"The Humility of Love" Sermon: John 13:1-17; 31b-35

“The Humility of Love”
[John 13:1-17; 31b-35]
April 21, 2011 Second Reformed Church

The Lectionary text is far too large for me to cover this evening, so I would like to have us look at the theme of “the humility of love” in this evening’s text and just point a few things out to us.

Let us begin with the question, have you ever had guests in your home? Have you ever taken off their shoes and washed their feet?

It helps us to understand our text to know that in Jesus’ day, people wore sandals, or just walked in their bare feet, so their feet would become filthy. For the sake of a guest being comfortable, and to keep the guest from traipsing dirt all over the house, the host would instruct the lowest of his servants to wash his visitor’s feet. It would be the lowest servant who would be commanded to wash the visitor’s feet because..., well, no one wants to wash feet.

With that in mind, let us look at our text:

Jesus had gathered to have a meal with His disciples before the Feast of the Passover. It was at this time that Jesus knew His time had come – He was ready to die and return to the Father. This was the time that the author of Hebrews wrote of: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV). Jesus knew it was His time, and He could look forward to it with joy, while despising the suffering He would endure, because of the greatness of the joy of returning from the world of sin and death to His Throne at the Right Hand of God.

And because He had loved all those that the Father had given Him, and because He had loved them until the end. Jesus was ready to die and return to the Father, because He had completed – and was completing His Mission – which was one of humbled love – that God would humble Himself in love of His elect to come to earth in human flesh, live, die for our sin according to the Scripture, and rise, ascending back to the Father. He loved us enough to purchase us with Himself: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (I Corinthians 6:19b-20a, ESV).

And He loves us until then end. What does that mean? It means that Jesus loves us throughout our lives until the end of our lives, but it also means that He loves us to the furthest extent and to the depths of our need. Jesus loves us from sinful destitution to glory in the Kingdom. Jesus loves us from before the Creation. He loves us when we hated Him. He loves us when we received Him. He loves us when we continue to sin against Him. And He will love us until He receives us into glory to sin no more.

This love for all those who would believe in Jesus Alone was not diminished by Judas’ betrayal – Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him – it had been prophesied and was necessary.

Jesus knew that the Father have given Him everything: He had come from the Father – He was God, Himself, and He was returning to the Father, rejoicing with the Other Persons of the Trinity in Glory.

Knowing all these things – that His time was come, that Judas was betraying Him, that He is God the Son, Who was with the Father from before the Creation and was returning to Him – therefore, He stood up, took off His outer garments, tied a towel around His waist, poured water in a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel.

We don’t have to imagine what the disciples thought – Peter gives us the answer: “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

“You shall never wash my feet.”

The washing of feet was the duty of the lowest of the servants – not their Rabbi, not their Teacher, not the Savior, not God Incarnate. It was not the place of God to wash the feet of humans. It was beneath Jesus Wasn’t it?

Jesus answered Him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

Peter responded characteristically, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head ”

Jesus had told Peter that if Peter did not allow Him to wash his feet, there would be a break in the bond between them, and Peter, assuming that more is better, told Jesus if washing his feet strengthened the bond between them, then, if Jesus gave him a complete bath – that would even be better.

But Jesus corrected him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

What was Jesus talking about? This was more than a discussion about bathing habits and hospitality, wasn’t it?

In what way were the disciples clean that Judas was not clean? John explains in his first letter, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7, ESV). The other disciples had believed in Jesus savingly: they had confess[ed] with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe[d] in their heart that God [would] raise[] Him from the dead, [and they were] saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV). The other disciples believed that Jesus is the God the Promised Savior – Judas did not. And through the blood that Jesus would shed, they had all been cleansed of their sin. They had been delivered from their slavery to sin. But, as we have just said, even if one were to bathe and be clean, if one were to walk through the dusty, muddy roads in sandals, or barefoot, one’s feet would get dirty, right?

So, if we are righteous before God, if our sins have been cleansed through the Blood of Jesus, if we are clean – what does it mean to say that our feet still get dirty? Our dirty feet that still need to be cleansed every day are the sins that we commit every day. Jesus has cleansed all those who will ever believe, and Jesus cleans the feet of everyone who will ever believe until we are brought into Glory.

A. W. Pink explains (708) that their persons were clean – they had received salvation through Christ Alone – but their walk – their day-to-day living – was still dirty – they still sinned, just as you and I do until Jesus returns. That is why we need to repent of our sin daily – if not more often.

Paul explains, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25b-27, ESV).

So then through the hearing of the Word of God, we receive Jesus – we are cleansed of our sin, all of our sins are forgiven and we are no longer inclined towards sin – we are made righteous. However, becoming holy – sanctified – is a process that continues until Jesus returns to bring us into Glory. God the Holy Spirit is working in us now to remove those “spots and wrinkles” that still remain in us – to wash our feet from the sin we daily pick up and track around in our walk.

