John 13:1-11

00:00:00:50 – 00:00:24:22
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being with us. Welcome back. On this Tuesday, into a new chapter with the Gospel of John into the 13th chapter. A little bit of preface before we get into it. This is the chapter in which we encounter John’s version of the Last Supper. If you know a little bit about the Gospels, you may already know that John’s telling is completely different.

00:00:24:27 – 00:01:00:42
Clint Loveall
This is baffled biblical scholars. John doesn’t have the Last Supper as the other gospels do. Instead, we get this story of the foot washing, which is unique to John. I’m sure there are scholars that have explanations for that. I think realistically, John just wants to tell a different story. Maybe he knows the other story is out there, or maybe he just has this idea that he he wants to show this other aspect of what Jesus does when he gathers with his disciples.

00:01:00:46 – 00:01:12:59
Clint Loveall
It’s a beautiful story. We are indebted to John because he is the only one that includes it. But it is. It stands out as different. Anything to add to that, Michael?

00:01:13:01 – 00:01:15:36
Michael Gewecke
No, I think we’ll see it as we go through it. Now, that’s a great summary.

00:01:15:39 – 00:01:45:40
Clint Loveall
Okay. Jumping in here. Verse one, chapter 13. Now, the before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that this hour had come to depart from the world and go to the father, having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him and during supper, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.

00:01:45:45 – 00:02:06:06
Clint Loveall
Then he poured water in a basin and began to wash the disciples feet, and wiped them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus answered, you do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand, won’t we stop there?

00:02:06:07 – 00:02:32:06
Clint Loveall
Maybe that’s a little bit of a strange breaking place. If you’ve been with us in the Gospel of John, you might remember that we began chapter 12 with a similar kind of scenario, where Mary kneels at the feet of Jesus and washes him. And here we have Jesus now enacting that a similar action. Before we get there, John fills in some backstory for us.

00:02:32:11 – 00:02:57:50
Clint Loveall
In these introductory verses, the festival of the Passover was at hand. Jesus, knowing his hour had come. Now we have seen multiple references so far in this gospel. That is not his hour. His hour was not at hand. It was in his time. Now Jesus, knowing his time to depart, had come, gets up and washes the disciples feet.

00:02:58:03 – 00:03:19:08
Clint Loveall
Having loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end. So we getting some backstory and then we get almost just in a passing mention, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him again. John is written to people who seem to know the story already, and and John is retelling it.

00:03:19:08 – 00:03:47:48
Clint Loveall
So no big introduction, no explanation, just oh yeah, that thing had already happened. And now Jesus shows this sign of servanthood. There are lots of things we could tell you about this text. It was considered very lowly job to have to do. Typically, it was the lowest servant that had to do this. Jesus takes on that role for himself.

00:03:47:52 – 00:04:16:41
Clint Loveall
It is both a custom that was kind of expected. And and in typical Jesus faction fashion becomes something totally unexpected. And so, again, I don’t know, Michael, if we can be as shocked by this as the readers and Jesus initial hearers would have been, certainly, as the disciples would have been. We we see this is very strange in foreign to our experience.

00:04:16:46 – 00:04:22:55
Clint Loveall
But anybody knowing Jesus world would have kind of, I think, been flabbergasted by this.

00:04:23:06 – 00:04:27:00
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, in some ways, I think religiously maybe even offended.

00:04:27:00 – 00:04:28:01
Clint Loveall
Yeah, that’s a good word.

00:04:28:01 – 00:04:48:48
Michael Gewecke
And I think as we turn into a text like this, it is helpful, by the way, that we do this study. There are downsides as well. But I think one of the benefits of how we do this study is that we can kind of connect the threads of the story as it goes. And I do think it’s really important that we just give one eye backwards to remember, you know, this is what we went through last time.

00:04:48:48 – 00:05:14:38
Michael Gewecke
Certainly watch or listen to that if you missed it. But here, look at all this red text and all of this speaking about, God’s commandment being eternal life and Jesus sharing what God has told him to do. And I think in John, what Jesus does now in chapter 13 is the incarnation or the putting into action that the flesh of the teaching that we just had.

