Proud to be TJ's man

At times I grow tired of the ugliness of our world. Sickening reports of violence, rape, murder, drug traffic, pornography and child abuse are flung at us constantly by television and newspapers.

The world is well supplied these days with naive and simplistic solutions to some of the terrible problems that grip us. I have seen in my adult years bumper stickers that suggest easy ways to solve our problems. “Make Love Not War,” “Arms Are For Embracing,” “Ban the Bomb.” Once I even saw one that said, “Abolish Hate.” Well, these are perfectly proper goals, but I confess I grow weary of such mindless solutions.

Yet, when we turn to the wisdom of Jesus, as he is teaching his disciples in the Upper Room on the very night on which he was betrayed, it sounds as if he too is suggesting the same kind of futile advice when he tells them to “Love one another.”

This is a very important moment in our Lord’s life. He introduces it with these rather mysterious words about glorification: “The Son of Man is now glorified.” He refers to the exodus of the traitor from the midst of the disciples. It is important to see that Jesus does not say this, nor does he give the new commandment, until Judas is gone.

When Judas leaves Jesus says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” That is, now (by this means) is God’s purpose advanced and fulfilled.

Not only the Son but the Father too is glorified. Further, Jesus says the Father will glorify himself again and he will do it immediately, which is clearly a reference to the cross. We know from the Scriptures that the whole universe exists for the glory of God, and, since Jesus himself tells us that here is a moment when God is glorified, we must see this as a very significant and profoundly important moment.

This is also indicated by the new name, “Little children,” by which he addresses the disciples for the first time in his ministry. That is a tender word, a family word. Most commentators agree that it was at this moment in the events of the Upper Room that our Lord began to institute the Passover Supper (and what we call the Lord’s supper), which immediately followed the Passover.

Throughout the cities of Judea and Galilee and all through the length and breadth of the land that night, Jewish families were gathering to eat the Passover lamb. It was traditional then, as it still is today, for the father to act as the host for the family and invite the children to ask questions that revealed the meaning of what was going on. The littlest child was the one who began by asking, “What do these things mean?” and the father explained.

Clearly this is what our Lord is doing here in the Upper Room. He sees himself as the head of a family of whom the disciples are the children. That is how he addresses them, “Little children,” and they break in with the questions that children ask at times like this. Also our Lord here clearly states to the disciples that the time of his departure has now come. “Where I am going,” he tells them, “you can not follow me.” Within twelve hours he will be hanging upon a cross. Less than twenty hours from this he is cold and dead in the grave. This, then, is a time for last instructions.

Here they are: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Those simple words, “Love one another,” sound like a first-century bumper sticker. Imagine all the little donkeys of Israel with a sign on their rumps saying, “Love one another”! It looks very much like the same kind of rather futile advice that bumper stickers give to us today. While it’s good advice, no one can carry it out. Yet the whole world has always agreed that this is exactly what we need to do to solve our problems. All this terrible array of evil that haunts us and sickens us today would disappear if we could teach people to “Love one another.” All the ugliness, the child abuse, the broken marriages, the violent crime, the senseless destruction, the terrible drug traffic that is destroying our children, the awful pornography, the sex mills that grind continually in every big city — all this would disappear if we learned to love one another.

I was interested to read in the volume Caesar and Christ, in Will Durant’s great history The Story of Civilization. His description of the ministry of Jesus. Will Durant was not a Christian, but, as these words make clear, he understood the power of our Lord’s ministry:

The revolution he sought was a far deeper one, without which reforms could only be superficial and transitory. If he could cleanse the human heart of selfish desire, cruelty, and lust, utopia would come of itself, and all those institutions that rise out of human greed and violence, and the consequent need for law, would disappear. Since this would be the profoundest of all revolutions, beside which all others would be mere coups d’etat of class ousting class and exploiting in its turn, Christ was, in this spiritual sense, the greatest revolutionary in history.

Will Durant recognized that if Jesus could teach people to love one another it would dramatically and drastically change the history of the world.

But is this merely futile advice, first-century bumper sticker wishful thinking? No, for in the wonderful way God has of hiding truth, hidden within this sentence of Jesus is a dramatic secret, the answer to the question we all ask, “How do you do this?” We all know how difficult it is to love unlovely people. Here is how one Christian writer described his problem in this area:

Loving people is about the most difficult thing that some of us do. We can be patient with people and even just and charitable, but how are we supposed to conjure up in our hearts that warm, effervescent sentiment of goodwill which the New Testament calls “love”?

Some people are so miserably unlovable. That odorous person with the nasty cough who sat next to you in the train, shoving his newspaper into your face, those crude louts in the neighborhood with the barking dog, that smooth liar who took you in so completely last week — by what magic are you supposed to feel toward these people anything but revulsion, distrust and resentment, and justified desire to have nothing to do with them?

We can all identify with that. How do we “Love one another”? Jesus tells us in these simple words, “As I have loved you.” What the Greek, literally, says is, “As I have loved you in order that you might love one another.” One is the cause and the other is the effect. As in many places in Scripture, the word “as” here can better be translated “since”: “Since I have loved you in order that you might love one another.” Here our Lord is saying that his love for us will stimulate and awaken within us the ability to love other people; his love will be the measure, the cause and the identifying mark of authentic love from him.

Our love, if we understand this and relate to it, will be like Jesus’ love. I do not need to detail for you what that is. It takes the whole of the gospels to tell of the marvelous, wonderful love of Jesus. I see at least three characteristics that were unusual (and inimitable) about his love:

First, it was without respect of persons.

He did not love people who were nice to love, as we do. He chose to love the unlovely: people who were rejected, difficult to love, looked down upon, held in contempt by society. He loved them, not because he wanted the good feeling of love, but simply because they needed love, and his love responded. This is the characteristic of his love. It goes out to people who need love regardless of what they are like, no matter how dirty, leprous, hurtful, proud or arrogant they may be. It goes out because they need love, without respect of persons.

Secondly, that love will be expressed in deeds, not just words.

It will not be mere talk about love, singing songs about love or calling oneself loving and not showing it. Love will be expressed in deeds. Remember the Lord’s words at the scene of the last judgment when the sentence is pronounced to those on the right hand of the judge: “Enter into the kingdom that has been prepared, because when I was sick you visited me, when I was hungry you fed me, and when I was naked you clothed me…” {cf, Matt 25-34-35}. Deeds, not words.

Thirdly, it is a love without end.

This is how John describes that love where he introduces the whole chapter in these words, “Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end.” He never gave up on them. He loved them as long as his love could do anything to reach them. And his love included even Judas. The love of Jesus reached out to all.

Henry Drummond has written a tremendous message, a classic, on the “love chapter,” First Corinthians 13, called The Greatest Thing In The World. In it he says that if a piece of ordinary steel is attached to a magnet and left there, after a while the magnetism of the magnet passes into the steel so that it too becomes a magnet. He points out that this is an example of what staying close to Jesus does. Earlier we sang,

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace.

This is what our Lord is teaching. It is those who learn to enjoy his love, who reckon on it, rejoice in it, feel the warmth of it and remind themselves of it; those who remember the fact that they do not deserve it, that they in no way have earned his love but they have it anyway; those are the ones who become magnetized with his love and are able to pass it on to others regardless of whether they respond in kind or not. That kind of dramatic, life-changing love is authentic Christian love.

For two thousand years-plus our Lord has been demonstrating that he can do this with people. Not everybody who calls himself a Christian displays this kind of love. Nevertheless there are hundreds of thousands. even millions, who through the course of the centuries have found this secret and do display a dramatic change of life. Rather than hard, arrogant, proud, contemptuous people they have become softened, loving people. Rather than violent, angry, injurious people who strike back at everyone who comes in their path they have become tender, loving, gentle people, changed by the love of Christ. That is what Jesus means by “as I have loved you.”

Peter and his fellow-disciples found it difficult to grasp what Jesus was telling them about what the future held for them. As His disciples, they had known Jesus intimately as their Master:

1 This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life— 2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us). 3 What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us (and in­deed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ) (1 John 1:1-3).

The disciples of our Lord had left everything to follow Him. Even when the Jewish religious leaders purposed to kill Jesus, they determined to stick it out and go with Him to Bethany, just outside Jerusalem: “So Thomas (called Didymus) said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us go too, so that we may die with him’” (John 11:16).

They had heard Jesus tell the Jews that He was going somewhere where they would not be able to find Him, nor to come to Him there (John 7:33-34; 8:21-22). But in all this, they must have assumed they were going with Jesus to this place where the Jews could not find Jesus, nor come to Him. After all, they went with Him to the remote places to which He retreated from Jerusalem and Judea (see John 6:1; 7:1; 10:39-40; 11:53-54).

In our text, when Jesus broke the news of His “departure” to His disciples, they were shocked. How could the Master go somewhere and leave His disciples behind? Why could they not follow Him? They were not thinking about Him going to heaven; they were thinking He meant that He was going somewhere else on earth. When Peter made a point of assuring Jesus that he would never desert Him, Jesus indicates that Peter is soon to deny Him.

Jesus attempted to prepare His followers for the shock of His sudden removal.  The departure of Judas must have been a relief to Jesus, for as long as he was in the company, Jesus was not free to talk on the topics that occupied His mind, for Judas had no understanding of His motives and mission.

The other disciples, though, were also ignorant of His real purposes, as their questions later showed, but the barrier between Judas and Jesus was unbelief.

From the human perspective, the death of Christ was a horrible deed involving unspeakable suffering and humiliation; but from the divine perspective it was the revelation of the glory of God.

The disciples had difficulty grasping what they were told. They were greatly troubled by what they had heard. The disciples, once exhilarated by their jubilant reception at Jerusalem, were now distraught and troubled (as we can see in verse 1 of chapter 14).

Jesus has told them that one of them will betray Him. He has spoken of His death, only hours away. He will tell Peter that he is soon going to deny Him. And then, to make matters even worse (from the disciples’ distorted point of view at that moment), Jesus tells them that He is going somewhere where they cannot come. They are deeply troubled. They do not understand most of what Jesus has said to them, but what little they think they understand, they definitely don’t like.

If the disciples are troubled in spirit, I do not believe that Jesus is distressed. I know that elsewhere John has written of our Lord’s distress (see 12:27; 13:21), but I don’t think this is the case here. His frame of mind at this meal is indicated to us in Luke’s Gospel: “Now when the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table and the apostles joined him. And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God’” (Luke 22:14-16).

Jesus is about to “go home” to the Father. He has suffered by living in a fallen world (see Romans 8:18-30) and by putting up with the likes of men (see Matthew 17:17). He is about to suffer an eternal separation from God for the sins of men, but here His focus seems to be on “the joy set before Him” (see Hebrews 12:2).

Our Lord’s disposition toward His disciples is one of gentleness and patience. He speaks to them, not as the Master to His disciples (which, of course, He is), but as a father to his little children. “[Little][1] Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, and just as I said to the Jewish authorities, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ now I tell you the same” (verse 33).

There were many things for which the disciples could have been scolded that night. They had argued over who was considered the greatest. They had refused to wash the feet of one another, and Peter had even attempted to prevent Jesus from washing his feet. They completely failed to grasp most of what Jesus was telling them. On top of all this, Judas would betray Him, Peter would deny Him, and all the rest would forsake Him. In spite of all this, Jesus tenderly spoke to His disciples as to little children. This is one of the warmest, most intimate moments our Lord ever shared with His disciples. Let us listen well to the words and to the heart of the Master.

The introductory announcement of Jesus: “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him {32} If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once”  set the theme for the main line of the discourse.

John introduces this new paragraph with the notation that what Jesus says here is spoken after the departure of Judas. Jesus had to guard and to qualify His words when Judas was present. He had to guard His words so that He would not give away any information that would facilitate Judas’ betrayal in a way that would produce His death at a time or in a manner different than what the prophetic Scriptures required. Jesus had to qualify His words to show (later on) that the comfort and assurances He gave to His true disciples were not meant to apply to Judas (e.g., 13:18-20).

The departure of Judas sets in motion the events which assure our Lord’s death at the appointed time. Now, alone at last with His true disciples, Jesus speaks more candidly with them than ever before.

The first words which John records for us in verses 31 and 32 should have come as no surprise to the disciples. The time had come for Jesus to be glorified. The disciples had expected this, but the “glory” of which Jesus speaks is not what they would have expected at all. Several things are important to observe regarding the glory of which Jesus speaks.

First, since the glorification of the Son of Man is the ultimate goal of history, Jesus welcomes it willingly, joyfully, triumphantly. Some people live under the false impression that God’s ultimate purpose in history is to make them happy and to make their lives free from pain and trouble. So the disciples seemed to think as well, until after the cross.

Second, the glorification of our Lord is realized both in His suffering and in His resulting exaltation. The glory of God is achieved at a very high price. The Father will sacrifice His own Son. Who can imagine the agony in that? The Son will lay down His life, dying on a Roman cross, and suffering separation from His Father—as the payment for our sins. And afterward the disciples will undergo their own suffering, which we see throughout the Book of Acts.

It would be wrong to speak of our Lord’s glory, apart from His suffering. It would likewise be incorrect to speak of His suffering apart from His glorification. Jesus here informs His disciples that His glorification is imminent—“right away” (verse 32). His glory begins at the cross, but it does not end there. He is glorified by His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father. Our Lord’s suffering and His glorification cannot be separated. This is what the prophets of old struggled with: How can Messiah be both a suffering Servant and a triumphant King? The answer is found in the person and work of our Lord. Paul speaks of it this way:

5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, 6 who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. 8 He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. 9 As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess to the glory of God the Father that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:5-11).

Third, the glorification of the Son is synonymous with the glorification of the Father. Notice the manner in which our Lord intertwines His glorification with that of the Father. Jesus does not seek to be glorified apart from the Father,[2] but with the Father. Both Father and Son are glorified by what takes place shortly. This is consistent with the message of John’s Gospel. Throughout the Gospel, our Lord has emphasized not only His unity with the Father, but also His subordination to the Father. In chapter 1, Jesus was intimately involved (as was the Father) in the creation of the world. In chapter 2, at the cleansing of the temple, Jesus is looking after His Father’s house. In chapter 5, Jesus claims to be working on the Sabbath (by healing the paralytic by the pool of Bethesda) because His Father is also at work. Over and over again, our Lord stresses His union with the Father. It should therefore come as no surprise when we read that the time has come for Father and Son alike to be glorified, through the death and resurrection of the Son.

Fourth, the glorification of the Son necessitates a separation from His disciples. Jesus has a way of introducing future events gradually, especially those to which the disciples are resistant. So it was with His going to Jerusalem, His rejection, crucifixion, and death. So now it is also with His “departure.” Earlier, Jesus had spoken to the Jews about His physical absence from this world:

33 Then Jesus said, ‘I will be with you for only a little while longer, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’” (John 7:33-34).

21 Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will look for me but will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” 22 So the Jewish leaders began to say, “Perhaps he is going to kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’” (John 8:21-22).

Now He says nearly the same thing to His disciples. He is going away, and His absence from them is the backdrop for all that our Lord is about to say to His disciples in the Upper Room Discourse.

The disciples do not appear to have understood our Lord’s earlier words to the Jews about His departure any better than His Jewish opponents did. No doubt the disciples “translated” Jesus words to mean something like this: “My disciples and I are going to be going away from this place, to a place you cannot come, even though you look hard to find us.” A fair bit of their time with Jesus was spent in some remote place, avoiding the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem (e.g., 11:54). They must have assumed Jesus simply meant that He was going to go somewhere else on this earth—with His disciples—where His opponents could not find them.

Any such misunderstanding was now corrected. When Jesus told the Jews that He was going away, He meant that He was returning to heaven, to be with His Father. There, they certainly would not find Him, because they would not be there. Heaven is a place for those who believe in Jesus; hell is the place for those who reject Him (see John 3:16-18; 10:25-29; 1 John 5:10-12). The shock was that Jesus was going away, and yet not taking His disciples with Him.

Think of how these disciples must have felt. Divorce probably produces the emotions closest to what the disciples were feeling at this moment. They had given up their lives, their jobs, and left their families behind, just to follow Jesus. And now, Jesus was going away and leaving them behind. They must have felt abandoned.[3] Jesus will amplify His statement in verses 36 and following so that it becomes even more clear that this separation is only for a time, and that His disciples will eventually follow Him. But at this moment in time, such fine points are of little concern or comfort. They were confused and bewildered.

Fifth, the glory of God is achieved through suffering and sacrifice, but it is ultimately for the good of all who believe in Him. I confess that I am getting ahead of myself, or rather ahead of our text. But I need to emphasize here, at this difficult moment for the disciples, that what Jesus was about to do was for their own good, even though it was not what they would have preferred.

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7, emphasis mine).

God’s glory is ultimately for the good of every Christian:

28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 Because those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those God predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).

“Glorify” was used in a specialized sense, referring to the culmination of the divine purpose in the career of Christ.  The general meaning of the word is to “magnify or extol, to exalt to a position of honor.”

There would come a time when the Son would be glorified in these disciples (17:10), but they could not follow Him at that time. Peter boasted that he would follow the Lord even to death (Luke 22:33), but unfortunately he followed and ended up denying Him three times.

His first care was to warn the disciples of His impending departure and to tell them that they could not follow Him at once. Death for Him was not a dead end street, but rather a trail which He must blaze alone as a pioneer.

When He left them behind, it was necessary that they should maintain unity among themselves. The differences of temperament and the jealousies which He had already witnessed would afford a poor instrument for His subsequent plans: “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.”

He then issued a new command to them: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. {35} By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This mutual love would be a permanent badge of discipleship, and the foundation of unity among them.

We all know that there is a sense in which this “new” commandment of our Lord is not entirely new. The Old Testament law could be summed up in two commands: (1) Love God; and (2) Love your neighbor as yourself (see Matthew 22:34-40; Romans 13:8-10). What, then, is so different about our Lord’s command here that He can call it “new”? First, we should note that it is a command given by our Lord to the church, and not a command given to Israel. In this sense, it is the first of the “new commandments” that our Lord will give to the church through His apostles.[4]

Second, it should be noted that this command is specifically directed toward the disciples and their relationship with one another (surely this takes us back to the lesson of foot washing). It is therefore the first of the “one another” commands of the New Testament (see, for example, Romans 12:10, 16; 13:8; 14:13, 19; 15:5, 7, 14; 16:16). This command does not address the love that we have for unbelievers, though others do (see Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 12:17-21).

