“Love One Another”
[John 13:1-17;
31b-35]
April 17, 2014 Second Reformed Church
Tonight, we remember the night when
Jesus gathered with His disciples for the Last Supper and, among other things,
He commanded His disciples to love one another.
We call this day, “Maundy Thursday.”
The word, “Maundy” is Latin for “commandment.” This is the day we remember that Jesus gave
His disciples a “new commandment” – the commandment to love one another.
We will all notice that the date of
Easter moves around on the calendar – that is due to the fact that the date of
Easter is set based on the date of Passover, which is set based on the cycle of
the moon – as are all Jewish holidays.
The Church officially set the rubrics of Holy Week at the Council of
Carthage in 397 A.D. – though it seems they were followed earlier than that.
What we see in the Scripture is that
Jesus rose on the first day of the week – which is Sunday. He was crucified and had to be taken down
from the cross because it was the “day of preparation” for the Sabbath – so
Jesus was crucified on Friday and couldn’t be left on the cross Saturday, which
is the Jewish Sabbath. Thus, the day
before the crucifixion – the day that the Last Supper was celebrated – the day
that Jesus gave the “new commandment” – was Thursday.
So, in the year that Jesus was
crucified, Passover began on a Thursday evening. That evening, Jesus washed the disciples’
feet, gave them the “new commandment,” and then celebrated the first night of
the Passover with them and instituted the Lord’s Supper. Then He went out to the Garden of Gethsemane
to pray, was arrested, and, on Friday, was crucified, buried, and rose Sunday
morning.
I point this out, not just for your
cocktail party discussion, but because Marla brought to my attention that a
Jehovah’s Witness that she talked with told her we should be celebrating on
Monday of this week, since Passover began – this year – on Monday evening. While the Jehovah’s Witness is right in the
sense that the start of Passover moves around on the calendar, we celebrate and
remember the day of the week that these things actually, historically
occurred. Since Passover and Easter move
around on the calendar, we may be celebrating them in the historically wrong
month or week, but we celebrate them on the biblically recorded, historical
day. In Church history, it was decided
that remembering the correct day of the week was more importance than
remembering the correct week or month.
Hopefully that makes sense – it sets
the historical setting for when this text took place, and it also helps us to
understand why we celebrate on the days that we do – and, as Marla found out –
there are people who will challenge even the day that we remember and celebrate
events, so we should know how we got to celebrate them when we do.
So, our text tonight takes place on
Thursday, the first evening of Passover, in the year that Jesus was crucified. Jesus and the disciples gathered for dinner
and then to celebrate the Last Supper.
We see in the sections of the text
that were read:
Jesus knew it was time for Him to
die and return to the Father.
Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.
Jesus explained that He did so as an
example for them to follow.
And Jesus gave them a new
commandment – to love one another.
“Now before the Feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to
the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the
end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas
Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given
all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to
God, rose from supper.”
Jesus knew it was time for Him to
die and return to the Father.
Notice: Jesus knew He was going to be betrayed by
Judas – He also knew He would be denied by Peter – which is in a section of the
text we did not read – He knew He was going to be taken, unjustly arrest and
condemned to death, tortured, crucified – and His thoughts were on His love for
the disciples.
With all of these things on His mind
– that they were all now coming to pass – that the mission for which He chose
to incarnate to earth was now coming to its bitter nadir, He thought about how
He had loved all those that God had given to Him and how He would continue to
love them until then end.
The end of what? Jesus knew He would love His people to the
end of His life on this earth, to the end of this age of the corruption of sin,
and into the restored Creation and the fullness of His Kingdom. Jesus loved His people and He loves us and
all those who come after us. And though
He is not with us physically right now, He is spiritually with us – as He said,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b, ESV).
Jesus was able to face and endure
all that had been revealed to Him and was now coming to pass, because His
resolve was strengthened in the knowledge that as the One Who had come from the
Father and was now returning to the Father – as God Incarnate – all power and
authority were His. None of this was
happening by chance. All of this was
happening according to the Sovereign Plan of God, and Jesus, the Incarnate God,
had willingly taken all this upon Himself that the people of God might be made
right with God through His Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. As Jesus would rebuke Peter later than night,
“ Do you think that I cannot appeal
to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?
But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew
26:53-54, ESV).
Jesus knew everything that was to
come to pass. Jesus willingly chose to
follow through with the plan God had made from before the creation. Jesus went through the horrors of it all,
strengthened by the knowledge of His Sovereign Divinity and the love that He
had and continues to have and will always have for all those who believe in Him.
“He laid aside his outer garments,
and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was
wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, do you wash
my feet?’ Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but
afterward you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You shall never wash my
feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.’
Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’
Jesus said to 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.’