00:05:14:38 – 00:05:41:33
Michael Gewecke
It’s not just philosophical, it’s not just theological, it’s not just ideas. It’s not just head. Jesus literally gets down onto his knees. He uses this towel. He washes his disciples feet. It it it’s the dirt kind of stuff that we find in the Gospel of John. I can’t help but think of the story that we have of the woman where Jesus kneels down and he writes in the dirt that Jesus is, yes, God.

00:05:41:36 – 00:06:03:30
Michael Gewecke
He yes, understands the hour, right? He understands what is going to happen, and he understands the timing of it, and he assents to it. He gives his own permission for it because he’s the God incarnate. He has the power. But yet in the Gospel of John, that does not mean that Jesus is not connected and earthly and have real, meaningful relationship.

00:06:03:30 – 00:06:30:00
Michael Gewecke
He cries when he sees the pain and the morning in the thought of Lazarus, who died. In this moment, Jesus gets down onto his knees and he does the dirtiest Machias job that could be done by a household servant, and that has significant meaning as we come to interpret the kind of power, the kind of eternal plan, the entire teaching that we were just talking about.

00:06:30:12 – 00:06:51:36
Michael Gewecke
This gives us a litmus test of what that power looks like when it’s being lived out in the world. Jesus is actively teaching his disciples, this is what I’ve come to do. He gives us the teaching. Now. Today, he shows us what it looks like to do what he came to do. When he says to lower yourself, he doesn’t mean metaphorically.

00:06:51:41 – 00:07:20:07
Michael Gewecke
He means to take upon yourself the task of service, even the one that is not pursued by other people, not the one sought after. Know you. You literally go and you put yourself in the dirtiest market place that you can be and and ultimately as what’s going to happen in all of John’s text, Clint, there’s going to be misunderstanding, which will lead to more misunderstanding, which will encapsulate truth in a meaningful way that John invites us into exploring.

00:07:20:13 – 00:07:47:48
Clint Loveall
Yeah, they are they are shocked. And I think that word offended is accurate. Michael, you know, let’s continue here because I think we see it easily in the, the response from Peter. Peter said to him, you will never wash my feet. Jesus answered, unless I wash them. You have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, then, Lord, not only my feet, but my hands, and my head also.

00:07:47:52 – 00:08:11:29
Clint Loveall
Jesus said to him, one who has bathed does not need to wash except for the feet, but he is entirely clean, and you are clean, though not all of you. For he knew who was to betray him. And for this reason he said, not all of you are clean. So, once again, pause there. And this is twofold.

00:08:11:29 – 00:08:33:46
Clint Loveall
This is partly the way that John likes telling stories. And this is an example of how Peter, generally the poster child among the disciples for getting it wrong, gets it wrong in this moment. You will never do this. I will never let you bow to me. I will never let you do this. I and what is Jesus saying then?

00:08:33:46 – 00:09:00:18
Clint Loveall
You’re putting yourself above me. Then you are. You can’t unless you let me do this. Unless you understand what this means. You have no share with me. So Peter misunderstands again because he thinks it has something to do with the feet and the ceremonial cleansing. But that’s not it at all. Jesus says, if you’ve bathed, you’re already clean.

00:09:00:23 – 00:09:36:09
Clint Loveall
This is this is a lesson for you, though not all of you are clean. And I think if there’s a thing that amazes me about this text, Michael, in John, it’s that we forget that Jesus washed Judas’s feet after Judas’s path was set. You know, I think sometimes we separate those things, but John makes it very clear to tell us Judas was already planning to do what he does, and Jesus already knew that it was going to be done.

00:09:36:16 – 00:10:05:02
Clint Loveall
Yep. And yet he kneels before his own betrayer and washes his feet. And if you need a spiritual understanding of the physical act that is taking place here, I don’t know that there’s a better one than that. Jesus serves all of the disciples. He humbles himself. He he washes them, including the very one who’s going to turn him in.

00:10:05:02 – 00:10:16:39
Clint Loveall
And I think that’s I think that’s not only astounding, I think I, I like to think that John does that intentionally.

