Truth For Life

Bob Lapine: Generally, prominent people like rulers or royalty, even celebrities, are accustomed to preferential treatment. So why would Jesus, the Son of God, the creator of the world, stoop to wash the feet of his disciples and even his betrayer's feet? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg examines the humility Jesus displayed in this selfless act.

Alistair Begg: I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 13. We started to establish yesterday morning the fact that it is God's eternal purpose to make us like Christ. That eternal purpose has an existential dimension to it, in so far as it is an ongoing process, and indeed that it is also God's eschatological purpose in so far as ultimately one day when we see Him, we will be like Him.

The remainder of our time, we're going to spend thinking about characteristics that are represented in the Lord Jesus Himself. And this morning, we come to the notion and the nature of what it means for Jesus to be a humble servant. And in chapter 13 of John, beginning at verse 1, we read these words:

"It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."

"He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, are you going to wash my feet?' Jesus replied, 'You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.' 'No,' said Peter, 'you shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.' Then, Lord,' Simon Peter replied, 'not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!' Jesus answered, 'A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.' For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean."

"When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. 'Do you understand what I have done for you?' he asked them. 'You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.'" Amen.

Just a prayer once again: Be like Jesus, this my song, in the home and in the throng. Be like Jesus all day long, I would be like Jesus. Help us to this end as we study your word, gracious Father, we pray in your Son's name. Amen.

The events of the Gospel of John from about the 19th verse of chapter 1, which is the end of John's prologue, all the way through to the end of chapter 12, cover a period of some three years. From chapter 13 to the end covers a period that essentially is that of the passion week. In other words, the Gospel of John is disproportionate. Clearly, John has determined under the direction of the Spirit that all of the sequence of description as he writes this gospel should be slowed down purposefully now, in so far as the public, if you like, extensive ministry of Jesus has come to a close.

And having received this great declaration concerning his identity from the lips of Peter, he now is explaining to his disciples that the Son of Man must suffer and die. He must go up to Jerusalem and at the hands of cruel men be put to death, and on the third day rise again. And the opening three verses of the chapter that we have just read provide an important and significant context for the significance of the events that are about to unfold.

Jesus is clearly aware that the time of sorrow, as he puts it here, the time of darkness and of difficulty, is under the control of God the Father. Hence verse 3: "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal and took this basin of water" and so on. It's a reminder to us, isn't it, that if we're not very careful, it will be possible for us to disengage often what we might regard as purple passages from the context of the scriptures and say right things and true things with them, and make application from them, but if we do not have them set firmly in the context, then we may miss actually the entire point as to why they're present in the Bible.

And I say this because we want to focus on the fact that Jesus is revealed to us here as a wonderful humble servant. But it is possible for us to deal with John chapter 13 simply to make that point. And if we do so, we actually miss what is being said in this chapter. We will deal with it only as a lesson in humility, which of course it is, but as it is important for us to find out, it is more than that. It is the story of Jesus' final submission to death. And this foot washing which takes place is, if you like, an enacted drama, it is a parable illustrating the great principle of lowly service, which finds of course its ultimate expression in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I want you to pause for a moment and just get that clearly in your mind as I must get it in mine. It is only in the shadow of the cross that we can understand the nature of the cleansing of which Jesus speaks. Otherwise, what we will do is we will turn it into a story which goes something like this: there are certain things in life that can only be sorted out with a bucket of water and a towel. And you get this wonderful story about, well, all you need is a bucket of water and a towel, and this is what today is about and so on. Well, it is about this basin of water and a towel, but they signify something far more significant than that which is expressed in this incident.

So if you like, there are two levels at which we're tackling or being tackled by this passage this morning. Well, let us begin first of all by noting the humility that Christ displays. We might summarize it in three statements. First of all, we find the creator washing the feet of his creation. He who has created the universe, he who has established the very properties of H2O, is about to take the very water that he himself has created and use it in this particular way.

It is vital that we recognize that the first 12 chapters precede the 13th chapter, and that all the way through these first 12 chapters, we have been confronted as John has painted the picture with the wonder of Jesus. Not only summarized in the prologue in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, but then worked out throughout all that follows. Quickly into chapter 2, and Jesus, this Jesus of Nazareth, takes water and turns it into wine. In chapter 4, a Roman official comes and says that his son is sick to death, and Jesus takes care of the issue and raises up the boy.