The most important “new” dimension to our Lord’s command here is the standard which He sets for the love He requires: “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” It is one thing to love one another as we love and care for ourselves. It is a vastly greater love that gives up one’s own life for another, that sacrifices self-interest to promote the interests of another (John 15:13; Philippians 2:1ff.). The sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary is the “new” standard for the Christian’s love for fellow-believers.

In His Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5–7, Jesus used this pattern: “You have heard it said … But I say to you.” For example: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).

The scribes and Pharisees prided themselves as those who kept the law. They thought (and taught) that if they did not commit the physical act of adultery, they had kept this law. If they did not murder anyone, this was another law they had kept. But Jesus took the law a great deal further, all the way to its origins in the heart. Adultery begins with lust; murder begins with hate in one’s heart. And so Jesus taught that lust was as much a sin as adultery, and that hate was sin, as was murder. Jesus brings the Old Testament law up to a new standard, His standard. All this was introduced by the statement:

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. 19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do this, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20).

No wonder when people heard Jesus speak they said, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him” (Mark 1:27). The “newness” our Lord’s “new commandment,” then, was not in its originality or novelty, but in its extent.

It was the practice of this kind of love that would cause the world to recognize these men (and us) as the disciples of Jesus (verse 35):

Tertullian, who lived towards the end of the second century, said that the heathen said of believers, ‘Behold, how these Christians love one another!’ Minucius Felix reports the comment of a heathen called Caecilius: ‘They love one another almost before they know one another.’…The heathen, of course, were prejudiced against the Christians. They did not like them at all and were ready to spread any slander about them. They ridiculed and opposed them. They put them in jail and executed them. But they were compelled to pay their grudging tribute to Christian love. It was undeniable.[5]

Such references ought to make modern Christians think hard. There are not many places in our busy, materialistic world where we believers so live as to compel the heathen to bear their testimony to the love we have for one another. On the contrary, they often accuse us of bickering among ourselves, of hardness, of indulging in petty criticisms of one another, of backbiting, of intolerance … Modern Christians should give serious thought to the importance of love for one another.[6]

In his book The Mark of a Christian, Dr. Francis Schaeffer discusses the quality that distinctively sets believers apart as children of God. The true mark of the Christian is love.

Arthur Pink says: “Love is the badge of Christian discipleship. It is not knowledge, nor orthodoxy, nor fleshly activities, but (supremely) love which identifies a follower of the Lord Jesus. As the disciples of the Pharisees were known by their phylacteries,as the  disciples of John were known by their baptism, and every school by its particular shsibboleth, so the mark of a true Christian is love; and that, a genuine, active love, not in words but in deeds.”

* What is your A.Q?

The story of Judas and the Last Supper shows us something magnificent about the Savior and about His ability to accept others inspite of the sin that clings to them. As an I.Q. test measures our minds, indicating our intelligence quotient, an  A.Q.  test measures our attitudes, indicating our acceptance quotient.

* Is this a new commandment?  

It was new in emphasis and example. The newness of the command is contained in that His disciples are to love one another even as their Master had loved them! No such love could have been commanded before because no such love had ever been exhibited before!

It is only by allowing Christ to dwell in us through faith that we can even come near to comprehending what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ which passes knowledge (Ephesians 3:17-19: “…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, {18} may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, {19} and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”)

Why is this so vital?

“How can you lead to Christ your boy Unless Christ’s method you employ?

There’s one thing that you can do– It’s to let your boy see Christ in you.

” Have you a husband fond and true? A wife’s who blind to all but you?

If each would win the other one, That life must speak of God’s dear Son.

“There is but one successful plan By which to win a fellow man;

Have you a neighbor old or new? Just let that man see Christ in you.

“The Church that hopes to win the lost Must pay the one unchanging cost;

She must compel the world to see In her the Christ of Calvary.”  (Author unknown)

* THE APPLICATION OF THE A.Q.

– Willingness to accept people without partiality.

James 2:1-4 serves as an excellent application of this principle. How do you respond when somebody who doesn’t quite fit the typical membership profile comes to your worship service?

(James 2:1-4)  “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. {2} Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. {3} If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” {4} have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

– Willingness to accept another style without jealousy or criticism.

   (Mark 9:38-40)  “”Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” {39} “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, {40} for whoever is not against us is for us.”

– Willingness to accept offenses without holding a grudge.

   (Romans 12:14-21)  “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. {15} Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. {16} Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. {17} Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. {18} If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. {19} Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. {20} On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” {21} Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

* THE QUESTION OF PETER (13:36-38)

Peter, aroused to curiosity by Jesus’ prediction that He would go away, asked Him: “Simon Peter asked him, ‘Lord, where are you going?” His question, though concrete and pointed, contained with it the larger question of human destiny: Is there any destination after death?

It is obvious from his remarks that Peter is also interested not only in Jesus’ leaving, but also in his being left behind.

Jesus responded with a clear answer:  “Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later” and, of course, Peter wants to know  WHY: “Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

I laugh to myself as I read verse 36. It is just as though Peter has not even heard what Jesus said about love in verses 34 and 35. I don’t think this is because Peter thought he was too much of a he-man to talk about such things (though I wouldn’t rule it out altogether). I think Peter was so shocked by our Lord’s words in verse 33 that he just couldn’t get past them. Peter “locked in” on what Jesus had said about going away. He wanted to know where Jesus was going and why he could not go with Him. He had followed Him all this way, all the way to Jerusalem. There was no turning back for him. He was committed to follow Jesus. And now Jesus is talking about going somewhere where he cannot follow? No way! Not for Peter.

Jesus answers Peter’s question indirectly, but even this oblique reply should have given Peter some comfort. Jesus was going somewhere where Peter could not follow Him now, but he will, Jesus said, “follow later.” That is not good enough for Peter. The word “now” is foremost in Peter’s mind. He does not want to wait. He wants to follow Jesus now, wherever that might be.

Peter does not seem to have a clue that Jesus is talking about going to the Father in heaven. He seems fixed on the idea that Jesus is going to change His place of residence on earth. Peter seems to be reasoning something like this: “Jesus says He’s going somewhere, and I can’t follow. He won’t say where, and He won’t say why. It must be the danger. He doesn’t want me coming along because it’s too dangerous. He doesn’t think I can take it. Well, I’ll let Him know that I can handle anything anyone dishes out …”

John simply writes what Peter said (which, at times, can be a lot more than he’s thought): “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” If commitment is the determining factor in who goes with Jesus and who does not, then Peter wants Jesus to know that his commitment is unmatched. He is willing to pay any price, including that of his own life, to follow Jesus.

In his excellent commentary on the Gospel of John, William Hendriksen points out some very informative facts about Peter’s words here and in the Synoptic Gospels. Let me cite them:

In connection with this boast a few additional facts must be noted:

31. Peter spoke these words both before and after Christ’s prediction which is recorded in 13:38, as is clear from Matt. 26:33-35; Mark 14:29-31. Evidently, at the time, the words of Jesus, telling Peter that in spite of his boasting he would do the very thing which he promised so emphatically not to do, failed to register. Peter was too sure of himself.
32. He used very emphatic language. Note the double negative in Matt. 26:35, so that the boast may be rendered: ‘I will certainly not deny thee.’ And compare: ‘I will never be ensnared.’
33. He spoke with great vehemence (Mark 14:31), evidently not at all pleased with the fact that Jesus had a different opinion.
34. The passage here in John indicates that Peter’s boast was not only negative ‘I will not be ensnared,’ ‘I will not deny’) but also positive: ‘My life for thee I will lay down.’ Luke 22:33 supplies the commentary.
35. His self-reliant exclamation was copied by the others: ‘Likewise also said all the disciples.’ Not a single one among these disciples knew his own heart. Notice the three ‘all’s’: ‘You will all be ensnared (Mark 14:27), said Jesus. They all said, ‘Impossible’ (for exact words see Matt. 26:35). ‘Then all the disciples left him and fled’ (Matt. 26:56).

Though not one of the disciples knew his own heart, yet while all were ensnared, Peter went much farther: he denied that he even knew the Master at all; see on 18:15-17; 18:25-27; cf. Matt. 26:69-75.[7]

Elmer Towns points out one more observation worth noting: “According to Mark, Peter later argued, ‘Although all shall be offended, yet will not I’ (Mark 14:29).”[8] I am probably pushing my limits on this, but the thought did occur to me that our Lord’s prophecy of the cock crowing after Peter’s denial may be significant in terms of the feathered creature God chose to perform this prophetic announcement. If you have ever observed a rooster at work in the breaking of the dawn, you will understand this proverb:

29 There are three things which are stately in their march, Even four which are stately when they walk: 30 The lion which is mighty among beasts And does not retreat before any, 31 The strutting rooster, the male goat also, And a king when his army is with him (Proverbs 30:29-31, NASB).

Is Peter getting just a little bit too “cocky”? It would certainly seem so, and if this is the case, what better way to “send a message” to Peter than by means of a feathered creature who personifies “cocky” all too well? It’s a stretch, I agree, but sometimes such details may make a point that needs to be made. At any rate, I think we can all agree that Peter is not suffering from “low self-esteem” here, but from over-confidence.

He provides us with a powerful illustration of this warning from the pen of the Apostle Paul: “So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Conclusion

I appreciate Peter’s resulting acknowledgement of failure and eventual repentance…very unlike the response of regret of Judas but with no godly sorrow.

I remember the story of five girls who were dismissed from the Danville (Vermont) High School basketball team. They broke Coach Tammy Rainville’s zero-tolerance rule about alcohol over Christmas break.

So, just before the varsity game was to begin on Friday night January 11 of this year, the teen-aged girls – four of them starters on the team – addressed a packed gym. No excuses. No challenge of the rule. No anger at the coach. They admitted what they had done and said they supported their coach and her policy.

They walked off the court to thunderous applause. [9]Both God and humankind honor people who take responsibility, confess their sins, and ask for pardon.

Have you failed God? Have you chosen darkness over light? Have you been guilty of betraying the Son of Man? So have we all! You can stay on your course and press deeper into the darkness – until you heart becomes too calloused to repent. Or you can lament your sin, meet Jesus anew, and receive his forgiveness.

Church, the way we deal with one another will be the world’s signal as to whether such a thing is possible for sinners. And that is today’s text too: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Every unbeliever who ever walks into an assembly of Christians should ideally sense warmth, genuine care, and the love of Christ that gives her or him the confidence that God has created it to receive one more sinner out of the darkness into his light. Too often that atmosphere is absent. So what they experience is doctrinal strife, personal bickering, and coldness – more darkness. And they remain lost.

Nothing so astonishes a fractured world as a community in which radical, faithful, genuine love is shared among its members. . . . There are many places you can go to find people just like yourself, who live for sports or music or gardening or politics. But it is the mandate of the church to become a community of love, a circle of Christ’s followers who invest in one another because Christ has invested in them, who exhibit love not based on the mutuality and attractiveness of its members, but on the model of Christ, who washed the feet of everyone (including Judas).[10]

Peter’s failure to understand, his explosive outbursts, and his outright lies in the high priest’s courtyard were not only forgiven but rooted out over time by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then he was able to teach, comfort, and strengthen others out of his own personal experience.
May it be so here.  Beginning today. For you.
In the dark night of betrayal when Peter and Judas turned away, Jesus stayed the course of confronting evil and gave the gift of himself to break Satan’s hold on frail humanity. And the giving has never ceased. So, if you will believe it, welcome to the fellowship of those who are going where Christ already has gone.

Here, then, is our first lesson, is it not? The one who is most confident that he will not fall is the most likely to fall. How can this be? It is because his confidence is in himself. Far better to be wary of falling, than to be confident of standing. Far better to have no trust in oneself, and thus to trust only in God. Far better to know you do not have the strength to stand and to lean on Jesus, than to stand alone and fall on your face.

Here is one of the great dangers of the “message” proclaimed by many of the motivational books and seminars today. If they make us confident in ourselves, rather than in God, they are pointing us in the wrong direction; they are setting us up for a fall.

The second thing that I find emphasized in this text is that Jesus is in complete control. In chapter 13, Jesus knows it is His time to be glorified (13:3, 31-32). He knows also of the betrayal of Judas, and even dismisses him early to carry out his deed (13:27). And in addition, Jesus knows of Peter’s denial. Jesus is not taken in by all of Peter’s assurances of his loyalty and faithfulness, though I believe he felt he meant them when he said them. Jesus knows all of this about Peter, and yet He chooses him to be the one who will become such a powerful instrument of the gospel in the Book of Acts. God really does choose the weak and foolish things of this world to confound the wisdom of the wise. And in all this He is glorified (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

I believe the most important lesson in our text is about true love. This chapter virtually oozes with the love of our Lord for His disciples (e.g. 13:1). Placed neatly between our Lord’s words on His imminent glorification and departure and His prophecy of Peter’s denial are verses 34 and 35, which contain our Lord’s instruction to His disciples to “love one another.”

Was Peter’s problem not a lack of love? I would simply remind you that after Peter’s denial, our Lord’s death, and His resurrection, Jesus addressed Peter directly about his love and his service (John 21). Love seems to be a major issue for Peter. The thing he passed over so abruptly in our text, he must deal with much more seriously at the end of this Gospel.

Who is better qualified to speak on love than He who has loved us to the uttermost? The disciples refused to serve one another, and it seems to me that it is because of their lack of true love for one another. Their “love” at this moment was just like the “love” we see and read about in our culture—a self-serving “love” which continues to love so long as our interests are being served.

The love which our Lord displayed was a self-sacrificing love, which prompted Him to serve the disciples by washing their feet, and most of all by dying on the cross of Calvary to save sinners from the guilt and penalty of their sins. The Christian standard and source of love is the Person of Jesus Christ, as demonstrated on cross of Calvary.

Let me further observe that “loving” one another is not a recommendation by our Lord—a good piece of advice. Love is a command, one which John most certainly would not forget (see, for example, 1 John 3:23). If loving one another is a command, then our only choice is to obey or disobey our Lord in this matter.

Love is a duty we must perform in deed. Some people think of love as a feeling; Jesus describes love here in terms of our actions. We want to wait till we feel love, and then express it.

I find it most interesting that it is Peter who describes love as the capstone of Christian virtues and disciplines, not as the basis of them (though there is truth to this, too—see 2 Peter 1:5-7). If we would know true love, let us not look to our culture to define it, let us look to the Word of God, let us look to the cross, and let us look to Him who is love, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I close, let me do so with the words of the late Dr. John G. Mitchell:

There are three measurements of a disciple. We had the first in chapter 8: ‘If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (8:31-32).

The second measurement is here. ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.’ Remember, ‘love suffereth long, and is kind’ (1 Corinthians 13:4). The third measurement of discipleship is in chapter 15. ‘Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples’ (15:8).

God grant that we Christians, we who love Him, we who have been redeemed by His precious blood, may wear the badge of discipleship. It is genuine love one for another and especially with frail, stumbling believers.

My friend, this rules out all divisions. It rules out all bitterness and jealousy and envy among God’s people. It rules out all pettiness and smallness and shallowness. How much are we to love each other? As Christ loves us. This is the measure of it.[11]

[1] The NET Bible renders this “children” as opposed to “little children” as found in many of the translations. I prefer to retain the word “little.” Morris writes, “teknion is found here only in the Gospels. It appears in a variant reading in Gal. 4:19, and elsewhere in the New Testament only in I John where it is found 7 times. It is thus a Johannine word, and one not used excessively. Since John has teknon on three occasions the diminutive should be regarded as significant. Jesus is speaking with tenderness, like a father to his little children. The word incidentally is always in the plural in the New Testament.” Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), p. 632., fn. 67.

[2] Is this not what the temptation of our Lord was all about—Satan seeking to tempt our Lord to gain His messianic glory independently of the Father?

[3] Could this have played any part in Peter’s denial of Jesus? If some of the last words Jesus had spoken to you were to inform you that He was away and leaving you behind, might you not feel abandoned? Peter’s denial came from somewhere, and I don’t think that it was simply fear. Why would a man afraid of dying pull a sword on such a large armed force at our Lord’s arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane?

[4] It is my understanding that many—perhaps most—of the Old Testament commands are renewed in the New Testament. As Dr. Bruce Waltke used to put it, “When we look at the Old Testament commandments, we must ask whether the New Testament ratifies, modifies, or abrogates (negates) them.” The command to “love” is “ratified” or “renewed” by our Lord here, and upgraded.

[5] Morris, Reflections, p. 485.

[6] Morris, Reflections, p. 486.

[7] William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to John, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953-1954), vol. 2, pp. 255-256.

[8] Elmer Towns, The Gospel of John: Believe and Live (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1990), p. 257.

[9] [1] Brad Usatch, “Varsity Girls Confront Mistake,” Caledonian-Record, Jan. 14, 2002;

http://www.caledonian-record.com/pages/local_news/story/aeeaa3e8d.

[10] Gary M. Burge, The NIV Application Commentary: John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), p. 387.

[11] John G. Mitchell, with Dick Bohrer, An Everlasting Love: A Devotional Study of the Gospel of John (Portland: Multnomah Press, 1982), pp. 261-262.

61 Because Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining about this, he said to them, “Does this cause you to be offended? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? 63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 So Jesus added, “Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come.” 66 After this many of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!” 70 Jesus replied, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the devil?” 71 (Now he said this about Judas son of Simon Iscariot; for Judas, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.) (John 6:61-71)

1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 So they prepared a dinner for Jesus there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was among those present at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took three quarters of a pound of perfumed oil made of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus. She then wiped his feet dry with her hair. (Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil.) 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was going to betray him) said, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfumed oil sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor?” 6 (Now Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box he used to take what was put into it.) 7 So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept it for the day of my burial. 8 For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me” (John 12:1-7).

In this life there are a good many things that are very difficult to understand or to explain. In our text, the disciples found it extremely difficult to comprehend what Jesus was saying when He told them that one of them was about to betray Him.

When we read John’s account of this event in John chapter 13, we find it hard to understand why the disciples didn’t quickly grasp what Jesus was telling them. When we marvel at the “dullness” of the disciples, we forget that we read through John’s Gospel somewhat like we watch our favorite movies.

We know the entire story, from beginning to end. And thus, when we read any one text, we know what came before, just as we know how it all will end. We know, for example, that Jesus is going to be arrested, found guilty, and crucified—all within a few hours. We also know that He is going to be raised from the dead, and that He will ascend into heaven and return to the Father. But what is so clear to us in hindsight was not at all clear to the disciples.

