the way. But it’s more than that. It’s just not a social situation. It’s actually a moment in which Jesus is, because of his knowledge of what it means to be the son of God and because of his humility, we see an entirely different theological teaching happening simultaneously.

00:05:20:10 – 00:05:46:44
Michael Gewecke
In other words, what Jesus is teaching the disciples is it’s not just that when the teacher serves, you learn something about what it means to be a good teacher. It’s that when the Son of God lowers himself to the lowest position and does so full well, knowing the inheritance that is rightfully his, then you know, as a disciple, what is asked of you, you know, the very thing that you were called to do.

00:05:46:44 – 00:06:06:16
Michael Gewecke
And I think in a text like this, it’s striking to me to see some of the response that happens because I think John includes this on purpose. We get to see what Peter does. And at first Peter is affronted and then later Peter says, Well, okay, if that’s the case, then I want you to wash my hands and wash my head.

00:06:06:28 – 00:06:29:49
Michael Gewecke
In other words, you know, I want to go all in if this is what it means. And it’s another example in John where the disciples don’t understand the teaching that Jesus is offering. Jesus is trying to reveal something about his divinity, something about the humility of being God, who’s about to offer himself for the sake of the salvation of the of the world.

00:06:29:54 – 00:06:55:37
Michael Gewecke
And yet the disciples all they see a disruption of cultural expectation. They don’t see a reversal of time, a reversal of the human order, a reversal of all of the expectations. And what John does in capturing scenes like this is give us all of it at the same time, what the disciples thought was happening versus what was happening, what the disciples thought Jesus was teaching and what Jesus was actually saying.

00:06:55:46 – 00:07:06:54
Michael Gewecke
And all of that’s contained in the text like this. That’s what makes this such a powerful illustration, is that on one hand it looks like one things happening, but behind it are many layers of meaning.

00:07:06:59 – 00:07:32:30
Clint Loveall
And just to capture that dialog, you know, Peter says to Jesus, you’ll you’ll never washed my feet. And Jesus says, Unless I wash you, you have no share with me. And then Peter again, misunderstanding says, will then wash all of me because now he thinks it’s about his cleanliness instead of Jesus serving him. And so Jesus then says, You don’t need to wash except for the feet.

00:07:32:34 – 00:07:52:59
Clint Loveall
You are entirely clean. And then he says, Not all of you. And we’ll talk about that in a moment. But in this in this aftermath, after he is washed their feet, Jesus puts on a robe and he asks this really powerful question Do you know what I have done for you? And then he says, You call me teacher and Lord, and you’re right, that’s what I am.

00:07:53:04 – 00:08:21:02
Clint Loveall
So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. And this is so very different. This is much more personal, much more earthy than the Last Supper texts. The Last Supper texts are wonderful, and they create a sacrament in the church that the church continues to this day will do it tomorrow night serving communion.

00:08:21:07 – 00:08:51:38
Clint Loveall
But this is a text about personal servant hood. You ought to wash one another’s feet. In other words, the question about who is above and who is below goes away. When you understand what Jesus has done, Do you know what I have done for you? I’ve set an example. I tell you, servants are not greater than the master, and Jesus has this wonderful line.

00:08:51:43 – 00:09:12:30
Clint Loveall
If you know these things, you are blessed. If you do them. I’ve been working with that, getting ready for tomorrow night’s service. And I think, you know, there is a wonderful personal challenge here. We see Jesus. This isn’t and what is interesting, your comment about the gospel of John, you know, often in John, Jesus is bigger than life.

00:09:12:30 – 00:09:35:28
Clint Loveall
He knows what people are thinking, He does miracles, He does. He has these amazing moments. And here we have Jesus wrapping a towel around himself, getting a bowl of water and literally scrubbing the feet of these men who have walked around in the dirt all day. I think there’s so much humility in this. It’s such a challenging text.

00:09:35:33 – 00:10:03:09
Clint Loveall
And the one thing I think that you can miss right away, in the beginning of this, John says the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. That means and we’re not told otherwise. That means that are assumption is Jesus knelt before his betrayer and acted as servant. He washed Judas his feet.

00:10:03:14 – 00:10:26:26
Clint Loveall
And if you can get something more indicative of Jesus teachings in Jesus person and Jesus servant hood, I don’t know what that would be. Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. He washes the feet of his betrayer. And that is an incredible, powerful image, I think that John gives us.

00:10:26:31 – 00:10:48:16
Michael Gewecke
I think we have to say that while we may struggle to access this text culturally, as you began us with, I want to make the case that there is a sense in which this is an incredibly important text in helping us understand how countercultural it is in our own time as well. And I don’t mean literally the practice of foot washing.

00:10:48:30 – 00:11:17:20
Michael Gewecke
I mean the the firm commitment that we see in this text to be those who serve others, those in the highest position who are called to be servants of those who are underneath them in any form. And the fact that Jesus says explicitly in a text like this that you need to follow his example for, I’ve set you an example that you also should do as I have done to you.