The disciples were already Christians – believers in Jesus Alone for salvation – they were righteous through the Sacrifice Jesus was going to offer on Good Friday – their bodies were clean. But they were not holy – they continued to sin – so it was necessary for them to wash their feet every day – for the Holy Spirit to work repentance in them each day. And the same is true for each one of us. We are forgiven – justified; Jesus has paid the debt for all of the sin of everyone who will ever believe, yet we still turn away and sin, and we do not lose our salvation in sinning, but we are called to repent of our sin and to continue by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in us to become holy.

Then Jesus asked the disciples if they understood what He had just done – that He had symbolically shown them that though they are righteous through Jesus, becoming holy is a process of God working in us.

Then Jesus said, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.” Jesus could have received the death penalty for saying that: Jesus said, “You call me didaskolos and kurios, and you are right for so I am.” “You call me master rabbi and...” The word kurios is used in the New Testament as the Greek translation of the Hebrew word adonai, and the Jews used the word adonai for yhwh, the most holy and personal of God’s Names that God told to Moses. The disciples would have understood the words – if not the entire meaning, Jesus said, “You call me master rabbi and Almighty God, and you are right, for so I am.”

We can imagine them in stunned silence as Jesus continued, “If I then, [the Almighty God and master rabbi], 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 just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Jesus said, a servant is not greater than his master. If the master does x, it is not below the servant to do x. In fact, the servant ought to follow the good example of his master and do x.

Jesus, the master rabbi and Almighty God, had done something that would have been scandalous for a merely human master to do – He has washed His disciples’ feet. He was showing them that becoming holy is a process, although we are instantly justified through Jesus’ Sacrifice, becoming holy is a process that God works in us.

Was Jesus teaching them that they ought to literally wash each others’ feet? Most scholars and denominations say He was not. So what was Jesus teaching them – and us? Is there something that we can to do help each other progress in holiness? Is there anything we can do to help each other refrain from sin?

Although He is God Who restores the Image of God in us and makes us holy like His Son, God works through us to accomplish His Will. So we are to watch out for each other’s feet. In love, we ought to do everything we can to help lead each other away from sin and to follow after good. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

If we know someone is tempted to sin in certain circumstances, we ought to do all we can to keep that person from being tempted and falling into temptation. Don’t offer an alcoholic a drink or bring him to a bar. Don’t give a glutton a whole cake. Don’t tell a gossip a juicy piece of news. If someone starts to badmouth someone, tell them you’re not interested in hearing it. Invite people to give food to the poor, to attend worship, to see the good in another person, to take better care of his body. And so forth.

We ought to do all we can to keep each others’ feet clean – to turn each other away from sin and to lead each other towards the good.

After Judas had left, Jesus told the rest of the disciples that He was now glorified and God was glorified in Him, and that since God was glorified in Jesus, Jesus would also be glorified, and He was glorified in that moment. Jesus was revealed for Who He is – God’s Plan was revealed, and God was better seen by the disciples in that moment.

And He told them again that they could not go where He was going; Jesus had to face the Wrath of God alone – as the One Sacrifice for everyone who would ever believe savingly in Him.

And Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Well, how much did Jesus love them? Jesus explained how to be great to the disciples: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25b-28, ESV).

And Paul wrote: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, thought he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8, ESV).

How much does Jesus love? Enough that the Almighty God would humble Himself by taking on a human person, serving His Creation, and allowing Himself to be put to death for those He came to save.

This is not masochism. Jesus does not call us to learn to enjoy being abused by people.

This is not being a doormat. Jesus stood up for what was right and He spoke the Truth and exposed sin.

This is the humility of love which says, “I’m going to refrain from doing something because Peter is here, and I know if I do this or say this, it will lead Peter into sin.” This is the humility of love which says – privately, “Peter, I’m concerned that you are sinning and don’t even realize it, could we talk about what you’re doing?” This is the humility of love which says, “If I do this or say this, it will help Peter, he may become a more faithful Christian, and it will glorify God.”

This is the humility of love which says – ultimately, as we saw in the book of Acts, when Peter and the apostles had been let out of prison with the warning that they were not to teach about Jesus again, “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at the right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him’” (Acts 5:29-32, ESV).

This is the humility of love which says, with Paul in prison, “Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be ashamed, but with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet, which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, Because of my coming to you again” (Philippians 1:18b-26, ESV).

God has called us to a life of service in glorifying Him, and by serving Him, we receive joy. Jesus has shown us that we are not above doing anything for anyone for the sake of the Gospel. And in washing the disciples’ feet, He has shown us that we are to humble ourselves in love to help each other progress in holiness – to the Glory of God.

Shortly, we will receive the Lord’s Supper. In the elements of the bread and the cup, this same Jesus Who physically walked on this earth two thousand years ago, will meet with us spiritually and give us the grace that we need to be able to do all that God has called us to do. Let us trust Him, and follow after Him in humility, showing love, that the whole world will know that we are His disciples.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, our Master Rabbi, we hear that You washed the disciples’ feet, and we respond with disgust, not wanting to do likewise. Humble us and let us see that if God Himself was willing to come to earth to save us from Your Wrath for our sin, we ought to be willing to do anything You call us to do in love and to Your Glory. Strengthen us now for the work You have given us to do, mature us and make us holy, after the Image of Your Son, for it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.