Chapter 5, you're at the Pool of Bethesda and a man who has been an invalid for 38 years is dramatically healed. Chapter 6, the 5,000 sit down and are fed from five loaves and two fish. Chapter 6, Jesus of Nazareth walks on the water. Chapter 9, he heals the man who is born blind. And chapter 11, he stands outside the tomb of his good friend Lazarus and calls for him to come out.

What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the waves obey him, that he stands in the face of death and declares himself victorious? Surely this man should already be removed from the everyday vicissitudes of life. Surely this man of all men should be shepherded around. Surely this character should live in a palace. Surely this man should be feted and applauded everywhere he goes.

Yes, that's the man. Now look again: "So," verse 4, "he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist." The creator washes the feet of his creation. He who in Wesley's words is our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man, whom Phillips in his rendition of the prologue describes him in this way: "All creation took place through him, and none took place without him."

This is the one who does this. If you like, we really need to read John chapter 13 in light of the hymn in Philippians chapter 2. We won't delay on it, but let me just remind you of it so that you can consider this as the day unfolds. Philippians chapter 2, you remember the words of Paul quoting a Christian hymn, it would seem, maybe one that he wrote, maybe one that had been written by somebody else.

And he says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in the likeness of man, found in appearance as a man, humbled himself, became obedient to death, even death on a cross."

And what you have in this scene as he takes this towel and wraps it around him, as he takes this basin, is almost a parable, an enactment of the vastness of what is there described in poetry by Paul in Philippians chapter 2. Indeed, there is actually no adequate analogy to convey the wonder of what is taking place here. What is happening? The hymn writers have done their best with it, conveying only in descriptive terms what is happening, rewriting it if you like in poetic form.

So for example, in the hymn that reads, "The Son of God his glory hides, with parents mean and poor, and he who made the heavens abides in village home obscure. He in whose sight the angels stand, around whose throne they meet, now stoops, prepared on bended knee, to wash his followers' feet." There's nothing like this in all of human history. There's nothing like this in the stories of world religion, nothing, that the Lord of glory stoops in this way.

Indeed, when we think of the notion of him emptying himself, a phrase over which some people stumble, we ought to understand it not in terms of a deficit, but in terms of an addition. That the question is not of what did he empty himself, but rather into what did he empty himself? By emptying himself into humanity, by adding to himself something that was not previously there, namely humanity, he expressed his humility.

In other words, the expression of his emptying is not in what he laid aside, but in what he took to himself. Which just in passing is a reminder that those of us who are so stuck on ourselves and on our humanity, and who we are, and how we look, and what we've done and everything else, for the Lord of glory to assume humanity was a step down. And he stepped down into our world. The Christmas carol comes to mind: "That he who came from highest bliss should come to such a world as this." And especially when you've got 12 fatheads who are your core group sitting down to dinner with their dusty, smelly feet, unwilling to lift their hands in the service of one another.

It begs an analogy, doesn't it? This is trivial, but it gives a sense of it, I think. Andrew Martinez is one of the great caddies on the PGA tour. He caddied for Johnny Miller. He has caddied for a considerable time now for Tom Lehman. Andrew Martinez is in his 50s, he's fit, he's handsome, he's a good golfer, he's a better tennis player, and he's a phenomenal backgammon player.

If you see him dressed in his civvies driving his car through the community, you would say, "Hey, there goes Andrew Martinez." But as soon as he pulls into the car park of the golf course where his boss is playing and goes into the caddy shack, he puts something on over his outer clothes. Depending on where he is, white overalls. And in the putting on of those white overalls, in the adding to himself, he now loses himself. He's still Andrew Martinez, but the name on his back is Lehman. He exists solely for the service of his boss, despite all of his own giftedness, all of his own capacities.

Now I know the analogy is trivial, but I'm just trying to get something into our minds of what is happening here. The creator washes the feet of his creation. Or we might say this: the teacher washes the feet of his feuding followers. Luke in his record of the events leading up to the Lord's Supper, indeed immediately surrounding the Lord's Supper, tells us that when they were gathered in the room and Jesus was dealing with the Passover and distributing the bread and the wine, right in that very context quotes, "A dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest."