They heard Jesus say that He was about to be betrayed by one of them. Peter even inquired of Jesus (through John, it would seem) about just who the betrayer was. And Jesus told John that it would be the one who took from His hand the piece of bread that He dipped into the dish. Yet when Jesus dipped the bread into the dish and gave it to Judas, who took it, no one did anything. No one even seemed to grasp what Jesus had just indicated. You have to understand that what Jesus was saying was so far from what they expected, they simply could not grasp what seemed to be clearly indicated.

All of this was for a reason—a very important reason. This reason we shall see as we study our text in this lesson. There are many important truths for us to consider and to apply here, so let us listen well, and let us ask the Spirit of God to make the meaning and the application of this text clear to us.

Judas—Putting the Pieces Together

Each of the Gospel writers has chosen to include certain details about Judas and to exclude others. It may be helpful for us to begin this lesson by reviewing what we know about Judas in sequential order:[1]

• Judas is chosen as one of the 12 (Luke 6:12-16; Mark 3:13-19).
• Judas is sent out as one of the 12 (Matthew 10:4).
• Judas accompanies Jesus with the other 11 disciples, beholding our Lord’s character and power, and hearing Him teach and claim to be the Messiah (Mark 3:14).
• Judas is put in charge of the money box (John 12:6; 13:29).
• Judas begins to steal money from the money box (John 12:6).
• When Mary anoints the feet of Jesus, Judas is incensed by her extravagance, and is distressed that Jesus would allow such “waste” when this ointment could have been sold, and the proceeds given to the poor. He apparently manages to convince his fellow-disciples, so that they verbally harass Mary also (John 12:1-8; Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9).
• [At this same point in time the chief priests and Pharisees are panic-stricken by our Lord’s growing popularity, as a result of the raising of Lazarus and then the triumphal entry (John 11:45-53, 57; 12:9-11). They wanted to seize Jesus privately, but not during the feast of Passover, lest they stir up the crowds (Matthew 26:3-5; Mark 14:1-2). They become so desperate they decide to kill not only Jesus (John 11:53), but Lazarus as well (John 12:10). The time was “ripe” for Judas to come to them with his proposal of betrayal.]
• Shortly after this incident with Mary, in which Jesus rebukes Judas and the other disciples, Judas goes to the chief priests and strikes a deal with them to betray Jesus and to hand Him over to them (Matthew 26:14-15; Mark 14:10-11).
• Judas begins to look for the right moment to hand Jesus over to the chief priests and Pharisees (Mark 14:11).
• Judas is with Jesus and the disciples during the first part of the Last Supper, apparently in the place of honor, next to Jesus (John 13:26).
• At the meal, Jesus indicates that one of the disciples will betray Him (Matthew 26:20-25; Mark 14:17-21), and then, by means of His dipping a piece of bread and handing it to Judas, our Lord indicates that it is Judas who will betray Him (Mark 14:20; John 13:21-27).
• Judas accepts the bread Jesus offers him.
• Jesus dismisses Judas to carry out his terrible deed (John 13:27-30).
• Judas leads the soldiers to Jesus, where he identifies Jesus as the One they are to arrest by kissing Him (Matthew 26:47-50; Mark 14:43-46; Luke 22:47-48; John 18:1-9).
• Judas regrets his betrayal and tries to reverse his actions by returning the money, but it is too late. Judas then goes out and hangs himself (Matthew 27:3-10; Acts 1:15-19).

 

Judas—Who Would Have Ever Thought …

John 13:18-20 (NIV) 18“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’ 19“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

 

The word betrayal denotes horrible breaches of trust, unfaithfulness, treachery, and duplicity:

• In the history of a nation, it is acts of treason whereby someone gives “aid and comfort to the enemy.”
• In the history of the religious world, it is the immoral behavior pedifile priests, of money-grubbing televangelists, and inexcusable silence in the face of racism or sexism.
• In families, it is adultery or child abuse.
• In our individual Christian lives, it is following the tugs of flesh over Spirit and offering our pitiful rationalizations for sin over repenting in genuine sorrow.

Today’s sermon is about betrayal. No, actually it is about two acts of betrayal. And I hope there is more to be learned here this morning from the second than the first. I have certainly prayed while preparing it that God will use this sermon not to drive anyone to the despondency of a Judas-response to failure but to the gracious restoration of a Simon Peter-response.

 

For this lesson is ultimately not about Judas or Peter but – as all the Gospel of John was originally crafted to be – Jesus.

The light of Jesus dispels the darkness of Satan. The grace of Jesus conquers the sins we commit and even the addictive power of sin in our hearts. The forgiveness of Jesus is greater than the judgment and condemnation of our arrogant disobedience.

 

Yes, Jesus knew what Judas was up to that night. But when did he know? It isn’t clear.

 

One thing that does seem clear to me is that Jesus did not pick Judas back at the start of his ministry and manipulate him to that awful deed.

 

If Judas betrayed the Son of Man because God willed and arranged the event, he was obedient rather than disobedient to the divine will and thus should be honored rather than despised for his deed. Judas wound up fulfilling a divine prediction, but the ability to predict accurately testifies to God’s timelessness (i.e., ability to know past, present, and future simultaneously) rather than to his activity in bringing about all things that happen.

 

Who would have ever thought that Jesus would be betrayed, and by one of His 12 disciples? Answer: none of the 12, except for Judas. The Gospels do not really mention Judas all that often, but we do read of Judas being sent out by Jesus, along with the other 11 (Matthew 10:1ff.; Mark 3:19; Luke 9:1ff.).

 

Imagine, Judas was used of our Lord to manifest His power over the demons, and over every kind of illness: “He called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits so they could cast them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness” (Matthew 10:1).

 

Who would have ever imagined that he would refuse to trust in Jesus as his Messiah?

 

Think of all the miracles which took place before the eyes of Judas. He witnessed the casting out of demons, the giving of sight to the blind (even a man born blind—John 9), and the raising of the dead (e.g., John 11). He was there when Jesus stilled the storm (see Luke 8:22-25) and when He walked on the sea (John 6:19-21). He took part in the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-14) and then of the 4,000 (Matthew 15:29-39). Each of the other disciples grew in their faith at each new manifestation of our Lord’s power, love, mercy, and holiness. Not so with Judas.

 

And yet Judas seems to be the last one any of the disciples would have suspected of being the betrayer of whom our Lord was speaking. He seems to have been seated in the place of honor at the Last Supper, beside our Lord. He was the one entrusted with the money that was given to our Lord (John 12:6). Even when Jesus indicated that Judas was His betrayer by giving him the bread, the disciples still did not recognize him for who he really was. In this sense, I think, Judas was just like his “real father,” the devil:

13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will correspond to their actions (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

 

A dark shadow now falls across the scene as Jesus deals with Judas, the traitor. Judas was the treasurer of the group (12:6) and was certainly held in high regard by his fellow disciples.

 

At this hour, Jesus had TWO great concerns: (1) to fulfill the Word of God (13:18-30), and (2) to magnify the glory of God (vs. 31-35).

 

Jesus tells His disciples that what He is saying does not apply to all of them. His words apply to those whom He has chosen. The inference is clear: there is someone among them whom He has not chosen, who is not a true believer. It is to this person that our Lord’s words do not apply. But what has Jesus been “saying” that doesn’t apply to Judas? In particular, I think it is the words of verse 17: “If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

 

Jesus has been speaking of following His example by serving one another. They, as His disciples, are to do as their Master has shown them. But Judas is not truly one of our Lord’s own; he will show that he is no longer a disciple of Jesus. He, of course, is not “clean,” as the other disciples are (13:10-11). Jesus has just said that the real blessing is not just in knowing and understanding what He has taught them, but in doing what He commands. If they (His disciples) do what He has commanded, they will be blessed. Good works are of great benefit to the Christian.

 

They contribute nothing to his salvation, but they do evidence true conversion, and they are the basis for the believer’s rewards. Good works benefit the Christian, but good works don’t benefit the unbeliever. When good works are done apart from faith in Jesus Christ for salvation and sanctification, they are actually an insult to God. Unbelievers who work to please Him while rejecting His Son are saying, in effect, “No thanks. I don’t need your righteousness, I’ll just produce my own. And so I won’t need your Son, either.”

 

Trusting and obeying God is a blessing; working hard to please God by our own efforts is an offense. Thus, only the Christian can be truly blessed by doing what God commands.

 

The things of which our Lord is speaking to His disciples are very important, and of great value to His true disciples (excluding Judas). His words are prophetic, spelling out what the future holds for Him and for Judas. The things of which He is speaking actually fulfill prophecy. Judas, who is reclining beside Jesus, and is about to take the bread which He offers, is one whose terrible betrayal has been foretold. John now cites Psalm 41:9, which says, ‘The one who eats my bread has turned against me.’

 

It was a very significant thing to sit at a man’s table and to eat his bread. In the ancient world, sharing a meal together was almost to make a covenant (in fact covenants were often made in association with a meal).[2] You will remember the story of Lot, who invites perfect strangers into his home in Sodom, and then makes a shocking offer to the men of Sodom, in an attempt to protect his guests:

1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” 3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.” 6 So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, 7 and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! 8 See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof” (Genesis 19:1-8, NKJV).

To share a meal with guests was to offer them not only provisions, but protection. Lot was so committed to his obligation to protect these “strangers” that he was willing to sacrifice the sexual purity of his daughters to protect his guests. I don’t pretend to comprehend this, or to defend it. I am simply pointing out that in the ancient Jewish (and perhaps more broadly, the Near Eastern) culture, inviting a man into one’s home and to his table was a most significant act.

 

If the host made such commitments to his guest(s), one would expect the guest to reciprocate in some way. And yet the one who sat at our Lord’s table and ate His bread actually betrayed Him. What a horrible thing Judas is about to do to His Master, and immediately after eating His bread.

 

John wants us to see that all this was prophesied ahead of time. He wants His disciples to know that much prophecy will not be understood at the time it is being fulfilled, but in hindsight, it can be seen clearly.[3] Jesus is not telling His disciples these things so that they will understand Him and believe what He has said at that very moment.

 

He tells them these things which will occur in the future so that they will believe when these prophecies are fulfilled. Then His disciples will know that Jesus was in full control, bringing about that which the Father had purposed in eternity past. In His earthly sojourn, Jesus was always in control. He was never, a helpless victim.

 

In verses 19 and 20, Jesus makes it very clear that all of this is about believing in Him. Jesus tells His disciples what is going to happen ahead of time, so that when these things take place they will remember He told them beforehand and believe in Him as the Messiah.[4]

 

While Jesus is indirectly exposing Judas as an unbeliever here, His emphasis is on believing, believing in Him. This is the thrust of verse 20. Whoever accepts the one Jesus sends (and He will soon be sending them out, as we see in the “Great Commission”—Matthew 28:18-20) accepts Jesus Himself. Whoever accepts Jesus as God’s “sent One” (see John 1:1-18) accepts the Father, who sent Him.

 

Although these words seem to be directed to His believing disciples, I cannot help but wonder if this is not also one last appeal to Judas to believe. To betray Jesus is certainly the opposite of believing in Him.

 

He quotes from Psalm 41:9: “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”

 

Jesus was concerned that Judas’ treachery would not weaken His disciples’ faith. This is why He related it to the  Word of God: when the disciples saw all of this fulfilled, it would make their faith stronger (see John 8:28). Judas had been disloyal, but He expected them to be loyal to Him and His cause.

 

After all, He was God the Son sent by God the Father. They were the Christ’s chosen representatives; to receive them would be the same as receiving the Father and the Son: “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone Isend acceptsme; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

 

The remarkable thing is that the others at the table with Jesus did not know that Judas was an unbeliever and a traitor. Up to the very hour of his treachery, Judas  was protected by the Savior whom he betrayed.

 

* This is a preview of the meaning of the cross, with divine elements of the divine love:

1. It was a love that could not be quenced by evil.

The service by which Jesus expressed His care for His disciples was offered in spite of His full knowledge of the coming betrayal by Judas and of the denial by Peter.

 

2. It was a love that was tendered by Jesus in the full consciousness of His own exalted powers.

He had power given to Him to rule over all things, yet he deliberately subjected Himself to the needs of the disciples, and sacrificed of Himself for them by submitting to an authority which was beneath Him.

 

3. The love of Christ transscended the barriers of the social class.

He was fully conscious of divine origin and of divine destiny. Nevertheless He condescended to minister to those who were His natural inferiors. Divine love leaped over the boundaries of class distinctions and made the Lord of Glory the servant of men.

 

4. The love of Jesus was an active love.

Twice it is stated that the supper was interrupted. Also, after waiting in vain for one of them to take the place of a servant, Jesus finally assumed the responsibility Himself. The task, however disagreeable, had to be performed; and love took the initiative.

 

5. Love cleanses.

The colloquy between Jesus and Peter was illustrative of a principle deeper than a mere argument over social standing. Later the meaning would be intelligible in the light of the cross which provided a cleansing for all, without which no one could have a part in the heritage of the saints.

 

“After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” {22} His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. {23} One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. {24} Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” {25} Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” {26} Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. {27} As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, {28} but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. {29} Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. {30} As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.”

 

This is the third time in John’s Gospel that Jesus has been described as being “greatly distressed.” He was “intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed” at the burial site of Lazarus (John 11:33). Later on, in chapter 12, the soul of our Lord was greatly distressed at the prospect of His coming “hour” of suffering the penalty for man’s sin (12:27).

 

Now, our Lord is greatly distressed at the thought of one of His own followers betraying Him (13:21). As I read the text, our Lord’s distress is not self-centered; He is distressed over the spiritual condition, conduct, and destiny of one of His own. How easy it would have been for our Lord to reveal the identity of His betrayer, or at least to expose him as a thief.

 

I can imagine that Peter would have happily used his sword on Judas, if he had known what would happen in the next few hours. But Jesus remains silent, determined to die as the Father had purposed. At the same time, Jesus was greatly distressed over the destiny of Judas. Is this not an example of what Jesus Himself had taught?

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? The tax collectors do that too, don’t they? 47 And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? The Gentiles do that too, don’t they? 48 So then, you be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).

Passover was a festive occasion, but our Lord’s words cast a dark shadow over the meal. The disciples were “worried and perplexed” (verse 22). They knew what He said, though they could hardly grasp its true meaning. But taking His words at face value, they knew that one of them was, in some way, going to betray Jesus. John focuses his attention on 4 of the 12: Jesus, Judas, Simon Peter, and “the one Jesus loved.”

 

The Synoptic Gospels provide us with a most significant detail. When informed that one of them would betray Him, the 11 disciples responded one way, while Judas responded differently:

21 And while they were eating he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” 22 They were deeply grieved and each one began to say to him, “Surely not I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself” (Matthew 26:21-25, emphasis mine).

Each of the believing disciples asks his Lord if it is him; Judas asks the Rabbi. After all Judas has seen and heard, Jesus is still only a teacher to him.

 

Peter wants to find out who this betrayer is. If he had not been so far away from Jesus, he could have asked the Master privately himself. But as it was, he found it necessary to signal to “the disciple Jesus loved” (who can hardly be anyone other than John, the author of this account), gesturing to him to ask Jesus who the betrayer was. John, who must have been reclining next to Jesus, leaned back upon our Lord’s chest and asked who this person was. Jesus did not give John a name, but indicated that the betrayer would be the one to whom He would give a piece of bread, dipped in the dish (verse 26).

 

For the moment, Jesus focuses His attention on Judas. Jesus dipped a piece of bread in the dish and handed it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. What an incredible, defining, moment this was! Jesus and Judas must have locked eyes. Judas had to have known that Jesus knew everything. Jesus knew Judas was the betrayer. He knew Judas did not really believe in Him. He knew Judas had already reached an agreement with the chief priests. He knew that Judas would soon go to the Jewish authorities, and lead them to Him, to arrest Him. In spite of all this, Judas reached out and took the bread, knowing what that meant. It forever sealed his doom.

 

If Judas and Jesus knew exactly what was going on, the rest of the disciples were without a clue. That is what John makes very clear to us in verses 28-30. Jesus turned to Judas and said to him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

 

In effect, Jesus dismissed Judas from the table. Judas may not have intended to go out till later. It seems to me that it was necessary for Judas to leave at this time.

 

First, it would assure that the timing of His death was right—something more important to Jesus than to Judas, or even the Jewish religious leaders.

 

Second, it would remove Judas, so that Jesus could speak intimately and openly with His true disciples. In some ways, Judas had already been gently excluded from certain things. He was not one of the inner three: Peter, James, and John. He surely was not one of those sent to make preparations for the Passover celebration.

 

This would have enabled him to betray Jesus at the wrong time and place. Now, Judas is excluded from our Lord’s final words to His disciples. They certainly did not apply to Judas. He does not even seem to be alive by the time our Lord is crucified (see Matthew 27:3-10).

 

The truths Jesus is about to share with His disciples pertain to things in which Judas will not, and cannot, have any part. These are the very things on which Judas has turned his back.

 

The disciples watch Judas take the bread from Jesus, and they may very well hear Jesus tell Judas it is time for him to go about his mission. But no one understood what was happening. They knew Judas kept the money box. They assumed that he had left to give something to the poor (as he made such an effort to appear to do frequently—see 12:4-6), or that he was going out to buy more supplies. And so Judas took the bread, and left immediately thereafter. In John’s powerfully concise way, he sums it all up in four words, “And it was night.” So it was.

 

Judas was exposed to the same spiritual privileges as the other disciples, yet they did him no good.  The same sun that melts the ice only hardens the clay.

 

Peter signaled to John, who was the closest to Jesus at the table, and asked him to find out who the traitor was. It seems likely that His response was not heard by the other men, for they were engaged in their own conversations (Luke 22:23).

 

When Jesus gave the bread to Judas, it was interpreted as an act of love and honor … so it’s no wonder that when Judas left the room, they began arguing over who was the greatest (Luke 22:24-30)!

 

Judas leaves, but Jesus is still in charge, not Satan. Keep in mind that Judas knew what he was doing and that he did it deliberately. He had met with the Jewish religious leaders and agreed to lead them to Jesus in such a way that there would not be any public disturbance (Luke 21:37–22:6).

 

The instant Judas was gone, the atmosphere was cleared, and Jesus began to instruct His disciples and prepare them for His crucifixion and His ultimate return to heaven.

 

The entire passage from verse 31 through John 16:33 constitutes one farewell address broken only by the interruptions of the disciples, who are mentioned in chapters 13-14, and by the change of place in 14:31.

