Jesus: Healing Hippie or Messiah? | Sunday, January 3, 2021

Before the Passover festival, Jesus knew that the hour had come to depart from the world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end... So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet... "If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do as I have done for you... If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." (John 13:1–17)

The basin and towel weren't about feet at all—they were Jesus' picture of the costly, humbling love His followers are still called to live.

He Loved Them to the End

We begin in John 13 on the last night Jesus spends with His disciples—the night of the Last Supper and the garden. Before they celebrate Passover, verse 1 tells us Jesus knew His hour had come to depart from the world, and "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." I adore that statement. He knew His people, and He loved them all the way to the very end. What a picture of the love of Jesus.

The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Him. Jesus knew the Father had given everything into His hands, that He had come from God, and that He was going back to God. He knows exactly what is happening this night and in the days to come. And so He takes this moment to cement with His disciples a message and a new commandment.

The Lord Takes the Servant's Place

Knowing He came from God and was returning to God, Jesus got up from supper, laid aside His outer clothing, tied a towel around Himself, poured water into a basin, and began to wash His disciples' feet. This is a cultural practice we miss today. Back then there were no vehicles, no bicycles—you walked or rode an animal, and both left your feet dirty. Normally a servant would wash a guest's feet. It was proper etiquette, a sign of respect.

But on this night nobody had washed anybody's feet. Picture the disciples looking around the room, each feeling too important for the job. "I love Jesus and all, but I'm not washing Andrew's nasty feet. And have you seen James's toes?" Then Jesus Himself gets up, removes His outer garments, takes the role of the lowest servant in the house, and serves them.

Peter's Shock

We might miss this cultural moment if Peter hadn't highlighted it. "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" You can hear the shock—this is unheard of, ridiculous. Jesus answers, "What I'm doing you don't realize now, but afterward you will understand." That's spiritual hindsight. It happens to me all the time: I go through something not understanding it, then later look back and see what God was doing.

Peter responds, "You will never wash my feet." He's zealous for Jesus' glory and position—You are the boss, the greatest, why would You wash my feet? The job is so humble Peter can't even conceive of Jesus doing it. It's like the president coming to your house to plunge and scrub the toilet everyone has been ignoring.

How Gross Our Sin Really Is

Jesus replies, "If I don't wash you, you have no part with me." This is a requirement; it's part of what makes Peter His. Peter knows in his head that Jesus is Lord, but he doesn't grasp what it means. Jesus is going to take Peter's sin away on the cross, and Peter doesn't fully understand how gross and demeaning his sin is, or the depth of shame Jesus' love will go to in order to redeem him.

I don't think we grasp it either. If we truly understood how disgusting our sin is—like crusty junk between toes—we would have a completely different perspective on the sacrifice Jesus made. Maybe that's something to pray for: "God, show me just how gross it is, so I can understand the depth of Your love."

Then Peter swings the other way—a beautiful example of us. He says, "Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head." Points for enthusiasm, but he completely missed the meeting. Jesus tells him, "One who has bathed doesn't need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you"—for He knew who would betray Him. Peter is clean by virtue of his relationship with Jesus.

It Was Never About Feet

When Jesus finished and reclined again, He asked, "Do you know what I have done for you?" They didn't, and neither would we. We very often miss what God is doing until it's pointed out. So Jesus points it out: "You call me teacher and Lord, and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."

Here is where we tend to mess it up. Historically we've made this about washing feet, holding foot-washing ceremonies. But it's not about feet. It's about jumping in and doing the hard, dirty, sometimes shameful work of following Jesus into the gross, humiliating world of sinners—loving them first, even when they don't deserve it and don't appreciate it, just like we were. It's about laying down our rights and our desires to lovingly serve people.

Taking Off Our Garments

We have never in my lifetime been more polarized—divided over politics, race, masks, vaccines, just about anything. As followers of Jesus, all of those things are the outer garments we are called to take off so we can put on the servant's towel and start washing feet. We've spent our time grumbling about who's supposed to wash feet and ignored the example of love Jesus set. God forgive us for singing songs about worshiping Him while refusing to live the way He did.

