2023.03.05 Washing Feet

Washing Feet

Psalm 19:7-14 • John 13:5-10

John 13:5–10 NASB 2020

5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began washing the disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which He had tied around Himself. 6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, You are washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not realize right now, but you will understand later.” 8 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no place with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet; otherwise he is completely clean. And you are clean—but not all of you.”

For those of you who have your Bible, I have a bit of good news...

We will stay right here in John 13 today. We’ll look a bit outside of what was read for us, but you won’t have to leave John 13 today.

First, let’s set the context of this event ...

When does this story take place? [during Last Supper]

Many of us know the story of that evening pretty well.

Jesus washes their feet. Judas leaves in the middle of the meal to tell the authorities where Jesus is.

They go to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prays and sweats drops of blood as he begs God for another way for salvation to come to the people … all while the disciples fall asleep - THREE TIMES!!!

Jesus is arrested, Peter lops off one of the high priest’s servant’s ears, and Jesus heals him on the spot before they take him away. (John 18:10-11)

That sets the context but today’s reading is just about the foot washing part...

What do you learn about God from this story?

What do you learn about GOD from this story?

God takes the role of a servant

Have any of you seen the movie Jesus Revolution yet?

When the hippies first start coming to Pastor Chuck’s church, the regulars are quite uncomfortable. They look for excuses to ban them from coming. The biggest complaint that comes is that they are barefoot, and they’ll ruin the carpet with the dirt on their shoeless feet!

The next Sunday, when the regulars show up, the hippies are all lined up as Pastor Chuck washes their feet before they enter the sanctuary. I expected a brash statement, but Pastor Chuck made a profound one instead … by humbly washing their feet.

Nearing the end of his earthly life, many expected Jesus to shake a fist and make brash statements. Everyone wanted him to work for their own desires. The Pharisees wanted him to stop hanging out with sinners. The Sadducees wanted him to stop hanging out with Pharisees. The regular folks wanted him to lead a rebellion against the Romans. Pilate wanted him to answer his questions.

Instead of making their statements, Jesus makes his own profound statement, and without words.

Start with Verse 3

John 13:3–5 NASB 2020

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had handed all things over to Him, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 got up from supper and laid His outer garments aside; and He took a towel and tied it around Himself. 5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began washing the disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which He had tied around Himself.

When we expect God to smoke our enemies, God instead takes the role of a servant ...

...and then he tells us to do the same!

Jump down to verse 12

John 13:12–15 NASB 2020

12 Then, when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’; and you are correct, for so I am. 14 So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example, so that you also would do just as I did for you.

Last week, we talked about God expecting us to fast. And we thought THAT was a hard expectation!

Anybody feel like washing some feet this morning?

Ole Pastor Chris is not saying this would be a good thing for us to do … near the beginning of the Last Supper, Jesus himself said this is what we should be doing for each other.

And if we recoil at God’s commands, what does that say about us?

What do you learn about humans?

What do you learn about HUMANS?

We often learn about humans through Peter. God love Peter! He is every one of us at some point or another...

And this event begins a 24 hour period where Peter is on fire with humanity!

Let’s walk backwards through that 24 hours …

After Jesus’ arrest, Peter is recognized in the courtyard of the High Priest. When someone “outs” him as being one of Jesus’ followers, Peter denies he even KNOWS Jesus — THREE TIMES!

When the soldiers and guards come to arrest Jesus, Peter slices off the ear of the chief priest’s servant with his sword, and Jesus tells him he’s being foolish and heals the servant’s ear right in front of him. (Now ... I could explore the fact that Peter is so courageous ... he strikes perhaps the only unarmed man in the posse, but that’s probably another sermon for another day.)

Right before that, Peter was among the three closest disciples called out to watch and pray while Jesus is praying in torment … all three of whom fell asleep three times on Jesus.

And here at the Passover feast ... we see Peter telling Jesus to get back in his place.

Peter is ON FIRE!

Look at verse 6 (I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation):

John 13:6–9 NLT

6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” 8 “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” 9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”

In this 24 hour period, Peter demonstrates a lot of humanity.

Peter believes he knows Jesus’ place better than Jesus does

Peter can’t stay awake to pray like Jesus tells him to

Peter tries to defend Jesus from the arrest Jesus knows is absolutely necessary

Peter denies knowing Jesus three times when knowing him becomes inconvenient

Does any of that feel a little bit familiar? As you’re confronted with Peter’s humanity ...

What do you learn about yourself?

What do you learn about YOURSELF?

I won’t presume the same is true for you, but I’ll tell you:

Pastor Chris often can’t stay awake when Jesus has told him to watch and pray

Pastor Chris often puts himself in the position to defend Jesus thinking HE needs ME to defend HIM

Pastor Chris believes he knows Jesus’ proper place and gets his nose out of joint when Jesus dares to step out of his place

Pastor Chris sometimes denies knowing Jesus when it’s convenient

And Pastor Chris sometimes believes he deserves a higher place than a servant, and refuses to wash feet like Jesus commands him to do

As we all ponder what needs to change this morning ...

What needs to change as a result of what you’ve learned?

It is in the context of that need for change, that Jesus prepared a way for the change to happen.

[hand over slide control]

Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another. Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another. -- MERCIFUL GOD, WE CONFESS THAT WE HAVE NOT LOVED YOU WITH OUR WHOLE HEART. -- WE HAVE FAILED TO BE AN OBEDIENT CHURCH. WE HAVE NOT DONE YOUR WILL, WE HAVE BROKEN YOUR LAW, WE HAVE REBELLED AGAINST YOUR LOVE, -- WE HAVE NOT LOVED OUR NEIGHBORS, AND WE HAVE NOT HEARD THE CRY OF THE NEEDY. -- FORGIVE US, WE PRAY. FREE US FOR JOYFUL OBEDIENCE, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN. [All pray in silence.] Hear the good news: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God's love toward us. -- [Leader to people:] In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven! [People to leader:] IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, YOU ARE FORGIVEN! [All:] GLORY TO GOD. AMEN. The Lord be with you. AND ALSO WITH YOU. Lift up your hearts. WE LIFT THEM UP TO THE LORD. -- Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. IT IS RIGHT TO GIVE OUR THANKS AND PRAISE. -- It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. -- You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast. -- You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets. -- And so,with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn: -- HOLY, HOLY, HOLY LORD, GOD OF POWER AND MIGHT, HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF YOUR GLORY. HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST. -- BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST. -- Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. -- Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, -- to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people. -- He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners. -- By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your church, -- delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit. -- When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always, in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit. -- On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: -- "Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this is remembrance of me." -- When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: -- "Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. -- Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." -- And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving -- as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith. -- CHRIST HAS DIED; CHRIST IS RISEN; CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN. -- Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. -- Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, -- until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet. -- Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN. And now, with the confidence of children of God, let us pray the words that Jesus taught us: OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME, -- YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN. -- GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD. FORGIVE US OUR SINS AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US. -- SAVE US FROM THE TIME OF TRIAL, AND DELIVER US FROM EVIL. FOR THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY ARE YOURS NOW AND FOR EVER. AMEN. Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ. -- The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.