 

The 15th and 16th chapters fall between Jesus’ suggestion to quit the place of the supper (14:31) and the actual arrival of the party at the garden of Gethsemane.

 

This intervening discourse may have been spoken in the temple, which was kept open during the night preceding the Passover for the benefit of the worshippers, or while the group dallied in the upper room after Jesus declared the meeting adjourned.

It may have been given slowly as they made their way through the darkened streets of the city to the gate through which they passed over to the Mount of Olives. The exact location is less important than its unity.

The character of this discourse as a conscious effort on Jesus’ part to give the disciples final instructions is marked by the sevenfold repetition of the phrase, “these things I have spoken unto you:”

– these things I have spoken unto you, 14:25

– these things I have spoken unto you, that your joy may be made full, 15:11

– these things I have spoken unto you, that ye should not be caused to stumble, 16:1

– these things I have spoken unto you, that ye may remember them, 16:4

– Because I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart, 16:6

– these things have I spoken unto you in dark sayings, 16:25

– these things have I spoken unto you, that in me you may have peace, 16:33

se phrases refers to the teaching which immediately precedes it, and explains the motive or method behind the spoken word.

Conclusion

As we come to the conclusion of this section, let me call several things to your attention, which may serve as fuel for further thought and action.

First, Jesus is in complete control, including the one who will betray Him. In making arrangements for this meal, Jesus makes sure that He will not be interrupted or arrested—not until it is “His time.” Jesus knows that Judas will betray Him, and our Lord orchestrates every event in these last hours so that He can fully accomplish all that He has set out to do. This includes the time, manner, and instruments of His arrest, trial, and death. It includes a private time with His disciples, when He can prepare them for what lies ahead. Though it is but a few hours until His death, everything is under control—His control.

Having emphasized that our Lord is in complete control at this meal (as at all times), let it be noted that Judas is represented as a man who is responsible for his actions. Jesus did not choose Judas for salvation, but neither did Judas choose our Lord. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are both evident in our text.

Second, this text instructs us regarding the purpose of prophecy. Many Christians look at Bible prophecy as a kind of puzzle—something that we can figure out if we’re smart enough or persistent enough. Jesus’ words in our text inform us that there are many prophecies that we do not even recognize as such until after they have been fulfilled (such as the prophecy concerning Judas in Psalm 41:9). Prophecy is not given to us so that we can know exactly what will happen in the future. Much prophecy is written so that when God brings about His plans and purposes, we will realize that He has already told us this would happen, and that it has happened just as He said it would. Prophecy is one way that God promotes and protects His glory. He tells us what He is going to do ahead of time so that when He does it, it is all His doing.

Let me attempt to illustrate this from the game of pool. When a really skilled pool player wants to show his skill (and win the game at the same time), he or she will “call” their shot before they make it. They will tell us precisely how they plan to shoot, what they are aiming at, and in which pocket they will put the ball. I could tell people what I wanted to do, but I would seldom be able to accomplish it. Our Lord tells us exactly what He is going to do, and He always accomplishes it exactly as He said He would.

Let me say something else here. There are many things concerning biblical prophecy that we do not and will not know until they are fulfilled. What we are meant to know is that God has a plan, that He has a goal toward which all of human history is headed. Prophecy reminds us that God is in control, and that we do well to trust and obey Him. Prophecy tells us what is certain in very volatile and uncertain times, such as our own. And even though there are many aspects of a certain prophecy that we don’t understand, we should simply believe and obey the parts that we do. The disciples surely did not understand what Jesus was telling them about the future in our text, but they did understand what He was saying about loving and serving one another. They understand what they are to set themselves to be doing:

42 The Lord replied, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whose master puts him in charge of his household servants, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds doing so when he comes. 44 I tell you the truth, the master will put that slave in charge of all his possessions. 45 But if that slave should say to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in two and assign him a place with the unfaithful. 47 That servant who knew his master’s will, but did not get ready or do what his master asked, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know his master’s will and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked (Luke 12:42-48, emphasis mine).

Third, at a time when our Lord could have been obsessed with His own imminent suffering and death, He devoted Himself to serving His disciples by preparing them for the things which were to come. I think of Paul and Peter, as they wrote their last Epistles, knowing that the time of their departure was at hand. They did not focus attention on themselves, but upon others. They sought to prepare the saints for the time when they would be gone. That is what I see in our text. Our Lord is here preparing His disciples for what lies ahead. When one sees suffering (for God’s sake) as glory, then one need not dwell on his pain or sorrow. He or she is freed to focus on others, even in the last hours of our own life.

Fourth, our text suggests to us that there is a time when it is better for the scoffer to be removed. The Bible talks about times when someone needs to be removed from the assembly of the righteous (Proverbs 22:10; Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15; Titus 3:10-11). Some folks call this “back door evangelism.” In a day when the church seems to be seeking to increase its numbers, let us not forget that there are some folks whose presence contaminates the saints, and impedes the work of God. It is time for Judas to go, and Jesus dismisses him. It was night, but only for those who rejected Him who is the source of light and life. Jesus dismissed Judas to go where he had already chosen.

Fifth, we should not think only of Judas as we read our text—Judas is but one example of many who, like him, choose to reject the light and to dwell in darkness. Specifically, Judas is a dramatic picture of the rejection of Jesus by the nation Israel. Over and over again, God had spoken to this people.

Finally, God spoke to Israel through “the Word,” the sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 1:1-3). They did not believe His words, in spite of all the miraculous works He performed. They seized Him, accused Him of crimes He did not commit, and killed Him, all to further their own interests. Is this not what Judas did as well? What a tragic picture. What darkness the nation Israel is about to experience, after their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah.

It is no different today. Judas is also a picture of all who hear the gospel and cast it aside, by rejecting Jesus as the sinless Son of God, who “takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). It is possible that you may not have believed in Jesus as the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). You may be consoling yourself that you did not betray Jesus, as Judas did. If you have not received Him as God’s only cure for your sins, then you have rejected Him. According to the Bible, you are lost and living in darkness. As our Lord urged Judas to repent and believe, He is urging you to do the same.

Sixth, for every man and woman who hears the gospel, there is a point of no return. There is a point of no return, a point in time after which it is forever too late to repent and be saved. In the New Testament, it will soon be that point in time for Israel, as the apostles indicate by the urgency of their preaching. There is a time when you will turn away from Christ for the last time. No man knows that time, but it is a deadline you do not want to ignore. As the Scriptures say,

1 Now because we are fellow-workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

I cannot miss the fact that John has placed two men in close proximity to each other in John chapter 13: Judas and Peter. Judas was an unbeliever, who betrayed the Lord of Glory. Peter was a believer, who denied His Lord. What is the difference between the two? All the difference in the world.

In some ways, Judas looks like “Mr. Perfect” in the New Testament—up till the time that he betrays our Lord. But over and over again in the Gospels, Peter seems to be messing up, doing or saying the wrong thing (even as he initially refuses to let Jesus wash his feet in our text). But while Peter often sinned, each occasion of sin was for him a point of repentance and return.

 

How quickly Peter repents of his foolishness in chapter 13. It is true that Peter failed many times, just as we do, but each failure was a point of return. For Judas, his apparent failures seem to be few, but in spite of all the opportunities he was given to repent and turn to the Lord, he never did. Far better to fail often and return to the Lord, than to appear to do well, and never turn to Him at all. What a difference there is between Peter, whose sins were a “point of return,” and this final sin of Judas, which was his “point of no return.”

May God grant that each of us is like Peter, in that our sins serve as a point of repentance and return. Would that no one who reads these words is following in the footsteps of Judas, for whom there is no hope.

[1] This sequence may not be flawless, although I think it comes close to reality, but let the reader judge for himself.

[2] See Exodus 24:9-11.

[3] See Isaiah 48:5-7.

[4] Our text reads, “… so that when it happens you may believe that I am he.” The “I am” is, of course, significant, and the “he” must be referring to His identity as Israel’s Messiah.

Introduction

Don Richardson wrote a book that I encourage everyone to read. The title is Peace Child1 and is the story of his missionary labors among a tribe in Papua New Guinea.

When Richardson had finally learned their language, there came a day when he had opportunity to tell them the Gospel. He started with Christ’s miraculous birth, His life and ministry, and then proceeded to the end of Jesus’ time on earth.

He set the stage talking about how Jesus made His final journey to Jerusalem, the incredible reception of the people on Palm Sunday, then the treachery of Judas who worked behind the scenes to betray Jesus to death. To his amazement, when he finished telling them about the traitor, the people showed complete delight in Judas. Richardson was appalled at their reaction.

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He discovered that the highest virtue in their culture was deceit—and Judas was the greatest example of deceit about which they had heard. Here was a man who successfully betrayed to the death a great and good man, thus Judas became their instant hero. It was obvious to Richardson that he had his work cut out for him to evangelize this tribe. You need to read the book to discover the beginning and end of this incredible and true missionary story.

The Men named “Judas”

Judas was a common first century name. In fact, there are eight mentioned in the New Testament:

(1) Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus and one of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:4);

(2) Judas the son of James, and one of the twelve apostles (Luke 6:16);

(3) Judas, a brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55);

(4) Judas, Paul’s host in Damascus (Acts 9:11);

(5) Judas, called Barsabbas, a leading Christian in Jerusalem and a companion of Paul (Acts 15:22);

(6) Judas, a revolutionary leader (Acts 5:37);

(7) Judah, an otherwise unknown person in the genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3:30);

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(8) And Judah, a son of Jacob in the genealogy of Jesus and an ancestor of an Israelite tribe (Matthew 1:2; Revelation 7:5)—’Judas’ or ‘Judah.’²

Observe a verse in Luke 6 regarding the first Judas, who is the subject of this study: “Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor” (Luke 6:16b). In what follows we will provide a panorama of the career of the Bible’s most notorious man. However, do not turn the page to another article yet. There is, what I will call, considerable “backdoor encouragement” from the story of Judas.

Judas’ Background

The New Testament does not reveal much about Judas’ family and the environment in which he grew up. His surname was “Iscariot” ( jIskariwvq = t/w”riq] yai = man of Karioth). Most scholars understand it to refer to the place of his origin, from Kerioth, in southern Judaea (Matthew 10:4; 26:14; John 6:71; 12:4; 13:2,26; 14:22).2 The best estimation today would be to identify Kerioth with Kerioth-hezron (Joshua 15:25), which is about 15 miles south of Hebron. Judas was, then, the only apostle from Judea; the rest were from Galilee. All we know of his family is that his father’s name was Simon (John 6:71).

Judas’ Infamous Titles

Traitor

Luke 6:16 says Judas “became a traitor,” denoting a double-crosser, or betrayer. The New Testament uses the term “traitor” of Judas and of evil people in the End Times (2 Timothy 3:4). The term “to betray” (prodivdwmi) literally means “to give over,” and the New Testament uses it several ways including “to deliver over treacherously by way of betrayal” (Matthew 17:22; 26:16; John 6:64). The noun form, prodovth”, deriving from prodivdwmi, “to betray,” does not occur in the New Testament, and speaks of one who delivers a person without justification into the control of another.

Son of Perdition (John 17:12)

As terrible as “traitor” is, that title pales into insignificance compared to this one. To be the “son of perdition” denotes that Judas is a man identified with eternal destruction, or whose destiny is the Lake of Fire. “Son of perdition” is a predictive designation.

Furthermore, Acts 1:25 says that Judas went “to his own place,” the thought being the place of his own choosing. Accordingly, it is not that Judas was foreordained from eternity past to go to hell, without opportunity to be saved. Instead, he chose to reject Jesus Christ and will suffer the consequences of any person who rejects the Savior.

Judas’ Inclusion in the “12”

[Jesus] called His disciples to Him; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles . . . and Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor (Luke 6:16).

According to Mark 3:19, after Jesus selected the 12 “they went into a house.” This is probably the same house mentioned in Mark 2:1 in Capernaum, quite possibly Peter’s home. As Mark 3:20 continues, we see that such a large multitude gathered together in the house, “they could not so much as eat bread.” Being involved in an exploding ministry, Jesus and His disciples found frequently that it was a challenge to find time to eat (cp. 6:31b).

When you commit yourself to ministry, giving your time, energy, and best efforts to the Lord’s work, others may view you with raised eyebrows. In fact, Jesus’ family thought He was out of His mind and tried to seize Him (Mark 3:21).

When his relatives beard that His ceaseless ministry worked against what they considered proper care of Himself, they came (no doubt from Nazareth) “to lay hold of Him,” a term used for making an arrest (Mark 6:17; 12:12; 14:1, 44, 46, 51).

Why apprehend the Lord? “For” (yap) they thought that he was out of His mind (Mark 3:21b), that is “a mentally unbalanced religious fanatic (cf. Acts 26:24; 2 Corinthians 5:13).”3

So, what did Judas experience as soon as Jesus selected him? (1) Selection into the unique circle of the “12,” becoming an apostle; (2) he observed great crowds flocking to Jesus; and (3) he saw Christ’s own family thinking Him crazy. Nevertheless, Judas was no fool. He observed that Jesus had extraordinary charisma and attracted large crowds, which meant potential political power, influence, and wealth. Judas wanted in on the action. Linking with Jesus seemed to be a fast track to success.

Judas’ Place Among the “12”

We might have supposed that Matthew would handle the money needed to sustain the Lord’s ministry because he had been a tax collector and well acquainted with money matters. Judas, however, was the treasurer of the Lord’s group of apostles indicating that he was no imbecile (John 12:5-6; 13:29). He knew the ins-and-outs of collecting, managing, and spending money better than the others did, including Matthew. We will see what kind of treasurer he was next.

Judas’ Character

In the village of Bethany six days before the Lord’s final Passover, where Lazarus had been raised from the dead (John 12:1), Martha served supper with Lazarus at the table (12:2), but Mary anointed Christ’s feet with expensive “oil of spikenard,” “wiping His feet with her hair” (12:3). It was a wonderful display of love, gratitude, and worship.

Then Judas asked

Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it (John 12:4-6).

• Character trait #1: He did not care about the poor. He was a hard-hearted man, too concerned with feathering his own nest while others, less fortunate, suffered around him.
• Character trait #2: He was a thief, pilfering funds from the Lord’s money box, which exposes that Judas was full of avarice, or greed.

Accordingly, Judas was not in tune with Jesus, rejecting the Lord’s message. To the poor, Jesus preached the gospel (Luke 7:22). And for the needy, Jesus taught that we should go out of our way to help them so far as we are able (parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:29-37). Judas did not welcome that message, nor did he want to help the needy. The man was not regenerated for in a believer God works to will and to do of His good pleasure, which includes ministering to those with pressing needs (cp. Philippians 2:13 with Titus 3:14). Of course, carnality can quench this work of the Spirit in believers also.

Observe the opposite attitude of Paul, a man who was in tune with the Lord (Galatians 2:10; cp. 6:10).

One commentary says this about Judas:

The comment of the Evangelist [that Judas was a thief] is intended to stress the avarice of Judas, who saw in the price of the ointment nothing of the beautiful deed which Jesus praised (Mark 14:6) but only a means by which the apostolic fund would be increased, and thereby his own pocket lined. And even this motive was cloaked under a specious plea that the money could be given away to relieve the poor. Thus to covetousness there is added the trait of deceit.4

Commentators have suggested many possibilities to explain Judas’ character:

Love of money; jealousy of the other disciples; fear of the inevitable outcome of the Master’s ministry which made him turn state’s evidence in order to save his own skin; an enthusiastic intention to force Christ’s hand and make him declare himself as Messiah a bitter, revengeful spirit which arose when his worldly hopes were crushed and this disappointment turned to spite and spite became hate-all these motives have been suggested.5

What is clear is that Judas was a self-serving thief. who followed Jesus not because his inner man had converted to Him, but because he hoped for personal gain by the relationship.

Jesus did not permit Judas’ criticism of Mary’s generous worship to go unchallenged. He said “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial” (John 12:7). In other words, mind your own business and let her worship Me as she wants; it is a straightforward rebuke.

Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

King David was the first to predict that someone would betray the Messiah:

Even My own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate My bread, Has lifted up his heel against Me (Psalm 41:9).

Jesus quoted this verse of Himself at the Last Passover (John 13:18). Shortly after the Transfiguration, while they were in Galilee, Christ predicted:

The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hand of men and they will kill him, and on the third day He will be raised up And they were exceedingly sorrowful (Matthew 17:22 23).

On His way to Jerusalem, the Lord repeats his prediction:

Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again (Matthew 20:18-19).

Thus those who had eyes to see, and ears to hear, should not have been shocked that one of His inner circle (“familiar friend”) would betray Him to the religious leaders.

Judas Betrays the Lord Jesus

The trigger event

What finally motivated Judas to betray the Lord? The setting is the anointing of Jesus in Bethany. The trigger was the rebuke that Jesus gave Judas. Therefore, being stung by the Lord’s rebuke, and becoming increasingly disenchanted because Jesus’ messianic prospects seemed to be dimming, Judas decided to cut his losses.

Judas contacts the religious leaders to make a deal

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me If I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him (Matthew 26:14-16).

“Then” denotes after Mary anointed Jesus in Bethany with costly fragrant oil. Moreover, the disciples (plural) were indignant, saying it was a waste and should have been given to the poor, and Jesus rebuked them (26:6-13).

Though all of the disciples were indignant and complained, it was particularly Judas who asked, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor” (John 12:4)?

The role of the devil

Jesus knew that ultimately His battle was with the evil one. On an occasion well before His final trip to Jerusalem, He implied that the devil would be involved.

Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil (ei|” diavbolo” ejstin)?” He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve (John 6:67-71).

When Jesus says, “one of you is a devil,” it reveals His omniscience (cp. 1:47; 2:24-25; 6:15, 61). He knew that the devil would possess Judas and use the traitor as a puppet to accomplish satanic objectives.

And sure enough, on Tuesday night following a dinner party at Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ home in Bethany-where Jesus rebuked his disciples and particularly Judas-the traitor rejected the Lord one time too many. The devil then possessed him the first of two times this final week of Jesus’ life.

Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude (Luke 22:3-6).

The Night Judas Betrayed the Lord

The gospels do not state why Judas betrayed Jesus. Yet, we may infer at least two reasons:

• Judas did it after becoming convinced that Jesus was going to die and not reign as King (Mark 14:3-11). This dashed Judas’ hopes for political power and influence.
• Judas did it for money (Matthew 26:14-16). Thus, his expectation of financial wealth no longer existed, so he bargained for what he could receive from the religious leaders (30 pieces of silver).