For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, ‘Not all of you are
clean.’”
Let us understand that in Jesus’
day, when people walked around barefoot or in sandals, it was the custom – a
sign of hospitality – for the host of a group of people to provide for the washing
of his guests’ feet for the sake of their comfort and as a gesture of welcome
and love. So, the washing of the feet,
in and of itself, was not strange at all.
So why did Peter get so upset?
Peter objected to Jesus washing his
feet – more accurately, Peter rebuked Jesus for going to wash his feet –
because Jesus was their teacher – their rabbi – and they were His
students. It was not proper for a
teacher to wash the students’ feet – the students ought to wash the teacher’s feet.
Jesus responded, first, by telling
Peter to just accept it, and he would understand later. And we ought to take note of that – that we
are to obey Christ – we are to obey God – even when we don’t understand. If God has commanded something in His Word –
we must obey, because He is God and we are not, even if we don’t understand,
even if we wish it were different, even if pop psychology and science says
otherwise. As the “corrected”
bumper-sticker says, “God said it; that settles it.”
Then Jesus responded that He must
wash Peter or Peter will have no part of Him – and Peter being Peter then
demands that Jesus wash his entire body – thinking that if washing his feet
would unite him with Christ, having his whole body washed by Christ would really
be powerful!
But Jesus then tells Peter that if
you’re clean, you only need your feet washed, you don’t need your whole body
washed. If you took your monthly bath,
you only need to have your feet washed from walking out in the streets and
getting them dirty; you don’t need to be bathed again.
Which is true, right? But that is not all that Jesus intended by
this conversation, because Jesus then said, “And you are clean, but not every
one of you” – meaning that Judas was not clean.
Jesus was not indicating that Judas needed a bath – Jesus was pointing
to the distinction between what is clean and what is unclean in God’s Law. That which is clean is acceptable before
God. That which is unclean is not
acceptable before God.
Jesus is saying the same thing that
was said in the vision given to Zechariah the prophet: “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest
standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to
accuse him. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD
who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?’
Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the
angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments
from him.’ And to him he said, ‘Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from
you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.’ And I said, ‘Let them put a
clean turban on his head.’ So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed
him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by” (Zechariah 3:1-5,
ESV).
The text goes on to explain that the
cleansing that occurs is done by the Savior that God will send. This is symbolic of sins being washed
away. Just as Joshua the priest had his
filthy clothes replaced with clean clothes by God, and just as Peter had the
filth removed from his body by the bathwaters, so Jesus cleansed him – and all
those who believe – from his sin – but not Judas – he was still unclean.
Jesus took the opportunity to use
the symbolism and Peter’s outrageousness to state that He is the One Who makes
His people spiritually clean.
What
He was doing in washing their feet was another matter.
“When he had washed their feet and
put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand
what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for
so I am. If I then, 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 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.’”
How are we to interpret what Jesus
did?
One option, which many Baptist and
Mennonite denominations go with, is to say that foot washing is a third
sacrament which all Christians are to practice.
Another option is that Jesus was
saying it is good to wash each other’s feet that we would remember what Jesus
did and understand that through Jesus we are all on the same level – no one is
greater than another.
In the Reformed understanding, we
disagree with those two interpretations and instead, understand that Jesus was
not instituting a sacrament, because He said this was an example for us. It also does not mean we are all equal,
because Jesus is certainly the pinnacle of humanity. No, what we understand to be going on here is
Jesus telling His disciples that if He, being greater than they, was willing to
humble Himself to wash their feet, we ought to be willing to wash each other’s
feet – that is, we ought to be willing to do anything we can to help our
brothers and sisters in Christ – not matter how “low” it may seem.
If it would help a brother or sister
in Christ, and you are able, would you be willing to do their dishes, make them
a meal, pick up the garbage on the lawn, clean their toilet, bandage wounds on
their body – whatever it is that you don’t like, or that grosses you out, or
makes you uncomfortable, or puts you off – would you be willing to do that if
you are able and it would help a brother and sister in Christ?
Jesus was saying, “I gave you the
example of the Incarnate Almighty God washing the dirt and animal poop off of My
disobedient disciples’ feet, now you go and… [insert whatever it is that you
can do that someone needs you to do that you would prefer not to do].”
(I’m not going to give you an
example from my life, because I don’t want you to not ask me about certain
things just because I find them difficult or unpleasant; I want you to call on
me when you have need, and, if I am able, I will help.)