You may have gone to communion with a bad attitude, but you perhaps have not approximated to this. It is a reminder to us, is it not, that here in the establishing of the communion service, those who are his core group are sitting there in the immediate context of communion saying, "You know what? I'm more significant than you. You know what? I'm more gifted than you. You know what? I deserve more than you." In other words, it is the story, it is the ongoing story of the followers of Jesus right down to your last deacons' meeting, right down to your last church meeting.

It is the story of division and dispute and heartache and chaos, which is the very denial of the principle that is described to us here as the teacher washes the feet of his feuding disciples. Those who are preoccupied with prominence are taught a lesson that they would never forget, and one of which we are in constant need of reminder. How much trouble arises as a result of my fathead? A great deal. And perhaps yours too. Standing on dignity. Don't these people know who I am? Don't they know where I've been? Haven't they heard of what I've accomplished? Surely of all the people in this meeting, there ought to be a special seat for me. Really? Not if we're going to be like Jesus, no. But if we want to just be like ourselves, yes. If we want to believe we're the center of the universe.

The teacher washes the feet of his feuding disciples, and the Lord washes the feet of his betrayer. Verse 11 tells us that Jesus was aware not simply of the fact of his betrayer, but also the identity of his betrayer. I wonder what we would have done. Skipped him? Ignored him? Well, verse 5 tells us what he did. He washed his feet. And when that was all over and the disciples reflected upon the ministry of Jesus, how the words of the Sermon on the Mount must have been riveted in their minds as they contemplated what their master had said and now what their master had done. For example, just one quote from the Sermon on the Mount: "You have heard that it was said love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." The Lord of glory washes the feet of his betrayer.

Well, let us move on from that to the clarity that Jesus provides. The roads of Palestine were unsurfaced, they were uncleaned. As a result of that, there were water pots at the door. The water pots were there in order to be used for the washing of the feet. Along with the water pots, there was often a servant. The servant would then know what he was supposed to do: take the water, wash the feet, let the people in for the meal. If the servant wasn't present, then the person who was responsible for the home would then exercise due humility in fulfilling the role of the servant so that you, having been welcomed to the house, would enjoy the privileges.

The interesting thing is that in terms of the custom of the day, it just hadn't happened. And you will notice that the disciples had presumably worked themselves up into such a state of competitive pride, or that they just grown so disinterested in one another, that the meal was already being served. It's within the context of the meal, you'll notice that. He got up and took off his outer clothing and engaged in these things.

Now here's the real issue, and at this point we have to fasten down. We need to grasp the symbolism which Peter clearly misses. Because if we miss it with him, then we miss the whole thing, and then it can just so easily become a form of moralism: "Here's humility, why don't you try and be humble?" It is a lesson in humility, but that is not ultimately what it is. You'll notice that the meal was being served, and while the meal was being served, verse 2, in other words, it expresses the deliberate nature of the action of Jesus.

In chapter 3, he's spoken about the need for spiritual birth. In chapter 4, about the nature of spiritual living water. In chapter 6, about spiritual bread, he who is the bread of life. And now he is addressing the issue of spiritual cleansing.

Bob Lapine: You're listening to Bible teacher Alistair Begg on Truth For Life. We'll hear more about Jesus, the humble servant, tomorrow. If you're a Christian, do you realize that you are permanently united with Christ? That's a truth and privilege that some people take for granted. Have you ever stopped to consider how significant our union with Christ is? Well, that's the topic of Sinclair Ferguson's newest book, "Union with Christ: The Blessings of Being in Him."

In this book, Sinclair takes us to scripture and offers us rich insight and practical application to help us better understand what it means to be a man or woman in Christ, and how to live accordingly. Since being published about a year ago, "Union with Christ" has been highly recommended and hailed as being one of Sinclair's best books, one you won't want to miss. Tomorrow's the last day we are recommending the book "Union with Christ" for a donation to Truth For Life. So be sure to request your copy online today at truthforlife.org/donate or give us a call at 888-588-7884.

I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening. As we wrapped up Alistair's message today, he was pointing out that by washing his disciples' feet, Jesus was doing more than simply teaching a great lesson in humility. Tomorrow, he'll examine the deeper truths that Jesus' action portrayed. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.