Judas thought, “What’s the use of continuing to follow Jesus when the whole world is turning against Him and the governmental authorities may swallow me up with Him?”

Now the night of Christ’s betrayal began with the Passover feast and Judas apparently was still smarting from Jesus’ rebuke. Judas sat at the table seething and frustrated about how things looked to be coming down. At the same time, the religious leaders were meeting to discuss how they could arrest Jesus and put Him to death, but the multitudes intimidated them. Thus, they needed and discussed a private way to apprehend the Lord (Mark 14:1-2).

Count on it, Satan’s demons attended that meeting also. Once they knew of the religious leaders’ desire, they beat a path to Satan with the news. The devil had stepped out of Judas’ life for a short time. Satan then hatched a plan and imparted it to Judas’ soul while he sat at the Passover table with Jesus.

And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him (John 13:2).

This Satan apparently did without possessing Judas because it is not until after Jesus gives bread to him that Satan re-enters Judas.

As the Last Supper continues, Jesus proceeds to train His apostles, giving them a huge lesson in humility, servanthood, and forgiveness, which He illustrates by washing their feet (John 13:3-20).

When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me” (John 13:21).

In John 13:22-25, the Lord’s announcement of betrayal, during the solemn Passover occasion, bewilders the apostles. Thus, Peter gets John to ask Jesus who the traitor is.

Jesus answered, It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it. And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, What you do, do quickly (John 13:26-27).

This is the second time during the final week that Satan possesses Judas. Consequently, in John 13:31, Judas departs the Upper Room where the Lord and apostles were eating the Last Supper.

Now as we compare the other Gospel accounts, we see the devil next motivate Judas to tell the religious leaders that he will find a way to betray Jesus. His plan would avoid confrontation with the crowds gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover (Luke 22:6). The religious leaders promptly paid Judas for his treacherous scheme (Mark 14:10-11).

Judas figured that the Garden of Gethsemane would be an ideal place to arrest Jesus because it was outside the city’s eastern wall and away from the crowds. Satan, who anticipated the Lord’s movements, had put this plan into Judas’ head.

The traitor notified the religious leaders that he would identify Jesus with a “kiss.” Why a kiss? Because it would be nighttime and not immediately apparent to the soldiers who Christ was among his disciples!

Once the religious leaders called together the Roman soldiers (a military unit, or cohort, of 600), they tagged along themselves, and Judas led them to the place in the Garden where Jesus prayed. For this “leadership,” Judas became known as “a guide to those who arrested Jesus” (Acts 1:16).

In the Garden of Gethsemane

And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. Then Judas, hawing received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, Came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore. knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward rind said to them, Whom are you seeking? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, l am ‘He.’ And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them (John 18:5-6).

This treacherous act by Judas became embedded in the minds of the apostles, so much so that Paul, when explaining the communion service says:

I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread (1 Corinthians 11:23).

Judas’ Death

The morning of the day of Christ’s crucifixion

Seeing that Christ was condemned to death, Judas was remorseful, admitted he betrayed innocent blood, threw the 30 pieces of silver (about $220.00) the leaders paid him into the temple, then hanged himself (Matthew 27:3-5).

The religious leaders, ever scrupulous of keeping the Law (at least the parts they liked!), did not take back the blood money, but instead purchased from a local pottery maker a field in which to bury strangers. It was renamed “the field of Blood” (Matthew 27:6-8), which fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy (Zechariah 11:13).

Judas’ suicide: A mystery explained

Matthew says that Judas hanged himself (Matthew 27:5). “This establishes the fact that Judas fastened a noose around his neck and jumped from the branch to which the other end of the rope was attached.”6

In addition, Acts 1:18 reveals that “falling headlong, [Judas] burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out”—a considerably more dramatic picture than Matthew gives. It is terrible enough to commit suicide, but to take a fall, have your body burst open, and your inner parts gush out, is horrendous to say the least.

The question is: Do we have a contradiction in the Bible, or is it possible to harmonize Matthew and Luke? It is possible to harmonize:7

• The limb from which Judas hung was over a precipice, that is, the valley of Hinnom. In fact, to this day there are many dry trees on the brink of this canyon near the traditional site of Judas’ suicide. Thus, it could be that the weight of his body on a dry and dead limb broke the limb causing his body to plummet into the canyon and burst open.
• Or, perhaps the rock shattering earthquake that ripped through Jerusalem at the moment Jesus “yielded up His spirit” caused the limb to break and plunged the swollen, three day old corpse into the canyon splitting it open (cp. Matthew 27:51).
• Or, even a strong gust of wind, funneled through the canyon, could have caused the limb to break.

Whatever, there is no contradiction in God’s Word; a contradiction here is only in the minds of those who want a discrepancy. The ultimate tragic end of the “son of perdition”—an end immeasurably more dreadful than his burst open body—is that he went to Hades, to await the second resurrection and judgment at the Great White Throne, then an eternity in Hell.

Jesus had said at the Last Supper:

Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born (Matthew 27:24).

Two Lessons

Lesson #1: The life of Judas Iscariot is an enormous tragedy. It shows what happens when one exposes himself to the truth day-after-day, but does not embrace it, use it, obey it! By application, we cannot go to church Sunday after Sunday, and even attend Bible classes during the week, thinking that our mere presence there will keep God pleased with us.

Nearly every day for three plus years Judas listened to the best Bible teacher who ever walked this planet. He heard the truth not only preached, but also saw it perfectly lived-out in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Yet, the more Judas heard, the more he possessed to reject, and the more he rejected the more his heart became hardened. His conscience became seared so that he no longer felt the critiquing ministry of the written Word and the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. His inner man gradually hardened to the point that it became a convenient habitation for the devil himself, leading to betrayal and finally suicide.

We must not let be lost on ourselves what happened to Judas. The corrective is diligently to put into practice what we learn from God’s Word. Do not permit your intake of the Bible to be merely an academic head-trip.

• If you learn that you may confess your sin: Keep confessing.
• If you learn that you should pray: Keep praying.
• If you learn that you are to witness to Christ: Keep witnessing.
• If you learn that you should not forsake the assembling of yourselves together: Keep assembling.
• If you learn that God gave you a spiritual gift for the common good: Use your gift to serve your fellow believers in love

As Christians, we must become vigorous doers of the Word, not mere hearers only, lest the hardening process overtakes us and we lose opportunity for eternal reward to the glory of God.

Lesson #2: For those who are servants in various leadership positions as pastors, teachers, evangelists, elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, and so on, there is encouragement from the tragic life of Judas—back door encouragement!

Every leader eventually experiences the disappointment and grief of someone close to him turning traitor. It may not be as dramatic as what Judas did to our Lord, but betrayal it is.

Judas violated Jesus, deceiving Him with the world’s greatest hypocritical kiss, resulting in Christ’s execution. However, in three days God turned the tables on Jesus’ enemies and raised Him from the dead. And the same God who raised the Lord Jesus out of seemingly utter, devastating treachery and defeat is still in the business of supporting and protecting us, even reversing our losses.

The devil thought he had won. The demons threw their biggest celebration party ever. The religious leaders danced home after the crucifixion and toasted their success. However, God raised Jesus from the dead!

There are other examples of the Father delivering His people from treachery and defeat. The Lord raised David from sure defeat to victory in the civil war with his treacherous son, Absalom. Why? Because David confessed his sin, repented, and his heart was still inclined to serve the Lord.

The Lord brought Jonah back from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea to minister to Nineveh. Why? Because in the belly of the great fish, Jonah repented! Although he still needed an attitude adjustment about the Assyrians, God worked through Jonah the greatest evangelistic crusade recorded in the Old Testament.

So, where are we? Though there may be a “Judas” in our church, or school, or fellowship group, God will never desert or abandon those who fear the Lord and take refuge in Him.

Therefore, let us take heart! “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9). God will take care of the Judases of life; our business is to be faithful so long as He gives us breath and energy to serve.

Article from CTS Journal, volume 3, number 1 (Summer 1997), a publication of Chafer Theological Seminary, Orange, CA.

1 Don Richardson, Peace Child (Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1974): you may call Regal @ 1-800-4-GOSPEL.

2 Vine, W. E., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, [Logos Library System 2.1, CD-ROM] (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell), 1981.

3 Walvoord, John and Zuck, Roy, Bible Knowledge Commentary [Logos Library System 2.1, CD-ROM] (Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, 1983), 985.

4 The New Bible Dictionary (NBD) [Logos Library System 2.1, CD-ROM] (Wheaton: TyndaIe House Publishers), 1962.

5 NBD.

6 Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982), 344.

7 See Archer, 344.

 

Our text is about the dirty work of washing the disciples’ feet. This menial task was performed by none other than the Lord of glory. What an amazing story it is. It is not included in any other Gospel account.

It introduces the Upper Room Discourse of our Lord (John 13-17), which is also found only in the Gospel of John. It will serve as a beginning today as we begin a series entitled Important Final Words of Jesus. (It’s the 11^th time we have closed the year as a congregation together with studies in the life of Christ). This is indeed a marvelous portion of John’s Gospel.

John G. Mitchell writes,”Of all the Scriptures between Genesis and Revelation, I know of no greater portion as far as the people of God are concerned than chapters 13 through 17 of John. I believe in these chapters we have the seed germ of all the truth concerning the Church, as well as almost all the doctrine in the New Testament. Our Lord’s discourse here takes us within twenty-four hours of the crucifixion.[1]

Here is a text which has much to say to our generation. Let us listen well to what the Spirit of God has to say to each one of us.

From time to time, we are faced with the task of “saying goodbye” to a congregation, some employees, or even our employee of many years. It is never easy.

This chapter begins the first of five which record for us the “farewell message” to His beloved disciples, climaxing with His intercessory prayer for them and for us. (Other farewell addresses in Scriptures were delivered by Moses (Deut. 31-33), Joshua ( 23-24), and Paul (Acts 20).

However, Jesus added a significant “action section” to His message when He washed His disciples’ feet. It was an object lesson they would never forget!

The washing of the feet of one’s guests was expected in Jesus’ day, as we can see from Luke’s Gospel:

44 Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss of greeting, but from the time I entered she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfumed oil (Luke 7:44-46).

Normally, the host would not do this washing himself, because it was regarded as a very demeaning task. We get some idea of just how menial it was from the comment Abigail makes to David in the Old Testament: “Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, ‘Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord’” (1 Samuel 25:41, NKJV).

Foot washing was understood in the same way by John the Baptist:

When John the Baptist desired to give expression to his feeling of unworthiness in comparison to Christ, he could think of no better way to express this than to say that he deemed himself unworthy of kneeling down in front of Jesus in order to unloose his sandalstraps and remove the sandals (with a view to washing the Master’s feet).”[2]

I believe our Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet in John 13 is further explained by a comment that is found in Luke’s Gospel: 24 A dispute also started among them over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 So Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 26 But it must not be like that with you! Instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:24-27).

It would not at all surprise me if this dispute occurred just as the disciples were entering this upper room. The “table” was not like our kitchen “tables” at all. The meal would have been served to these disciples as they reclined in a u-shaped arrangement, with our Lord at what we might call the “head of the table.” Some suggest that Judas was sitting beside Jesus, at His right hand, in the place of honor. I wouldn’t be surprised. Each place at the table had its own social ranking. This is why our Lord can say:

8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, because a person more distinguished than you may have been invited by your host. 9 So the host who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place,’ and then with shame you will start to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, go and take the least important place, so that when your host comes he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up here to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who share the meal with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:8-11).

I believe that when the disciples entered this upper room, they were all intent on sitting in the places of honor—at our Lord’s right and left hand (see Matthew 20:21-23). I can almost see them pushing and shoving their way into the room, hurrying past the basin of water, where a servant normally would have been present to wash the feet of the guests as they entered, in preparation for the meal. This may well have been the time that the disciples argued among themselves about who was to be regarded as the greatest. After all, every one of them would have to establish their “ranking” among the 12 if they were to be seated according to their greatness.

I can see our Lord, quietly observing His disciples as they squabble. I can imagine Him making His way to the washbasin, and filling it with water, while His disciples continue to argue with each other, completely oblivious to what He is doing. And then they suddenly become silent as they realize that He has taken the lowest position of all—lower than the lowest of the 12—the position of a servant (and not a high-ranking servant, either).

To their amazement, they observe Jesus, working His way from one of them to the next, first washing a pair of dirty feet, and then drying them with the towel that is wrapped about His waist. The argument seems to end with the words of our Lord in verses 12-17. They may not understand all that He has done, but they must have had enough sense to know it was time to be stop bickering and be quiet.[3]

The scene is in the upper room and the occasion is the Passover supper to which the disciples had been invited. It was the night of Christ’s betrayal and the eve of His crucifixion. Who could begin to understand the severe suffering and anguish Christ endured during those several hours

There were several reasons why Christ was crucified at the time of the Passover. One was the relationship of the Passover to Christ.

Not only did the Passover commemorate the deliverance of the Jews from their Egyptian bondage, it also had a prophetic message. It graphically portrayed Him who would come to be the true Passover to deliver from sins all who would believe on Him.

In the shadow of the cross, Jesus is not seated at the place of honor, but assuming the lowly position of a servant.  In this passage, we see our Lord in a fourfold relationship:

1. HUMILITY: HIS RELATIONSHIP TO HIS HEAVENLY FATHER (13:1-5)

Jesus had entered Jerusalem on Sunday, and on Monday had cleansed the temple. Tuesday was a day of conflict as the religious leaders sought to trip Him up and get evidence to arrest Him. These events are recorded in Matthew 21-25.

Wednesday was probably a day of rest, but on Thursday He met in the Upper Room with His disciples in order to observe Passover. It’s certain that Jesus knew He had less than 15 hours to live!

Two verses out of five focus on the actual washing of the disciples’ feet by our Lord. Three of the five verses provide us with background information, which John believes his readers need to know in order to properly understand the Lord’s actions. We might say that verses 1-3 provide us with information that gives us insight into our Lord’s “state of mind.”[4]

“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. {2} The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. {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…”

* Jesus knew that “His hour was come.”

 More than any of the gospel writers, John emphasized the fact that Jesus lived on a “heavenly timetable” as He did the Father’s will. What was this divinely appointed “hour?” It was the time when He would be glorified through His death, resurrection, and ascension.

From the human point of view, it meant suffering; but from the divine point of view, it meant glory. He would soon leave this world and return to the Father, who sent Him, Jesus having finished His work on earth (17:4).

When the servant of God is in the will of God, he is immortal until his work is done. They could not arrest Jesus, let alone kill Him, until the right hour had arrived.

* Jesus also knew that Judas would betray Him.

Judas is mentioned eight times in this gospel, more than in any of the other gospels. Satan had entered into Judas (Luke 22:3), and now he would give him the necessary thought to bring about the arrest and crucifixion of the Son of God.

Jesus loved His disciples to the end, though they did not all love Him. To the end, Jesus was trying to overcome evil with good. Jesus possessed a love which would not be quenched by evil.

* Jesus knew that the Father had given Him all things.

This statement parallels John 3:35, and it also reminds us of Matthew 11:27. Even in His humiliation, our Lord had all things through His Father.  Knowing that all had been given into His hands, He deliberately subjected Himself to the needs of His disciples, and sacrificed Himself for them by submitting to an authority which was beneath Him.

He was fully conscious of divine origin and divine destiny. One writer said: “Divine love leaped over the boundaries of class distinctions and made the Lord of Glory the servant of men.”

He was poor and yet He was rich.  Because Jesus knew who He was, where He came from,  what He had, and where He was going, He was complete master of the situation.

You and I? We know that we have been born of God, that we are one day going to God, and that in Christ we have all things; therefore, we ought to be able to follow our Lord’s example and serve others!

* And what Jesus knew helped  determine what Jesus did:

   “…so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. {5} 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.”

Service: ·          is an expression of love ·          springs from confidence ·          is God-oriented ·          requires first being served ·          is imitation ·          is about doing

The disciples must have been shocked when they saw their Master rise from supper, lay aside His outer garments, wrap a towel around His waist, take a basin of water and wash their feet.

Jewish servants did not wash their masters’ feet, although Gentile slaves might do it. It was a menial task, and yet Jesus did it! As a special mark of affection, a host or hostess might wash a guest’s feet, but it was not standard operating procedure in most homes.

There are at least two reasons why Jesus chose this activity:

— Their feet were dirty.

The roads of Palestine were quite unsurfaced and uncleaned. In dry weather they were inches deep in dust, and in wet weather they were liquid mud. The shoes the ordinary people wore were sandals; and these sandals were simply soles held on to the foot by a few straps.

They gave little protection against the dust or the mud of the roads. For that reason there were always great waterpots at the door of the house; and a servant was there with a towel to wash the soiled feet of the guests as they came in.

— Their hearts were proud.

Jesus’ disciples were ready to fight for a throne, but not for a towel.

Jesus knew there was a competative spirit in the hearts of His disciples. In fact, within a few minutes, the men were disputing over which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24-30)! He gave them an unforgettable lesson in humility, and by His actions rebuked their selfishness and pride.

The more you think about this scene, the more profound it becomes. Confucius called humility “the solid foundation of all the virtues.” The Greek word means “low” or “to stoop low,” and it carries the idea of serving another person.

Too often we confuse the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) with the”poor-spirited” and true humility with timidity and inferiority.  The Father had put all things into the Son’s hands, yet Jesus picked up a towel and a basin!

It might be explain by a Malay proverb: “the fuller the ear is of rice-grain, the lower it bends.”

It has well been said that humility is not thinking meanly of yourself; it is simply not thinking of yourself at all! We need to be careful that we’re not filled with a worldly spirit of competition or criticism.

 

It is Christ’s example of humility that Paul appeals to in his exhortation to serve one another:

Philippians 2:3-8: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. {4} Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  {5} Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: {6} Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, {7} but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. {8} And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!”

   * He got up from the meal–just as He’d left the throne of heaven

* He took off His outer garments–just as He’d divested Himself of heaven’s robes

* He wrapped a towel about His waist–just as He’d clothed Himself with humanity

* He poured water in a bowl, got on His knees and began to wash feet–just as he would pour out His life on the cross.

Jesus in effect said: “I’m God. I spoke the universe into existence. I have all power and glory, yet I came to serve! And if you’re to follow me, you must emulate my example.”