00:11:17:20 – 00:11:43:39
Michael Gewecke
That is an explicit word from Jesus. That’s a directive. He’s saying you go and serve doing the thing that is not seen as honorable. Do the thing that serves the least of these. That’s very Luke in that way. And what’s striking about that is it pushes back against a culture that says, well, I serve when it’s convenient or I serve when there’s some benefit, it’s going to help me with my college scholarship application.

00:11:43:39 – 00:11:44:42
Clint Loveall
For my people.

00:11:44:45 – 00:12:17:11
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, yeah, right. Or I’m going to serve within my own circle. Exactly. I think what this does is it shows whether you’re the faithful disciple or whether it’s the betrayer you’re called to serve, you’re called to submit to you’re called to be lower than that. That today, as it’s heard in this moment, is countercultural. If we hear it rightly, it is a challenge for us, as it was in that first century, maybe some of the occasioned cultural differences, you know, tweak a little bit of what it looks like.

00:12:17:11 – 00:12:31:10
Michael Gewecke
But the teaching being offered here by Jesus remains countercultural in our world. And I think Christians should seek to hear that difference and to follow Jesus into the uncomfortable place where he leads us.

00:12:31:15 – 00:13:00:01
Clint Loveall
Yeah, this is a great text. You know, there are churches. Have you have you been have you participated in for washing services? There are some churches that enact this kind of ritually not sacramental, but I think it’s not uncommon this season of the year for some churches to do foot washing services. Again, there’s something about the discomfort in that that probably makes it a good thing, though.

00:13:00:01 – 00:13:22:58
Clint Loveall
You know, maybe not again, a comfortable thing, but it I’m glad I there are lots of questions scholars ask questions about why John seems to have a slightly different timeline, why Jesus, why John includes this text and not the story of Jesus meeting for supper with the disciples for the Passover meal. I don’t know if those have answers.

00:13:22:58 – 00:13:46:46
Clint Loveall
I don’t know if there are good answers anyway, but I’m grateful to John, grateful to history for including this, because this is a beautiful snapshot of who it is that we call Savior. We learn a great deal about Jesus from the last Supper, the body, the blood. We continue to unpack that in ways that matter to Christians around the world.

00:13:46:46 – 00:14:05:48
Clint Loveall
But this adds to that picture that a man who would take the lowliest job upon himself and be servant in as as the master, to act as servant to his disciples is a stunning picture and one that we should all be aware of.

00:14:05:52 – 00:14:31:30
Michael Gewecke
So my final note, you’re looking towards the end of the text in verse 20. I think that this a striking ending and it’s very Johannine helps us. Jesus says very truly. I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. And John wants us to know as disciples of Jesus Christ, John wants to lean in and He wants to get really close to us.

00:14:31:44 – 00:14:57:25
Michael Gewecke
And he wants to say, Receive this witness of who Jesus says, Receive this gospel, this good news. Hear this, believe it, lean into it. And when you do that, you’re receiving the Christ. And when you receive the Christ, you’re receiving the one who sent the Christ, and that is God himself, that this is an incredible promise. And I think we could easily read past these words.

00:14:57:25 – 00:15:16:28
Michael Gewecke
But what Jesus is saying is that when you received the the servant hood of Christ, when you receive this gift that he’s so freely given for us and you receive the witness, given to us by this long chain of disciples, of course, the words of Scripture, but also the lies and faithfulness of those who have gone before us.

00:15:16:28 – 00:15:37:19
Michael Gewecke
When you receive that testimony and you receive it wholeheartedly, when it changes you, when you become a servant of others, as they have served you in that moment of your life, you’re going to discover that you’ve already received God. You received the Spirit of God alive network in you. That that is if you live with it for just a moment.

00:15:37:31 – 00:15:59:45
Michael Gewecke
And unbelievable promise because we know the disciples are about to lose Jesus, they’re going to lose Him in the most horrendous way possible. What they couldn’t possibly comprehend, even if they did understand that, they couldn’t understand that that is the only way that they can eternally and forever receive Jesus, that this is the road that Jesus has chosen.

00:15:59:45 – 00:16:25:40
Michael Gewecke
The road, the road that begins with the humbling and service of the disciples through the washing of feet. It will culminate in the humbling and service of Jesus Christ on the cross, which John wants you to know. Jesus chose to do as much as He chose to wash these feet. He chose to go on that cross. And because of those choices he’s making, the disciples are able to receive Jesus in a way that they couldn’t possibly imagine.

00:16:25:40 – 00:16:52:01
Michael Gewecke
And that’s the story that John is giving us a voice or a lens or an image of here in this text. It has something to do with about what Jesus did. Yes, it is an illustration of what disciples today are called to do and be. Yes, it also has something to do with who Jesus the Christ is and what He has done for us in the eternal sense, which will only be seen more clearly as the week goes on.

00:16:52:06 – 00:17:10:24
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I’ve set for you an example a wonderful text help. There’s something in it that speaks to you. Hope that it helps your journey toward Easter in this Holy week. Thank you for being with us. Thanks for listening. Join us tomorrow if you can, as we close out this short, look at the Holy week texts and we’re grateful that you would be with us.