Jesus continues, "A servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." Underline that. We want to be treated with justice, fairness, and respect—but was Jesus? Are we really going to insist on being treated better than our Savior? Knowing what Jesus did is helpful, but the blessing is found in doing it.

Glorified Through Shame

Jump to verse 31: "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him... Little children, I am with you a little longer... where I am going, you cannot come." How is God going to be glorified in Jesus? Through the most shameful death they could devise—humiliation and torture.

Yet we so often insist on justice from the powers of this fallen world while ignoring the example of Jesus. Look at how the church has shown the world love lately—largely by projecting arrogance and insisting on getting our own way. How did Jesus show love? He went like a lamb to the slaughter, silent. He loved them enough to lay down His life. We can do better, and we need to do better.

A New Commandment

In verse 34 Jesus gives a new command: "Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." The hallmark of a follower of Jesus is love—the self-sacrificial love He showed by washing feet, carrying a cross, and asking forgiveness for the very people killing Him. That's the love this world needs to see, the example He gave us.

Peter once again misses the point. Forgetting the new command about love, he asks, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answers, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me later." Jesus is going to the cross, to a death the disciples aren't ready for but would eventually embrace. Peter insists, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you"—the cry of an ignorant child. Jesus replies, "A rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times."

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

One of the most painful things we can face is to truly see who we are without the work of the Holy Spirit. Peter hears that he will fail his friend, fall asleep while Jesus prays, run from the garden, and deny he even knows Jesus before a servant girl.

We often stop at the chapter break, which is unfortunate, because chapter 14 begins, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms... I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am, you will be also." After all Peter just heard, that's a hard statement—don't let your heart be troubled. But the solution is to believe. Believe in God; believe also in Jesus. Follow Him.

Then Thomas, in case we miss the point, says, "Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way?" He's looking for a place. But Jesus tells him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father." Jesus is the embodiment—the way for us is Jesus.

Called to Follow Even When It Hurts

We're called to live the way He walked, the way He sacrificed Himself, the example He gave in washing the disciples' feet. We're called to follow Jesus even when we're lied to and lied about, mistreated, denied our way, even stolen from, assaulted, or killed. Jesus went through all those things and calls us to follow Him in spite of them—even in them. Yes, we'll do it badly. Yes, we'll need the grace of God and the forgiveness of our Savior. But as Jesus said in verse 17, "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." The doing brings the blessing.

From Running to Boldness

Fast forward about a month to Pentecost. In Acts 2, the same Peter who ran from a servant girl stands before a multitude in Jerusalem and preaches Jesus, rebuking them for crucifying their Messiah. In Acts 4, Peter and John are arrested and brought before the very council they had fled—the same council Peter ran from on the day Jesus was on trial—now because they had the audacity to heal a man.

Asked, "By what power or in what name have you done this?" Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit—highlight it, underline it, tattoo it on your arm—answers that the man was healed "by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead... There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved."

When the council saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized they were uneducated, untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. What a testimony. Before, Peter had been recognized by his accent and ran away; now he is recognized for the same power and boldness in proclaiming Jesus.

Unable to Stop Speaking

With the healed man standing there, the council had nothing to say. They conferred: "What should we do with these men? An obvious sign has been done through them, and we cannot deny it." So they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. For we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Notice—they're not talking about their own rights or desires. Their boldness is solely about proclaiming Jesus. After threatening them further, the council released them, finding no way to punish them because the people were giving glory to God.

So we need to remember who we claim to follow, and actually follow Jesus—not the convenient idol who keeps us safe and gives us what we want, but the risen Savior who suffered, was humiliated, hated, and wronged, yet responded not with anger and insistence on His rights but with love, laying down His life for a world that largely would not love Him back. We have an example to follow and a world to reach, and we won't do it any other way than by taking off our garments, putting on a towel, and serving people—especially when it hurts our pride.

Closing Prayer

Holy Spirit, fill us and guide us as we seek to be like Jesus. Amen.