Humility is unannounced.  It is also willing to receive without embarrassment (we’ll see this idea in the discussion with Peter in just a few verses). It is not a sign of weakness and it does not play favorites (in the example of Judas).

It is obvious, is it not, that John wishes to emphasize the love our Lord has for His own? Mitchell observes:

It is remarkable that in this section, starting in chapter 13, begins with the statement, ‘Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end;’ (13:1). This section ends in chapter 17 with Jesus praying, ‘that the love wherewith thou has loved me may be in them, and I in them’ (17:26). He begins and ends with His love for His own. It’s just like the Savior! And down through these five chapters we have the marvelous revelation of His love, of His concern for His own.[5]

Here is the amazing thing. Jesus loves His own. Jesus loves His own, knowing everything. He loves His own, knowing that He is sovereign, and that He is about to leave this earth and return to His Father.

He loves His own, knowing that they have been arguing (or will shortly do so) about who is the greatest, knowing that they are about to forsake Him and flee for their lives, knowing that Peter will deny Him.

It is one thing for people to love us, who do not know all of our wicked deeds, thoughts, and motivations. It is another for the Holy God of heaven to love us, knowing every wicked thing we have done and will do. This is, indeed, amazing love.

What a comfort to the Christian, knowing that our Lord’s love is constant and unchanging, knowing that He chose to love us—and to keep on loving us—purely out of His grace, and not based upon our performance. Jesus loved His own; He loved them to the “end”—to the uttermost degree, and to the very end.[6]

2. HOLINESS: HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SIMON PETER (13:6-11)

 As Peter watched the Lord wash his friends’ feet, he became more and more disturbed and could not understand what He was doing.

Throughout the gospels, Peter has often spoken impulsively out of his ignorance and had to be corrected by Jesus:

– he opposed Jesus going to the cross (Matt. 16:21-23)

– he tried to manage our Lord’s affairs at the transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-8)

– he expressed the faith of the disciples (John 6:66-71) without realizing that one was the traitor

The word “wash” in verses 5-6, 8, 12, and 14 is “nipto,” and means to “wash part of the body.” But the word translated “wash” in verse 10 is “louo” and means “to bathe all over.” The distinction is important, for Jesus was trying to teach His disciples the importance of a holy walk.

This conversation between Jesus and Peter illustrated a principle deeper than a mere argument over social standing. Peter’s protest against Jesus’ washing his feet was prompted by shame,  for he felt it was unfitting that a Master should wash the feet of disciples. Later the meaning would be clear in the light of the cross, which provided a cleansing for all men, without which no one could have a part in the heritage of the saints.

“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” {7} Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” {8} “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” {9} “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” {10} 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.” {11} For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.”

It is as though Peter has been watching Jesus draw nearer to him, as He makes His way around the table, washing the feet of each of His disciples. And when Jesus reaches Peter’s feet, he does what seems to be the pious or humble thing to do—he declines. He asks His Master if He thinks He is going to wash his feet.[7]

The inference is that Peter will have no part of this. We might paraphrase his words this way: “You don’t think you’re going to wash my feet, do you, Lord?” If the disciples thought it was inappropriate for them to wash the feet of their peers, they would surely think it inappropriate for the Master to wash their feet. Even Peter could see this, and thus he resisted having his feet washed by the Savior.

Peter’s words may appear humble, but they are really arrogant. In the first place, Peter is arrogant enough to think he knows better than Jesus what is appropriate and what is not. He knows that Jesus is deliberately washing the feet of every disciple, and yet Peter is so bold as to correct Jesus, as though He was wrong.

John Calvin comments:  This speech expresses strong dislike of the action as foolish and unsuitable; for by asking what Christ is doing, he puts out his hand, as it were, to push him back. The modesty would be worthy of commendations, were it not that obedience is of greater value in the sight of God than any kind of honour or service, or rather, if this were not the true and only rule of humility, to yield ourselves in obedience to God, and to have all our senses regulated by his good pleasure, so that every thing which he declares to be agreeable to Him shall also be approved by us, without any scruple.[8]

We may be inclined to excuse Peter’s resistance at first, but his second protest is a more serious error. Jesus responded to Peter’s first protest by saying to him, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.” In other words, Jesus not only indicated that He knew what He was doing and that it was right, but that Peter would understand this also, later on. Jesus is urging Peter both to trust and to obey Him.[9]

Calvin writes: Hitherto Peter’s modesty was excusable, though it was not free from blame; but now he errs more grievously, when he has been corrected, and yet does not yield. And, indeed, it is a common fault, that ignorance is closely followed by obstinacy. It is a plausible excuse, no doubt, that the refusal springs from reverence for Christ; but since he does not absolutely obey the injunction, the very desire of showing his respect for Christ loses all its gracefulness. The true wisdom of faith, therefore, is to approve and embrace with reverence whatever proceeds from God, as done with propriety and in good order; nor is there any other way, indeed, in which his name can be sanctified by us; for if we do not believe that whatever he does is done for a very good reason, our flesh, being naturally stubborn, will continually murmur, and will not render to God the honour due to him, unless by constraint. In short, until a man renounce the liberty of judging as to the works of God, whatever exertions he may make to honour God, still pride will always lurk under the garb of humility.[10]

Let me look at Peter’s protest from a somewhat different perspective. Has Peter protested against the omniscience (knowing all) and the sovereignty (absolute control) of our Lord? In addition to this, Peter is protesting against divine grace. Think of it for a moment. Peter is, with a fair measure of false humility, rejecting our Lord’s actions as though he is undeserving (which, of course, he is).

That is the point. What Jesus does for His disciples, He does out of love and grace. And this is precisely what Jesus is about to point out to Peter. Would he resist having Jesus wash his feet, on the premise that he is unworthy? Then he must also reject having his sins washed away by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, for he is unworthy of this as well. To reject grace in principle is to reject all grace, period. And so Jesus says to Peter: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

With this statement, Peter is brought back to reality, to his senses. It was like a slap on the face. If Peter was too quick to protest our Lord’s gracious act of washing his feet, he was not too quick to repent of his foolishness. And that he does. We all can identify with Peter when he speaks before he thinks; would that we might identify with Peter in his ability to forsake his folly and cling to the Savior.

Whatever Peter’s faults, he deeply loved the Savior. The thought of having no part with Him (as it would be with Judas) was too much. Now, far from resisting a foot washing, Peter is ready for a full bath. More than anything else, Peter wants to identify and to participate fully in all that Jesus will graciously grant.

Ever so graciously, Jesus denies this request of Peter. If he should mistakenly desire too little of Jesus, neither should he ask for more than is needed. He is clean; he does not need a bath, but just a foot washing. Jesus is also speaking to Peter on a spiritual level. One who has been bathed and thereby cleansed by His shed blood does not need to be “washed” this way over and over again; he needs only to be washed.[11]

These words certainly appear to lay to rest the belief of some that men must be saved over and over again.

Jesus knows everything, including the fact that Judas had already purposed to betray him. And so Jesus clarifies that the “cleansing” of which He speaks does not belong to all who are with Him at the moment. This (like nearly everything else Jesus said at this moment of time) must have gone completely over the heads of the 11. Jesus wanted them to remember that even before His betrayal by Judas, He had spoken of it. Jesus was in control of this as well. He was not a victim, but the Victor (see verses 1-3).

Peter’s response was characteristic of the man! A bath would need to be a daily item; we need something that is “once for all.” We can learn an important lesson from Peter: don’t question the Lord’s will or work, and don’t try to change it! He knows what He is doing!

Peter had a difficult time accepting Christ’s ministry to Him because Peter was not yet ready to minister to the other disciples. It takes humility and grace to serve others, but it also takes humility and grace to allow others to serve us.

The beautiful thing about a submissive spirit is that it can both give and receive to the glory of God.

His words “you are clean” was intended to teach a lesson in spiritual truth as well as to discharge the social obligation of the moment. Judas was clean on the outside, but not on the inside.

John was careful to point out that Peter and Judas were in a different relationship with Jesus. Yes, Jesus washed Judas’ feet! But it did Judas no good.

3. HAPPINESS: HIS RELATIONSHIP TO ALL OF THE DISCIPLES (13:12-17)

“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. {13} “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. {14} Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. {15} I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. {16} I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. {17} Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

The first thing we should observe from these verses is that our Lord taught His disciples by His deeds, and not just by His declarations. How different Jesus is from the Pharisees:

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and his disciples, 2 “The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore, pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long. 6 They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, 7 and to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have people call them ‘Rabbi’” (Matthew 23:1-7).

Jesus has washed the feet of the disciples purposefully. It was a task that needed doing, and our Lord did it. It was also a way that Jesus could demonstrate His unfathomable love for His disciples. But beyond this, it was a lesson which the disciples desperately needed to learn, a lesson in humility.

These men were still looking at leadership from a “secular” point of view, rather than from a divine perspective. The secular world looks upon leadership as the opportunity to be served. A leader has many people “under him,” and thus he “uses” them to minister to his own needs.

In the kingdom of God, a position of leadership is simply a place of service. No matter where one finds himself on the leader-follower scale, the Christian is to serve God by serving others. Leadership is simply one place of service. It enables one to serve as others cannot.

Jesus employs the greater/lesser logic here. He is the sovereign God, the supreme leader. This is what John emphasizes in the first verses of chapter 13. Knowing this, our Lord purposefully sets out to wash the feet of His disciples. If He, as the sovereign God, can wash their dirty feet, then surely they should do likewise to one another.

Rather than arguing with each other about who is regarded to be the greatest, they should be humbling themselves by serving one another. Rather than striving to possess the “rights” of the one who ranks highest, they should seize the opportunity to serve others by doing menial tasks. Put differently, even those “on the top” can and should minister “from the bottom up.” In a “top-down” world, this is a revolutionary concept.

The last statement of our Lord, recorded in verse 17, is profoundly important: “If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” They really didn’t understand this yet, like everything else. But even when they are able to grasp this teaching academically, the important thing is not the knowing of this truth, but the doing of it.

We are not blessed so much by what we know as we are blessed by the doing of what we know. This applies to far more than just this one command. It applies across the entire spectrum of biblical knowledge. There are some folks who do not know as much as others, but they do far more than those “in the know.”

Again, it is Calvin who observes:

… for knowledge is not entitled to be called true, unless it produce such an effect on believers as to lead them to conform themselves to their Head. On the contrary, it is a vain imagination, when we look upon Christ, and the things which belong to Christ, as separate from ourselves. We may infer from this that, until a man has learned to yield to his brethren, he does not know if Christ be the Master. Since there is no man who performs his duty to his brethren in all respects, and since there are many who are careless and sluggish in brotherly offices, this shows us that we are still at a great distance from the full light of faith.[12]

Verse 17 is the key verse as we apply this marvelous example of Jesus. The sequence is important: humbleness, holiness, then happiness.

Jesus asked the disciples if they understood what he had done, and though they felt they did, it’s more likely that they did not … so he explains it to them. Jesus was their Master (Teacher) and Lord, so He had every right to command their service. Instead, He served them!

He gave them an example of true Christian ministry: the servant (slave) is not greater than his master; so if the master becomes the slave, where does that put the slave? On the same level as the master!

By becoming a servant, our Lord did not push us down; He lifted us up!

We know from our Lord’s words that we must be sure to put the lesson of this text into practice. And so as we conclude this lesson, let us ponder how we should do just that.

Let me begin with a very practical question: Does this text teach us that we must literally wash the feet of others, or does it teach that we must do more than wash feet? There have always been some who have taken the words of our Lord in a strictly literal way:

Foot-washing was practised on Maundy Thursday by the Church of Augustine’s day. It was recommended by Bernard of Clairvaux in one of his sermons. The practice, moreover, was continued by the pope at Rome and by emperors (of Austria, of Russia) and kings (of Spain, Portugal, Bavaria). For a while it was practised by the Church of England and by the Moravians. It has been continued to this very day by certain Baptist and Adventist bodies. It was roundly condemned by Luther and by his followers as ‘an abominable papal corruption.’[13]

I very much appreciate the comment of John G. Mitchell here:

Jesus has washed the feet of Peter who will deny Him, of Thomas who will doubt Him, and of Judas who will betray Him. He has more in mind here than an ordinance of foot washing. I have no argument against those who claim we should have literal foot washing services. If you feel you should do that, that’s between you and the Lord. I think, however, that the Lord has a far greater matter before us here.[14]

If one is convicted that this command should be taken literally, then he should literally apply the words of our Lord. Even so, this is not to be viewed as the limit to which these words should be taken. Jesus does not simply say that we should do what He has done, but that we should do as He has done. The washing of the disciples’ feet is an example[15] to be followed, and not just as an act to imitate as a ritual.[16]

I believe that we must be very careful about coming to the conclusion that Jesus or His apostles did not mean what they appear to have said. Many of the commands of the Bible are too quickly and easily set aside, because we don’t like them, or because our culture will not tolerate them. The Bible’s teaching on the role of women is an example of the latter. Our Lord’s teaching about “turning the other cheek” is an example of the former. But in our text, it seems as though Jesus is clear that He is teaching the principle of servanthood, rather than merely commanding the practice of foot washing. We do not see this command repeated or practiced as an ordinance in Acts or in the Epistles. I do believe that while foot washing itself is not commanded, there are many other actions which the principle of servanthood does require. We shall seek to identify these by first identifying the characteristics of foot washing which are transferable, and then by considering some possible practices which conform to these characteristics.

The Essence of Washing Feet

Consider the following elements which characterize our Lord’s act of washing the disciples’ feet:

(1) Our Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet was service. Our Lord did the work of a servant as He served His disciples.

(2) Our Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet was a necessary, beneficial service. As a former student and classroom Bible teacher, I can safely say that this was not “busy work.” It was not work for work’s sake, but work that had very practical benefits for the disciples—clean feet.

(3) Our Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet was menial service. Foot washing is “dirty work,” work which required our Lord to “get His hands dirty.” This work was so menial the disciples were not willing to perform it themselves, and at least Peter attempted to keep Jesus from carrying out this humble task.

(4) Our Lord’s service of washing the disciples’ feet was a voluntary act, motivated by love. Jesus was not fulfilling any Old Testament commandment or prophecy. What Jesus chose to do here was not “in His job description.” Our Lord’s service was “above and beyond the call of duty.” He was not doing what someone (including the disciples) had asked Him to do.

(5) Our Lord’s service of washing the disciples’ feet was a task which someone else could have done. This foot washing was a task Jesus could have commanded any one of His disciples to do. Jesus did what someone else could have done, what the disciples expected someone else to do.

(6) Our Lord’s service of washing the disciples’ feet was His gracious ministry to those who were undeserving, and even to him who would betray his Lord. Here they were, arguing with each other about who was the greatest, oblivious to what lay ahead for the Master. Here they were, those who would desert Him, who would deny Him, who would betray Him, and Jesus washed the feet of all.

(7) Our Lord’s service was the meeting of a need that no one else was willing to meet.

(8) Our Lord’s service does not appear to be very “spiritual” nor very “significant.” How quickly ministry opportunities are seized when the ministry is prominent, popular, prestigious, fulfilling, and profitable. The washing of the disciples’ feet appeared to be none of these. Foot washing is mundane, everyday, garden-variety service.

(9) Our Lord’s service was selfless, sacrificial service.

The Expression of Foot Washing Today

So, assuming we understand better what the foot washing of our text was, in essence, how should it be expressed today? How can you and I obey our Lord’s command and wash feet in today’s context? At one time or another, we all need the challenge. And the challenge isn’t always about washing feet. Occasionally it’s about moving an old mattress out of the house. It’s about fixing the leaky faucet in the kitchen. It’s about letting him know how much you appreciate how hard he works for his family. It’s about making your child’s parent-teacher conference. It’s about treating the people at work with more respect. It’s about swapping a shift with a co-worker whose dad is having surgery next week. It’s about walking from one of the more remote parking spots here on Sunday morning. It’s about helping with Children’s Ministry. I have some very practical suggestions:

(1) Make a commitment to the Lord to begin “washing the feet” of others. Recognize that this is contrary to the spirit of our age. I have been told that one of the characteristics of the so-called “Generation X” is that they are completely selfish. They don’t give themselves or their money. Instead, they expect others to give to them. Foot washing begins with taking up one’s cross and following Jesus. If we truly follow Him, we will take up our cross, and we will sacrificially serve others. This is what the gospel brings about.

(2) You don’t have to look for this kind of ministry opportunity; it will find you. Our problem is not a lack of opportunities to “wash feet”; it is our unwillingness to “see” and to seize these opportunities. Look, for example, at the story of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke chapter 10. The priest and the Levite saw the man who had been beaten, there in the road before them, but they did not view ministering to him as their responsibility. It wasn’t in their “job description.” They had their religious duties to carry out. They weren’t into foot washing of this kind. But the Samaritan took this ministry upon himself. The need for “foot washing” in our society is as common as dirty feet were in our Lord’s day. We simply need to open our eyes to see these needs.

(3) We must take our eyes off of ourselves, and gird ourselves with the “mind of Christ” which we see in our text. When sacrificial service is our goal rather than self-seeking, we will see the many needs around us for “foot washing.” We simply need to look for those needs which are not being met and, with the strength God provides, meet them. Once a desire for practical service overcomes the urge for self-seeking, the opportunities are unlimited.

(4) We need to focus our attention on those undone things which we have come to expect someone else to do. For example, as you get up to leave this service, are there bulletins, paper, etc., left behind? Do we have a custodian? We do, but why should we not serve him by taking out our own trash, or that left behind by someone else? If we see trash in the parking lot, do we walk by it, just as the disciples hurried by the water basin?

When I prepare to conduct a funeral service, I usually meet with the immediate family and close friends, to go over the plans for the service, and also to obtain information about the life of the one who passed away. Often, I will say, “Can you think of a story which captures the essence of what ______’s life was about?” Very often, they will tell me a story, and when the others hear it, they will say, “Oh, you’re right, that is just like ______.” This story of the washing of the disciples’ feet is just like Jesus. It captures the “mind of Christ” in a very practical way. It is this spirit which prompted our Lord to perform the ultimate washing, the washing away of our sins through the shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary. We, like the disciples, were dirty and defiled, and totally unworthy of His mercy and love. And yet He humbled Himself to cleanse us from sin by His humiliation and suffering on the cross. Have you accepted this washing for yourself personally, or have you, like Peter, sought to push Jesus aside? We must humble ourselves by acknowledging our sin and our need, and the necessity to be cleansed by Him who is without sin—Jesus Christ. May we accept His gracious offer of cleansing, and thus enter into the joy of intimate fellowship with Him.