00:10:16:44 – 00:10:49:36
Michael Gewecke
The twists and turns and the Gospel of John, you know, could be subject of conversation all day long. And and we’ve said this numerous times in our conversations that one should be careful. Certainly, when you’re talking about things that are not in the gospel. But I can’t help for just a moment so, well, warning that, you know, there’s, just a little bit of, prodding of the text here, but isn’t it really interesting that in verse nine, Simon Peter’s response to Jesus, I think, is just classic Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

00:10:49:40 – 00:11:12:39
Michael Gewecke
And I think you’re right, Clint, to say that Peter’s often the poster child for getting it wrong because, he not only misunderstands Jesus, but he doubles down on it being about him. And notice the response that Peter gives. It’s not. Oh, then let me take the the towel. Jesus, let me wash the disciples feet with you, like, let me get down on the ground.

00:11:12:39 – 00:11:44:15
Michael Gewecke
But, you know, at that point Peter’s like, all right, I’m all in. Yeah, let’s let’s make it about me. And and there’s a fascinating contrast. And I think it’s surprising contrast, Clint, because ostensibly this book is given to the earliest generation of Christians to help them know who Jesus is, what Jesus’s call to the first disciples were, and therefore what Jesus says call to the earliest church was to be followers and and what’s striking is how comfortable all of the Gospels are, but also the Gospel of John.

00:11:44:15 – 00:12:07:04
Michael Gewecke
And this is a great example of it really using the first disciples as an illustration of getting it wrong. And that’s a surprising thing. You you would expect that some of those early documents, you know, like Peter’s, that earliest generation of leadership, there’s going to be a lot of honor and respect in that in the early church. And the stories that we have of him encountering Jesus are ones in which he often is getting it wrong.

00:12:07:04 – 00:12:36:59
Michael Gewecke
Now, he’s also a man of great faith. He’s wise. He grows into the position that Jesus gives him, and he becomes a winsome and, even a very inspiring figure. So to take nothing from him, I just think it is really interesting that part of the story is that he still is fixated on himself, that he has the revelation of God washing his feet, and and he’s moved and offended by it, but then he’s moved in, offended in the wrong direction.

00:12:36:59 – 00:12:56:44
Michael Gewecke
Once Jesus starts giving the explanation, there’s just something rich, and I think engaging about that, because that’s the temptation we’re going to have when we read the scripture is we’re going to see this revelation ourselves, and we too are going to be tempted to, like Peter once again, make it about us, double down about what it means about us, and miss one.

00:12:56:44 – 00:13:01:14
Michael Gewecke
That’s trying to tell us. How about the center of the character who is Jesus Christ?

00:13:01:19 – 00:13:39:30
Clint Loveall
At the risk of slowing us down even further? You know, this is one of those texts, Michael, that I think is it functions really in two ways, two great ways. As a biblical text. It’s interesting. It raises lots of great questions. Why don’t we have this in other gospels? What’s going on here? I mean, there’s lots of interesting Bible questions you can ask about this text and the language and the customs and etc., etc. but when it comes to also functioning at the level of discipleship, this is a great preaching teaching text, right?

00:13:39:45 – 00:14:04:50
Clint Loveall
Who it of all the people, of all the people who would be least in that room. Everybody knows it isn’t Jesus. If the disciples are going to argue out who has to be the lowest servant and wash the feet, Jesus is not in the conversation, right? And yet he does it. And the challenge that gives to each of us who do we serve?

00:14:04:55 – 00:14:41:42
Clint Loveall
And in what ways do we get up and take off our robe and fill up our bucket and and wash, serve our neighbor? In what ways are we willing to lower ourselves in the name of Christ to serve others and and to lower ourselves? Not you know, we so much of the world is is about moving up. And here Jesus teaches what it looks like to humbly move down and to to be a servant.

00:14:41:42 – 00:15:10:56
Clint Loveall
And I that’s such a challenging passage. It’s such a beautiful picture of discipleship. Yes. The the bread and cup, the passing, the traditional Last Supper text also has something to say to us. But this is just such a compelling story that I think, even though people don’t always know that it’s only in John. I think people know this story.

00:15:11:01 – 00:15:17:26
Clint Loveall
It’s just it’s memorable. It’s challenging, it’s interesting. This is a great text.