We jump over Jesus identifying and
dismissing Judas, and now we turn to the “new commandment”:
“When [Judas] had gone out, Jesus
said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is
glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at
once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and
just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, “Where I am going you
cannot come.” A new commandment I give to 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 that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’”
Jesus begins by telling them that
God the Father and God the Son are glorifying each other in the events of Holy
Week – in particular. Jesus revealed the
Father and the Father revealed the Son – through Jesus’ Incarnation, Life,
Death, Physical Resurrection, and Ascension, we learn about Who the Father is –
Jesus reveals Him to us. And through
these events, the Father also reveals Who the Son is that He might be believed
in for the salvation of His people.
But, He explains to them, they would
not be able to go with Him – ultimately – they were not able to ascend to the
Father with Jesus. As Jesus completed
the work of salvation in returning to His throne, he would have to leave His disciples
behind on earth until that final day.
Jesus wanted them to understand that He was physically leaving them, but
He was not deserting them – He was not abandoning them – as we have already
noted – Jesus promised, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the
age” (Matthew 28:20, ESV).
Finally, in the section we read this
evening, Jesus gives His disciples – all of us – a “new commandment, “that [we]
love one another; just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.”
What’s “new” about this?
Was Jesus asked what the greatest
commandment was – and didn’t He say, “And a second is like it: You shall love
your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39, ESV)? And didn’t Jesus explain in the parable of
the Good Samaritan that our neighbor is everyone? So, isn’t it our duty – from the days of
Moses – which is where the law comes from – to love one another?
What’s “new” about this?
“A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one
another.”
“Just as I have loved you.” That’s new.
We are to love our brothers and
sisters in Christ – this command is directed to believers – just as Christ
loved us. We are to keep that always
before us as our goal – because none of us are Christ – none of us is sinless –
it is the goal towards which we strive – that we would love our brothers and
sisters in Christ just as He loved us.
This is a part of our sanctification – of the process of our becoming
holy, like Jesus, which the Holy Spirit enables us to do and completes in us on
the last day.
What does that mean?
Paul put it this way: “Do
nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more
significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own
interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among
yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of
God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, by 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 2:3-8, ESV).
It means we are to love each other
in humility. We are not to look down on
one another, but treat each other as fellow bearers of the Image of God.
It means we are to serve one
another. We are to do for others what we
can do that they cannot.
It means we are to be supportive in
heart and soul and mind and strength – bearing each other’s burdens in the ways
that we are able – using our gifts and blessings and giftedness for the good of
the whole Church.
It means we are to be
self-sacrificing – being willing even, if we are so called, to give up our
lives for the sake of our fellow Christians.
That’s not easy to do in a world
where what I get is mine and you can’t have it, and we know where we stand – we
know who we’re better than – in this great social experiment that we live in.
Yet, we have an example: The Almighty God and Creator of Heaven and
Earth, the Judge of the Living and the Dead, the One and Only Savior of all
those who will believe, did not think it too much to wash the dirt and poop off
of His disciples' feet – and then he allowed Himself to be murdered for them.
Jesus commands us to love each other
like that – not to be a doormat – but to be willing in every way that we are
able, because we need each other. We are
one body, and when one member of the body is hurt, the whole body suffers, and
when one member of the body is built up, the whole body is encouraged and
strengthened – if we love one another.
And, Jesus told His disciples, and
He tells us, if we strive to love each other as He has loved us, the world will
notice and know that we are His disciples and what we believe about Him is
real.
You might wonder if that is really
true – does the world really notice and care – do they put two and two
together?
“For example, the pagan satirist
Lucian (130-200 c.e. [sic]) mocked
Christians for their charity: ‘The
earnestness with which the people of this religion help one another in their
needs is incredible. They spare themselves nothing for this end. Their first
lawgiver put it into their heads that they were all brethren.’
“…
the Pagan Emperor Julian -- who attempted to lead the Roman Empire back to
paganism -- was frustrated by the superior morality shown by the Christians,
especially when it came to charity. This was something he readily admitted: ‘The
impious Galileans relieve both their own poor and ours . . . . It is shameful
that ours should be so destitute of our assistance’" Epistles of Julian, 49 (http://www.christiancadre.org/member_contrib/cp_charity.html).
Non-Christians
may find our love for one another – as well as for the world – very
frustrating. But it will always point
them back to asking “why.”
And
if you and I love each other and show our love in ways like Jesus did, people
may ask us why. And you might begin by
saying that you’re just following the example of Jesus Who cleaned the dirt and
poop off of His disciples’ feet. And
that might just be an “in” to tell them the Gospel.
Love
one another – as Jesus loves us.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we ask that You would strengthen us and open our eyes so we would see ways
to show Your love of us to our fellow Christians. We ask that we would unashamedly love one
another in humility, service, support, and self-sacrifice in thanksgiving to
You, love of our brothers and sisters, and as a witness to the world that they
might ask us why. Lord, prepare our
mouths that we would answer well the questions of the world. For it is in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
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