One final thing I would like you to ponder as I conclude this message.

It is a statement that is made necessary by the twisted culture in which we live: Love is not about sex as much as it is about dirty feet. May God give us the grace to wash feet this very day.

 

[1] John G. Mitchell, with Dick Bohrer, An Everlasting Love: A Devotional Study of the Gospel of John (Portland: Multnomah Press, 1982), p. 247.

[2] Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 228.

[3] This entire paragraph is speculative, and thus the reader should beware, but it does at least suggest how things may have happened.

[4] In a criminal trial, the state of mind of the accused is usually given considerable attention, especially in crimes which have different degrees (first, second, third) of guilt, and therefore of punishment. Here, while it is unusual perhaps, John describes our Lord’s “state of mind” so that we can determine the degree of goodness of this foot washing. I think we should conclude from what we are told that Jesus is to be assessed with “first degree goodness.”

[5] John G. Mitchell, with Dick Bohrer, p. 248.

[6] “… (this noun only here in this Gospel) is ambiguous, meaning both ‘to the end’ and ‘to the utmost.’ It is likely that here we have a typical Johannine double meaning, with both meanings intended. But the aorist, hgaphsen, is more consistent with love shown in a single act than with the continuance of love (imperfect).” Carson, p. 614, fn. 8.

[7] We might be tempted to agree with Peter. As often as he “put his foot in his mouth,” his feet may have been clean!

[8] John Calvin, p. 821.

[9] Calvin’s words here are powerful when he writes, “We are taught by these words, that we ought simply to obey Christ, even though we should not perceive the reason why he wishes this or that thing to be done. In a well-regulated house, one person, the head of the family, has the sole right to say what ought to be done; and the servants are bound to employ their hands and feet in his service. That man, therefore, is too haughty, who refuses to obey the command of God, because he does not know the reason of it. But this admonition has a still more extensive meaning, and that is, that we should not take it ill to be ignorant of those things which God wishes to be hidden from us for a time; for this kind of ignorance is more learned than any other kind of knowledge, when we permit God to be wise above us.” John Calvin, pp. 821-822.

[10] John Calvin, p. 822.

[11] “The Old Testament priests were ceremonially bathed just once when they were inducted into the priest’s office. After that, they washed only their feet and hands at the laver of cleansing.” Mitchell, p. 252.

[12] John Calvin, p. 824.

[13] Hendriksen, vol.2, p. 236, fn. 134.

[14] Mitchell, pp. 253-254.

[15] The term “example” is found not only here (this one time) in John, but also in Hebrews 4:11; 8:5; 9:26; James 5:10; and 2 Peter 2:6.

[16] I will quote Calvin one more time here: “Now, therefore, he discloses the reason of what he had done; namely, that he who is the Master and Lord of all gave an example to be followed by all the godly, that none might grudge to descend to do a service to his brethren and equals, however mean and low that service might be. For the reason why the love of the brethren is despised is, that every man thinks more highly of himself than he ought, and despises almost every other person. Nor did he intend merely to inculcate modesty, but likewise to lay down this rule of brotherly love, that they should serve one another; for there is no brotherly love where there is not a voluntary subjection in assisting a neighbour.” Calvin, pp. 823-824.

This story of Mary anointing our Lord shortly before His death can have a profound influence on our walk with the Lord because of a statement from a sermon by the late Chinese preacher, Watchman Nee. It’s found in the last chapter of his book, The Normal Christian Life titled, “The Goal of the Gospel.”

Nee points out that in the parallel accounts in Matthew (26:6-13) and Mark (14:3-9) and Luke (7:37-39), all the disciples joined Judas in scolding Mary for wasting this expensive perfume on Jesus when it could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

But Jesus defends Mary by replying Matthew 26:13 (ESV)  Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Nee says (p. 186) that Jesus “intends that the preaching of the Gospel should issue in something along the very lines of the action of Mary here, namely, that “people should come to Him and ‘waste themselves’ on Him.’” Or, to state it another way (p. 187), the gospel is “to bring each one of us to a true estimate of His worth.”

If Jesus is the pearl of great price and the treasure hidden in the field, then it’s not a waste to sell everything you have to buy that pearl or buy that field. Jesus is worthy for you to devote all you are and all you have to Him.

So this is a story about how not to waste your life.

It’s also a story about motivation: why do you do what you do for the Lord? Do you serve Him for the satisfaction you get when you see results? It is satisfying to see Him use you, but that’s the wrong motivation.

Do you serve Him because it helps others? Again, it’s gratifying to see others helped, but that’s the wrong motivation for serving Him.

The truest motive for serving Christ is because He is worthy of everything you can do for Him and because you love Him and want to please Him because He gave Himself for you on the cross. We learn this from Mary’s act of devotion.

But John contrasts Mary’s act of devotion with Judas’ self-centered focus and with the evil plans of the chief priests, who now not only want to kill Jesus, but also Lazarus, whose resurrection was resulting in many believing in Jesus. So the story’s lesson is: A life spent in selfless devotion to Jesus is not wasted, but a life spent on self is totally wasted.

This story illustrates Jesus’ words in Mark 8:35-36 (ESV)  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Jesus repeats this idea (John 12:25), “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.”

What does Mary show us? She denied herself and “hated her life” for Jesus’ sake by her extravagant act of devotion to Him, and she gained that which would not be taken from her.

Judas greedily wished that he could have pocketed some of Mary’s gift. In a few days, he would sell Jesus for a paltry sum of 30 pieces of silver, which he would eventually throw to the ground and leave. But he forfeited his soul.

1. You will not waste your life if you spend it in selfless devotion to Jesus.

To put it another way, to “waste” your life on Jesus is to save your life. Mary’s act reflects four components of selfless devotion:

A. Selfless devotion is costly.

Mary’s anointing Jesus with this perfume was costly in at least three ways:

1) Selfless devotion costs you financially: “Do I treasure Jesus more than my stuff?”

Pure nard was a spice that came from the Himalaya Mountains in the far north of India. It had to be imported to Israel at great cost. We don’t know where Mary got this 12-ounce jar of perfume. Perhaps it was a family heirloom. Judas estimates that it could have been sold for 300 denarii, which was equivalent to about 300 days’ pay for a working man (Matt. 20:2).

The Lord rebukes them (John 12:8), “For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” He was not saying that we should not help the poor, but He was saying, “I am more worthy of your unselfish devotion than all the world’s poor put together!” He was accepting the worship that Mary gave Him because she rightly saw that He is worthy of all that we can give Him and even more. As Isaac Watts put it (“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”): Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small: Love so amazing, so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Many years ago, a minister went down and watched what each person put in or didn’t put in the offering plate as it was passed. Some of his people were angry, others were embarrassed, but all were surprised.

Then he went to the pulpit and preached on the Lord standing near the treasury in the temple and watching what each person put in, including the widow and her two mites. He reminded them that the Lord watches the collection every Sunday to see what His people give.

So let me ask: Is your devotion to the Lord costing you financially? If others looked at how you spend your money, would they conclude that you must love Jesus a lot?

2) Selfless devotion costs you socially: “Do I treasure Jesus more than my pride?”

Matthew and Mark say that Mary anointed Jesus’ head, but John says that she anointed His feet. There is no contradiction if she anointed both. Matthew and Mark mention Jesus’ head because anointing the head signified kingship.

John mentioned her anointing Jesus’ feet because it was the lowly task of a servant to wash a guest’s feet. In the next chapter John tells how Jesus washed the disciples’ feet as an act of great humility that we should follow.

But Mary didn’t use a towel. Rather, she wiped the Lord’s feet with her hair. Respectable Jewish women never let down their hair in public. In fact, it was considered a mark of a woman of loose morals (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 577).

But Mary was so caught up with her devotion to Christ that she didn’t stop to consider what others might think about her.

So ask yourself, “Do I treasure Jesus more than my pride?” Or, am I more concerned about what others think about me? People may think you’re a zealot or a religious fanatic. But what matters is what Jesus thinks about your selfless devotion to Him.

3) Selfless devotion costs you some criticism: “Do I treasure Jesus more than my reputation?”

Judas led the attack, but the other disciples echoed his criticism. Matthew 26:8 reports, “But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, ‘Why this waste?’”

They were only being pragmatic and sensible. The money could have benefitted many poor families. But instead, it was all wasted on Jesus. Or, was it wasted?

B. Selfless devotion stems from personal love and gratitude.

Although the text doesn’t state it directly, Mary’s action obviously stemmed from her love for Jesus and her gratitude for His raising her brother from the dead.

Love for Christ should be the motive in all that we do for Him. Judas postured himself as being concerned for the poor, but even if he had given some of the money to the poor, he would not have been motivated by love for Christ. People can give great sums of money to the Lord’s work, but their real motive may be that they want others to know how generous they are.

But the Lord looks on the hidden motives of our hearts, not on our outward actions.

C. Selfless devotion flows from knowing Jesus personally.

John 12:7 (ESV) Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 

Mary had just poured out the precious perfume, so she couldn’t keep it to anoint Jesus after He died. And, how much did she understand about Jesus’ impending death when none of the disciples saw it coming?

Mary knew more about the infinite worth of Jesus than even the apostles did at this point. Her personal knowledge of Jesus, gained by sitting at His feet, led her to this act of selfless devotion.

If you want to follow Mary’s example of devotion to Jesus, you have to follow her example of sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to His word. Every time we encounter Mary in the Gospels, she is at Jesus’ feet—first, learning from Him; then, pouring out her sorrow to Him; and now, expressing her love and devotion to Him.

You won’t love the Lord as you should unless you’ve spent much time at His feet. You do that by spending consistent time in the Word and in prayer.

D. Selfless devotion results in action.

Mary didn’t just think about this radical display of love, but then allow reason to prevail and not do it. Rather, she did it! Good intentions are nice, but it takes good actions to produce results. This story highlights three results that flow from selfless devotion: one from Mary, one from Martha, and one from Lazarus:

1) Action results in the fragrance of Christ surrounding your life.

John 12:3 says, “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” Can people smell the fragrance of Christ on you? You ask, “What does it smell like?” It smells like the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23): Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Does your home smell like that? Do others sense from the fragrance of your life that you spend much time at Jesus’ feet, worshiping Him in selfless devotion?

2) Action results in witness for Christ.

Here, we’re looking at Lazarus. The text tells us three things about him:

1. First, Jesus had raised him from the dead (John 12:1).
2. Second, he was reclining at the table in fellowship with the Lord who had raised him from the dead (John 12:2).
3. Third, his resurrected life resulted in many coming to see him and believing in Jesus as a result John 12:9-11 (ESV) When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹  because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
4. You will totally waste your life if you spend it on yourself.

John tells us about Judas’ greed in verse 6: He really wasn’t concerned about the poor, but he was a thief. He had the money box and used to help himself to the funds. If Mary had given her perfume to sell and give to the poor, some of that money would have ended up in Judas’ pocket!

But now the future looked dim. Jesus kept talking about His death, not His reign. This incident pushed Judas over the top. When Jesus came to Mary’s defense with more talk about His death, Judas decided to go to the authorities and betray Jesus.

Conclusion

Mary’s action reveals the proper basis for evaluating your actions: Did you do what you did because you love and treasure Jesus? She didn’t do this out of duty or pragmatism, but out of sheer devotion for Christ.

Mary did what she did because she had a perception of Christ that even the apostles at this point lacked. She knew that He was worthy of extravagant love. She gained this knowledge of Christ by sitting at His feet. When Jesus is your treasure, you will spend your life in selfless devotion to Him.

Several years ago a young couple wanted to talk with their minister after the morning service. They had moved  in from out of state because the wife had landed a good job. But after a short time on the job, she was terminated, from her perspective, without cause. She was angry and bitter towards God because they thought that they had followed Him in moving here. Now they were without work and without funds to move back home.

The minister shared with them that the Lord was in control of their difficult situation and that He had many lessons to teach them if they would trust Him. The husband had a good attitude and seemed teachable, but the wife wouldn’t listen. She kept insisting that God had let them down. Later the husband came for further counsel because she angrily left him to return to their former location.

That woman was a sad example of how we as Christians should not respond when sudden trials come into our lives. The Bible gives us another option: Rather than growing angry and withdrawing from the Lord, we can draw near to Him in submission to His sovereign hand, knowing that He cares for us.

It’s okay to draw near to Him with tears of grief and confusion. The main thing is to draw near with a sub-missive heart, trusting in His sovereign love and care for you.

Mary, the sister of Martha, did that when Jesus came to Bethany after the death of their brother, Lazarus. Martha first went to the Lord as He came into their village, but Mary stayed in the house. Then after her interview with Jesus, Martha came and whispered to Mary (11:28), “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

Mary did not say, “I’m too angry right now even to talk to Him!” Rather, she did what we should do in our times of trouble: She got up quickly and went to Jesus (11:29). She fell at His feet weeping and repeated what Martha had said (11:32), “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

The significant thing is that Jesus did not rebuke her for her tears or her lack of faith. Rather, we read in the shortest verse in the English Bible (11:35), “Jesus wept.”

While commentators differ in interpreting Jesus’ emotions here, as I’ll explain, I believe that John wants us to see Christ’s compassion for these sisters in their loss.

This story pictures what Hebrews 4:15-16 declares, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Our text teaches us that …

The call and compassion of the Teacher should cause us to draw near to Him in our trials.

In difficult times, John wants us personally to apply Martha’s words (11:28), “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

1. Christ is the Teacher and He calls us to come to Him and learn from Him in our trials.
2. We learn the most in the school of Christ when we draw near to Him in our trials.

Martha did not say, as she easily could have, “Jesus is here and is calling for you.” Rather, she calls Him, “The Teacher.” Jesus is the Teacher par excellence and His most effective lessons are often when we’re hurting the most.

We all tend to be rather self-sufficient. Many years ago there was a TV commercial (I can’t remember what it was advertising) where mother was trying to give advice to her young adult daughter and the daughter would reply in frustration, “Mother, please, I’d rather do it myself!”

We’re often like that with the Lord—we think that we can do it by ourselves, without His help.

But then trials hit and we realize the truth of Jesus’ words (John 15:5), “apart from Me you can do nothing.”

It’s at these overwhelming times that we can learn the most about Christ’s all-sufficiency, if we draw near to Him.

Anonymous poem speaks here: Until I learned to trust, I never learned to pray; And I did not learn to fully trust ’til sorrows came my way. Until I felt my weakness, His strength I never knew; Nor dreamed ’til I was stricken that He could see me through. Who deepest drinks of sorrow, drinks deepest, too, of grace; He sends the storm so He Himself can be our hiding place. His heart that seeks our highest good, knows well when things annoy; We would not long for heaven if earth held only joy.

And so, in a time of trials or grief, realize that you’re enrolled in the school of Christ and He has just given you a great opportunity to learn more about His all-sufficiency.

1. Christ tailors His lessons for each student according to the student’s needs.

Martha was the take-charge, get things done, sister. She was the one (Luke 10:38-42) who was busy getting the meal prepared when Jesus visited their home, while her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him teach. She scolded the Lord on that occasion because He didn’t tell Mary to get up and help her. But the Lord gently rebuked Martha for being worried and bothered about so many things, while Mary had chosen the better part.

In John 11, when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she got up and went to Him. Jesus dealt with her on a doctrinal level, claiming to be the resurrection and the life, and then challenging her (11:26), “Do you believe this?” He knew that she needed this doctrinal foundation so that she would glorify Him in this trial.

But when Mary fell at Jesus’ feet in tears, He sympathized with her and wept, without any discussion of biblical truth. He knew that she needed to feel His compassion and that she later would glorify Him because He entered into her sorrow.

Two applications: First, recognize that the Lord always deals with you according to your personality to teach you what you need to grow in every trial. All parents who have more than one child know that each child is different. You can’t deal with them in exactly the same way because they are wired differently and they learn differently. The Teacher does that with His children. He tutors you individually, in a way that you can best learn the lessons. But you need to try to understand, through prayer and the Word, “What does the Teacher want me to learn through this trial?”

Second, we should be sensitive to the unique personalities of others when we try to comfort or help them in difficult situations. Some may need a word of encouragement, whereas others don’t need any words, but just for you to be with them and cry with them. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to helping others in their time of need. So pray for sensitivity and wisdom as you try to help.

But for us to trust Jesus as our Teacher in times of trial, we have to know Him. The more we know who He is, the easier it is to trust Him. Thus John shows us that…

2. The Teacher who calls us to Himself is fully God and fully man; thus He can help us in our trials.

This chapter shows us both Jesus’ humanity and His deity. We see His humanity very plainly in 11:34-35, where Jesus asks the location of the tomb and then He weeps. But we see His deity earlier in the chapter, when He knows that Lazarus is dead and that He is going to raise him from the dead (11:11, 14); and when He tells Martha that He is the resurrection and the life and that whoever believes in Him will live even if he dies and will never die (11:25-26).

Many years ago, I read this paragraph by Alfred Edersheim, (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Eerdmans] 1:198), and I’ve always remembered it as I read the gospels: “It has been observed, that by the side of every humiliation connected with the Humanity of the Messiah, the glory of His Divinity was also made to shine forth. The coincidences are manifestly undesigned on the part of the Evangelic writers, and hence all the more striking. Thus, if he was born of the humble Maiden of Nazareth, an Angel announced His birth; if the Infant-Saviour was cradled in a manger, the shining host of heaven hymned His Advent. And so afterwards—if He hungered and was tempted in the wilderness, Angels ministered to Him, even as an Angel strengthened Him in the agony of the garden. If He submitted to baptism, the Voice and vision from heaven attested His Sonship; if enemies threatened, He could miraculously pass through them; if the Jews assailed, there was the Voice of God to glorify Him; if He was nailed to the cross, the sun craped his brightness, and earth quaked; if He was laid in the tomb, Angels kept its watches, and heralded His rising.”

The fact that Jesus is fully man means that He can identify and sympathize with our problems. The fact that He is fully God means that He is sovereign over and can help with them. (Of course, the God who made us completely understands us and is full of compassion towards us: Psalm 103:13-14 (ESV) As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. ¹⁴  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

 But Jesus’ humanity especially qualifies Him to sympathize with us: Hebrews 4:15 (ESV)  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  

Three aspects of Jesus’ humanity shine from our text (I’m drawing these headings from James Boice, John [Zondervan], one-vol. ed., pp. 749-753, who seems to be following C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 35:338-346):

1. Jesus experienced grief and deep feelings, just as we do.

Isaiah (53:3) prophesied that Jesus would be “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The fact that Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus shows that whatever our grief may be, Jesus knows it and He enters into it with us.