00:15:17:31 – 00:15:48:19
Michael Gewecke
It is a story that plays really well into John’s intention of teaching. Because the red text that’s going to come here next, as we get to it, is the kind of stuff that that really keeps you from being able to stray too far from the point, right? When Jesus does this act, it really could be interpreted in lots of different ways, right?

00:15:48:19 – 00:16:23:45
Michael Gewecke
It could be that. And we’ve, I think, circle around many of them. The idea of the scandal of, even washing the feet of your betrayer, knowing it’s going to be that person or one of your chief disciples kind of being a knucklehead, never understanding exactly what you’re teaching and making about himself. I mean, there’s a lot of messiness in this text, and yet there’s a very clear, resonant point that Jesus is demonstrating what the way of God is in the world as he reveals it, it’s radically different, and I can’t help but be calling to mind the jars.

00:16:23:45 – 00:16:46:22
Michael Gewecke
The purification jars used to turn the water into wine that we had the beginning of the story. Another image of water, and washing. And I think we have in that also, that just that the image that we have so often that throughout the Gospels that the Jewish purification rites were a matter of rote ritual and order.

00:16:46:22 – 00:17:16:46
Michael Gewecke
Everyone knew to do that because it was not only polite, it was just part of the culture. But Jesus sees them in a radically different way. In fact, in light of his life, in reality, he he tries to help the disciples see how they’ve been all turned on their head, and that ultimately it becomes an opportunity for him to show them the extent to which God is going to be willing to go for the sake of their salvation, and they might be offended by him getting down to clean their feet.

00:17:16:51 – 00:17:43:40
Michael Gewecke
They have no real conception of the humiliation and pain and shame that Jesus already knows is coming with his hour. And it’s just a very a poignant, I think, a very loaded story. And it’s told by John in such a way so that the whole thing is going to first get our attention, and then he’s going to sort of hold our faces like a little child, you know, trying to get right up in your face.

00:17:43:40 – 00:17:48:57
Michael Gewecke
He’s going to hold our faces and he’s going to say, now, this is what Jesus wants to teach you in this story.

00:17:49:12 – 00:18:17:17
Clint Loveall
I think the last thing I would add would just has to do with a word in the front of the story. Having loved his own, he loved them to the end. And I think John would be remiss if we didn’t make the connection here between love and service as a way of serving those disciples as an example to them, as a model to them, of what it meant to be Jesus, to be their Savior.

00:18:17:22 – 00:18:45:13
Clint Loveall
He he does. So he does this thing. He did this out of love that the connection of love and service. And again, which I think leaves us the very poignant question, how do we show love to those around us? Not just those who do good by us, not just those we trust and those we care about and agree with, but even the betrayer, even the wayward one, even the one we disagree with or dislike.

00:18:45:18 – 00:19:05:09
Clint Loveall
How is it that we show them love? By serving, by lowering ourself and elevating them? And I think again, just leaves us with such a a spiritual challenge of discipleship and practice. This is a the very powerful story, the very powerful act.

00:19:05:22 – 00:19:39:05
Michael Gewecke
Your point about this being an important contribution in the Gospels, I think, can’t be emphasized enough, because it reminds me of the fact that the this is a difficult teaching throughout all of history. In fact, one of the core calls of the Reformation was that the church itself had got this wrong and that people of religious power were being put in position over others, that they were lording it over that, and that it’s not just a reformation dynamic that happens throughout time as as you know, we’re humans and our human institutions get it wrong.

00:19:39:05 – 00:19:59:38
Michael Gewecke
And I just think there’s some deep and meaningful calls to action here that remind us that just because it’s hard doesn’t mean that we get a pass to not wake up setting ourselves again to do it. That that Jesus did this for his disciples. And and we are not greater than the master. And that is a transition to what we’re going to do tomorrow.

00:19:59:38 – 00:20:08:42
Michael Gewecke
So I sincerely hope you’ll join us for that conversation, because some of the red leather stuff here really matters. And I think that’s a significant way of forming our imaginations.

00:20:08:47 – 00:20:15:37
Clint Loveall
Yeah. Glad you could be with us. Thanks for joining us. Hope you can be with us again as we continue through the rest of this text and the rest of the gospel.

00:20:15:45 – 00:20:16:15
Michael Gewecke
See you tomorrow.