“Christ’s Act of Love”- John 13:3-15

Tonight is about a set of intimate moments with Jesus and His closest friends. It’s the very night before his crucifixion. It’s extraordinary night—-nestled between crowds singing “praises” and “hosanna”, just days before. Masses of people have come out, only not for waving palms, but to witness the trial of Jesus. There’s likely a lot of noise. The excitement, Jesus pauses things for just a moment, so he can have one last opportunity aways from the crowds, to share a meal with his disciples— an extraordinary moment which at the time was likely felt to be pretty ordinary.

It’s the Passover Meal, a time rich is Jewish symbolism about liberation and covenant. Jesus knows his time is near. He shifts from the role of teach to the role of servant—- subverting cultural expectations.

John 13:3–15 “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. 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.” When he had washed their…”

V3-5 Jesus knew that the Father had put al things under His power. So He gets up from the meal, takes off His outer clothing and wraps a towel around his waist.

(Need a bucket of muddy water)

Imagine the most powerful person you know. Maybe a celebrity, a CEO, other leader personality—- Now imagine them kneeling before you, washing your muddy, calloused feet. That’s the scene tonight.

Maundy Thursday is about two (2) things: Love & Service.

The King of all, becomes the Servant of all—-showing us what love looks like and calling each of us to live it out.

We see that Jesus has all authority—-all things are under his power. And— He chooses to serve:

To take on a servant’s work, a slave’s job, dirty filthy feet—— the disciples are stunned.

This isn’t weakness—This is power redefined.

Jesus knows exactly who he is, nothing for him to prove. Yet he kneels. It’s a glimpse of what is ahead at the cross. God’s love coming down, to our lowest of lows—-to rescue us.

I’ve told the story before of how my wife cared for my mother when she stayed with us the month before she died on April 15, two (2) years ago. It also reminds me of the work that some of you have done, or will be doing. As you know, I spent a lot of time in healthcare, preparing for ministry. I’ve see lot of things, a lot of jobs and tasks people are called to do in the healthcare field. Some of the finest humans I’ve known, have spent time as CNA professionals, commonly termed at nurse’s aides or assistants. These folks work with our most vulnerable populations in nursing homes, hospitals, and in the home. Cleaning up after someone, bathing them, it’s the most helpless feeling another human has to require someone else to do those things. For those who do that work, it’s hard, it’s tiring, it’s lowly. But it is so amazing.

We see Peter resist—-he’s not comfortable with this Jesus kind of grace. In fact, we’d much rather earn favor if we could. Grace is hard. And Jesus reveals his plans of us receiving his cleansing grace. It’s hardly about feet—-It’s about washing souls. Jesus is washing away things like pride, our sins, and preparing us for his kingdom.

Maundy Thursday is a time we are called to humility—accepting Christ’s service enables us to serve others. We have to receive it, to give it.

Jesus command isn’t optional—in fact it’s the mark of his disciples——”As I have done” is both an example and his empowerment for them.

Where is God’s calling for you to serve Him? At home? At church? At work?

This is Jesus’ new commandment—-love that kneels, love that serves.

“A new commandment I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another.” (John 13:34)

Jesus is saying, it’s about you. It’s the way he loved James. It’s about the way he loved you John. It’s the love he had for you Andrew. On that night, in that moment, before they could even comprehend what this command would require them to go out and actually do, they had to first understand what the command revealed about them personally. If they were to understand the kind of love Jesus was talking about that they were to share with others, they first had to understand the kind of love he had for them.

John 13:1 “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.”

New Living Translation Chapter 13

Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.

He loved them fully. To the utmost. To the greatest possible extent.

Part of this night, is remembering that in the middle of his messy, chaotic life, in the most gut-punching, unfair and difficult moments about to take place in the life of Jesus’, he stops. He stops just to make it crystal clear. I say clear, you say “crystal”. Just how very much he loves them.

Jesus new the road ahead for his friends would be rough. He will ask them the unbelievable, the unacceptable. He’ll ask them to believe the impossible, and what he will require of them in this very moment. And it will require that they know they are loved.

Soon they will go into the land of wolves. They’ll be charged with loving the unlovable. They’ll experience prosecution and persecution. Jesus needs them to remember this moment. So he begins washing their feet.

Tonight we all come with brokenness. Broken parts that we’d rather no one else see. That was true of the disciples as well. They’re in a room with the Savior of the world that night, yet their hearts were filled with contradictions. There were distrusting individuals among them, and one plotting evil on the inside. Some had best intentions like Peter, but will soon succumb to fear.

That night, Jesus will tell his closest friends and followers he will be betrayed by one among them, but even then the choice of who wasn’t obvious. Perhaps they were hoping it wasn’t them, that Jesus wasn’t talking about them.

Some of our greatest fears is that people will figure us out… Find out our secrets, our fears, when our feet are all exposed. The fear isn’t the exposure, but what it might lead to. No longer being loved. Maybe that’s why Peter was reluctant to have his feet washed.

Peter, “I have to wash your feet “ It won’t make sense now, but it will in a few days, when you’re at the lowest moment of your life, after you’ve denied me, your friend, your teacher. In a few days you’ll carry more shame than all the rest. You’ll feel alone, unworthy of your life… and then… I want you to remember this moment. Only then will you be glad I washed your feet. You’ll cling to this moment. Exposed. Knowing that you were loved in this place. You’ll need this memory Peter. Give me your feet.

Maundy Thursday—— Jesus shows us a king who washes feet—-a love that changes everything.

I hope you know that love tonight? I want to know if you believe in that kind of love?

Jesus came for each of us. Those that skip prayers before meals, don’t come to church regularly, for the thieves, the terrorists, the murderers. The worst of the worst.

And tonight I left an empty chair. Because if you’re going through something in this season and you aren’t feeling the kind of love that Jesus died for, then I want to say to you this, “give me your feet.” Come up and sit on the front pew, and give me your feet.

Because this was no ordinary night. it was no ordinary command. Jesus would change the world tonight. “Go out and love, just as I loved you.” But before you go, know that is’ also about you. Before you go and apply my love to others, know that love must also be for you. Do you understand? What I have done for you?Then give me your feet.