But at this point, we encounter some difficult interpretive matters. The world translated “deeply moved” (11:33 & 38, NASB, ESV, NIV; “groaned, NJKV) is difficult to understand. It’s only used three other times in the New Testament and in those places it has a meaning that does not seem to fit here.

In Matthew 9:30 & Mark 1:43, it means, “strictly charged” or “sternly warned.” In Mark 14:5, it refers to the scolding of the woman (Mary) who anointed Christ with expensive ointment. The parallel (Matt. 26:8) uses a different word to say that they were indignant with her. In the LXX, the word refers to anger or being indignant (Dan. 11:30; noun in Lam. 2:6). Thus many commentators think that in John 11:33 & 38, Jesus was angry or indignant (The New Living Translation). Some think that He was indignant with the unbelief expressed by Mary and the others (11:32, 37); or He was angry with the death that God decreed because of man’s fall into sin.

But S. Lewis Johnson (sermon on this text, online at sljinstitute.net) mentions a Professor Black from the University of St. Andrews who studied this word thoroughly and concluded that it does not have the nuance of anger. And since anger does not seem to fit the context here, some argue that the word can refer to being deeply moved (as the NASB, ESV, & NIV translate it). The word was used in extra-biblical Greek to refer to the snorting of a horse preparing for battle. Calvin (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 442) views it as Jesus gearing up for the conflict as our champion in the battle against sin and death.

One other suggestion is worth considering. F. Godet (Commentary on the Gospel of John [Zondervan], 2:184) questions why Jesus didn’t feel the same emotion towards death at the other two resurrections that He performed. He says that here Jesus realizes that raising Lazarus will precipitate the hostility of His enemies that will lead to His own death on the cross. The accompanying verb (11:33, “troubled Himself”) is also used as Jesus contemplates His impending death in John 12:27 & 13:21. Thus perhaps Jesus is deeply moved both by the sisters’ grief and by what He knows will happen after He raises Lazarus. R. H. Lightfoot (cited by Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 557, n. 69) commented, “The expression used here implies that He now voluntarily and deliberately accepts and makes His own the emotion and the experience from which it is His purpose to deliver men.”

So while we cannot be certain of the exact meaning of John’s word, we can know that our Savior was not a Stoic. Even though He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus, it didn’t prevent Him from entering into the sisters’ grief. He experienced deep feelings and grief, just as we do. And even though He knows that one day He will wipe away all of our tears (Rev. 21:4) He still sympathizes with us in all of our sorrows.

1. Jesus was not ashamed to display human emotions.

Jesus could have restrained His tears. After all, He knew that He would soon raise Lazarus. Besides, His tears could be misinterpreted as weakness or frustration on His part, as some of the Jews surmised (11:37). But Jesus did not worry about that. He was completely human (without a sin nature) and His tears show that it’s not wrong to express our feelings as long as our hearts are submissive to God. The NT states three times that Jesus wept (here; Luke 19:41, over Jerusalem’s unbelief; and Heb. 5:7, in the Garden of Gethsemane), but never that He laughed (but, see Luke 10:21).

It’s worth noting that John uses a different word (11:33) for weeping to describe the loud wailing of Mary and the mourners than the word in 11:35, which could be translated, “Jesus burst into tears.” Jesus wept, but He was not wailing in despair. In the words of Paul (1 Thess. 4:13), believers are to grieve, but not as those who have no hope. It’s interesting, also, that while the shortest verse in the English Bible is John 11:35, “Jesus wept,” the shortest verse in the Greek NT is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always!” Those verses are not contradictory! As Paul put it (Rom. 12:15), “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Jesus entered into the sorrow of these sisters. As we become more like our Savior, we should not become more stoical, but rather people who express godly emotions.

1. Jesus’ love underlies all His actions.

In 11:36 we read in response to Jesus’ weeping, “So the Jews were saying, ‘See how He loved him!” And they were right, because John has previously underscored Jesus’ love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (11:3, 5). In fact, Jesus’ love for these dear friends was the reason He stayed two days longer where He was, allowing Lazarus to die (11:6). Love always seeks the highest good for the one loved, and the highest good for anyone is that he or she gets a greater vision of God’s glory and thus grows in faith. Both of these aims were behind Jesus’ delay in going to Bethany (11:4, 15, 40).

But some of the Jews questioned both Jesus’ love and His power when they said (11:37), “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?” They couldn’t reconcile Jesus’ love and power with Lazarus’ death. And in a time of severe trials, the enemy may whisper to you, “God must not love you or He isn’t able to prevent trials like you’re going through. You shouldn’t trust Him!”

But at such times, never interpret God’s love by your difficult circumstances, but rather interpret your circumstances by His love (modified from, C. H. Mackintosh, Miscellaneous Writings [Loizeaux Brothers], vol. 6, “Bethany,” pp. 17-18). He could have prevented your trial. But as H. E. Hayhoe wrote (“Sentence Sermons,” exact source unknown), “He will never allow a trial in your life without a needs be on your part and a purpose of love on His part.”

Thus, Christ is the Teacher and He calls you to come to Him and learn from Him in your trials. And, the Teacher who calls us to Himself is fully God and fully man; thus He can help us in our trials. Finally,

3. In your trials, come to the Teacher just as you are, quickly and submissively.

Martha’s words to Mary (11:28) are the Lord’s words for us when we’re hurting: “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

1. Jesus is always present and is waiting for you to come to Him in your trials.

Jesus was there, but Mary had to get up and go to Him. And even though you may not feel His presence, He is always present and available to give grace if you go to Him in your trials.

1. Come to Jesus just as you are and share your feelings with Him.

Mary went immediately when she heard that the Teacher was there and calling for her. She didn’t say, “I’ve been crying for four days. My mascara is streaked, my eyes are red and swollen. I can’t go to Jesus like this! I need to go and make myself presentable!”

But we often do that with the Lord. We’re in the midst of a trial or problem and we think, “I can’t go to the Lord until I get myself more together. I’ll wait until I’m calmer and more in control of my emotions.” But grace is for the undeserving, not for the deserving. Go to Jesus with your tears and He will weep with you.

If you’ve never come to Christ for salvation, the only way that you can come is just as you are. If you try to clean up your life or make yourself more presentable to Him, you don’t understand His grace. As the old hymn (by Charlotte Elliott) goes,

Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come.!

1. Come to Jesus quickly.

Mary “got up quickly and was coming to Him” (11:29). She had friends at her side who were consoling her. She could have thought, “What will they think if I leave them and go to Jesus?” Or, she could have thought that their consolations were enough. But as comforting as our friends may be, they are no substitute for the Teacher who calls us to Himself. Don’t delay: Go to Jesus quickly! The sooner you go, the sooner you’ll experience His comfort and compassion.

1. Come to Jesus’ feet.

Mary went and fell at Jesus’ feet (11:32). Every time we encounter Mary in the Gospels, she is at Jesus’ feet. In Luke 10:39, she was “seated at The Lord’s feet, listening to His word.” In our text, she pours out her grief at Jesus’ feet. In John 12:3, she anointed Jesus’ feet with the expensive ointment and dried them with her hair, as she prepared Him for His burial. In this, she is an example for us: First, learn God’s word about Jesus. Then you’ll know Him so that you can take your sorrows to Him in a time of grief. That will lead you to worship Him as the one who died for your sins.

Conclusion

A mission executive from the United States was visiting a school in Kenya where he was listening as teenage girls shared how they had been blessed by hearing the Bible in their own language. One girl testified that the verse that had the greatest impact on her was Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Another said that the verse that had the greatest impact on her was John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” She said that when she wept in the night, she knew that Jesus was weeping with her.

The mission executive wondered why these two girls were mourning and weeping. He thought that maybe they had chosen these verses to share because they were short and easy to remember. But the school’s teacher leaned over and whispered to him that both of these girls had lost their parents to AIDS.

Jesus’ compassion comforted them in their losses. In the same way, the Teacher calls us to come to Him with our tears. He cares for us and He will cry with us. Come to Him!

 

 

 

“If Jesus can do nothing about death, then whatever else He can do amounts to nothing”

During a good portion of my lifetime, science has been used to oppose the Bible and the Christian faith. In thousands of classrooms across our country, professors and teachers have asked their students, “Does anyone here believe in the Bible?” or “Is anyone here a Christian?”

For too many years now, unbelieving scholars and teachers have been scoffing at Christians and their faith, hoping to shame us into silence. They wish to convince themselves and others that faith is “believing in what isn’t real or true.”

Is our faith ill-founded? Does our faith hang by an intellectual thread? Is faith required because there is too little evidence to support the claims of the Bible? Not at all!

In this message, I am going to suggest something absolutely amazing, at least in the light of those scholars who are also scoffers. I am going to suggest that faith in Jesus Christ is the only reasonable response to biblical revelation. I will further say that it is unbelief that is unbelievable, and that faith in Jesus Christ is the only “reasonable” response to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In our text, Jesus raises Lazarus from the grave with a prayer and a shout. Providentially, a crowd is present at the grave sight, not only to witness this miracle, but to participate in it.

As a result of this amazing miracle, many of those who are there come to a faith in Jesus and the Messiah. Some do not, and these folks report what has happened to the Jewish religious leaders, who set in motion a plan to arrest and kill Jesus.

By their own words, these leaders of Israel reveal that their unbelief is not due to a lack of evidence, but stems from their desire to protect their own selfish interests.

It is the life-threatening illness of Lazarus which results in a desperate message from Martha and Mary, urging Jesus to come back to the little village of Bethany, just a stone’s throw from Jerusalem.

Jesus deliberately delays His journey to Bethany until Lazarus dies. When He finally arrives near the home of the two sisters He loves, Lazarus has already been buried for four days. Both sisters are perplexed by our Lord’s delay, but both nevertheless reaffirm their faith in Him. By the end of verse 37, Jesus has just arrived at the tomb where Lazarus is buried. It is here that we take up the account.

* THE GREAT ACT (11:38-40)

“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. {39} “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” {40} Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?””

Lazarus is buried in a cave, with a stone covering the opening. This sounds strikingly similar to the burial sight of our Lord (e.g. Matthew 27:60). The raising of Lazarus almost looks like a dress rehearsal for the resurrection of our Lord in the near future. Jesus orders the stone to be rolled away. We can’t be sure who Jesus orders to move the stone, or who actually does move it. It could be the disciples, of course, but it may just as well be others, such as some of those who have come to mourn with Mary.

I am inclined to think that Jesus deliberately employs those other than His disciples to remove the stone. Doing this would seem to require some measure of faith on their part. Today, we must go through a very strict legal process to gain access to a body once it has been buried. In Judaism, contact with a dead body is defiling. Besides that, it is disgusting, especially after four days. I suspect those who removed the stone received a good whiff of the smell of decaying flesh. These witnesses will not easily be persuaded by a “swoon theory” or any attempt to explain away the literal death (and raising) of Lazarus. Such personal involvement in this process makes these participants even better witnesses to the miracle which is about to occur.

It is Martha, however, who objects to our Lord’s instruction to remove the stone. She protests that too much time has passed. The body will certainly smell very bad, she explains. But beyond this, it just seems to reopen a very painful wound.

It seems quite obvious that Martha is not expecting Jesus to perform any miracle here, and certainly not the raising of one who has been dead for several days. Earlier, Jesus assures her that if she believes, she will see the glory of God (verse 40). By calling this to her attention once again, Jesus is seeking to stretch her faith. Martha relents, and the stone is removed.

Our Lord then lifts His eyes to heaven and begins to pray to His heavenly Father. Having prayed in this manner, Jesus now cries out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (verse 43).

It has quite often been observed that if Jesus had not specified “Lazarus,” every dead body in the region would have arisen from the dead. In shouting with a loud voice, Jesus reveals His confidence that the Father will hear Him, and that Lazarus will rise from the dead.

The witnesses to this resurrection are very much involved in the outworking of the miracle. They see and hear Jesus calling Lazarus out of his tomb. They help roll the stone away from the tomb, and they remove the cloth that has been wrapped around the body of Lazarus.

Of all the “signs” recorded in the Gospel of John, none was greater than what happened at Lazarus’ tomb. Three times in chapter 11 Jesus claimed that these events took place so that people might see “the glory of God” (11:4, 15, 40). Each step of the way we have seen the glory of God in Jesus’ teachings and miracles; but up to this point in the Gospel of John, the raising of Lazarus is where the glory of God–the presence of God in Christ–shines most brilliantly.

* THE JEWS (11:41-57)

   The emphasis from this point on was on the faith of the spectators, the people who had come to comfort Mary and Martha. Jesus paused to pray: “So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. {42} I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

He thanked the Father that the prayer had already been heard…but when had He prayed? It’s likely that it was when He was told that His friend was sick (11:4). The plan was likely revealed to Him, and He obeyed His Father’s will. His purpose now was clear: He wanted the unbelieving spectators to know that His Father had sent Him.

He called out His name and he came out: “When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” {44} The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Everything Jesus did was due to the power of God and designed for the glory of God. 

If this Jesus can do nothing about death, then whatever else He can do amounts to nothing.

The same thought is Biblical in nature: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” 1 Cor. 15:19. Death is man’s last enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), but Jesus has defeated this horrible enemy totally and permanently.

It  was an unquestioned miracle that even the most hostile spectator could not deny!  “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.”

As with previous miracles, the people were divided in their response. “But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. {47} Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. {48} If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

The Pharisees are informed about the miracle at Bethany and quickly call for a meeting of the Sanhedrin. Up to this point, they have not been able to come to a united stand (see 7:45-53), but all that ends here. Up till now, they have been eager to arrest and kill Jesus, but have been unable to do so (see 5:18; 7:11, 30; 8:40, 59; 10:31, 39). They now resolve to change that, and very soon.

John’s account allows the reader to be a “fly on the wall,” overhearing the private conversation that takes place in this emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin. The words that they speak are incredible, almost beyond belief. They express no doubt about the power of our Lord, or the legitimacy of the signs He has performed. They do not deny that the evidence in support of His claims is piling up. In fact, they virtually admit that it is all true.

But in spite of all this evidence, they refuse to bow the knee to Jesus as the Son of God. They refuse to repent of their sins and seek His forgiveness and salvation. They refuse to give up their positions and power.

They acknowledge that if Jesus is not put to death, the entire nation will believe in Him. This may be hyperbole, but they know they are rapidly losing ground. They must act decisively, and they must act soon. If not, they can kiss life as they have known it goodbye. They fear that if the entire nation acknowledges Jesus as the King of Israel, this will precipitate a strong reaction from Rome, which will end the “good times” for them. Ironically, it is not the nation’s acceptance of Jesus as their Messiah which brings about the downfall of the nation, but their rejection of Jesus as God’s Messiah. In but a few years, Rome will march on this nation, capture Jerusalem, destroy the temple, and kill countless Jews. And all this is because Israel rejects her Messiah.

Caiaphas is the High Priest this year, and as the High Priest, he now lays out the course of action which seems necessary: Jesus must die. Far better to sacrifice one person than the entire nation, he reasons. Our Lord’s death seems to spell life (as it is presently) for the rest. What Caiaphas doesn’t realize is that at the very moment he is proposing the death of our Lord, He is being used of God to utter (as the High Priest) a profound prophetic truth. It was God’s plan and purpose that one man—Jesus Christ—should die for the entire nation, and that out of His death many will find eternal life. Caiaphas is speaking for God in spite of his unbelief and rejection of Jesus. Note the arrogance of this man, even as he speaks prophetically. You don’t have to be a believer to be used as God’s mouthpiece. Ask Balaam (or his beast of burden—see Numbers 22–24). And so it is that from this day forward, this very diverse group of Jews is united in its one common purpose of killing Jesus.

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! {50} You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” {51} He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, {52} and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. {53} So from that day on they plotted to take his life.”

The official decision that day was that Jesus must die (see Matt.12:14; Luke 19:47; John 5:18; 7:1, 19-20, 25). The leaders thought that they were in control of the situation, but it was God who was working out His predetermined plan. Originally, they wanted to wait until after the Passover, but God had decreed otherwise.

Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. {55} When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.” {56} They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the Feast at all?” {57} But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.”

Now the Passover Feast of the Jews was near; and many from the country areas went up to Jerusalem before the Passover Feast to purify themselves.  So they were looking for Jesus; and, as they stood in the Temple precincts, they were talking with each other and saying:  “What do you think?  Surely it is impossible that he should come to the Feast?” Now the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he should lodge information with them, that they might seize him.

Jesus did not unnecessarily court danger.  He was willing to lay down his life, but not so foolishly reckless as to throw it away before his work was done.  So he retired to a town called Ephraim, which was near Bethel in the mountainous country north of Jerusalem (cp. 2 Chronicles 13:19).

By this time Jerusalem was beginning to fill up with people.  Before the Jew could attend any feast he had to be ceremonially clean; and uncleanness could be contracted by touching a vast number of things and people.  Many of the Jews, therefore, came up to the city early to make the necessary offerings and go through the necessary washings in order to ensure ceremonial cleanness.  The law had it:  “Every man is bound to purify himself before the Feast.”

These purifications were carried out in the Temple.  They took time, and in the time of waiting the Jews gathered in excited little groups.  They knew what was going on.  They knew about this mortal contest of wills between Jesus and the authorities; and people are always interested in the man who gallantly faces fearful odds.  They wondered if he would appear at the feast; and concluded that he could not possible come.  This Galilean carpenter could not take on the whole might of Jewish ecclesiastical and political officialdom.

A point we need to make here: the rich man in hades had argued that “if one went to them  from the dead, they will repent.” (Luke 16:30). Lazarus came back from the dead, and the officials wanted  to kill Him!

   And what about today? Jesus, too, has come back from the dead! The stage has been set for the greatest drama in history, during which man would do his worst and God would give His best!

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   While this passage contains some wonderfully good news, it requires that we first face something we may not want to face.

   The painful truth is that we will all die! Life is fatal. However young, strong, and healthy we may be at this moment, someday we will die! It may be today or tomorrow or eighty years from now, but we all will die.

   We try in many ways to avoid having to face this terrible truth. We try to convince ourselves that if we exercise enough, eat the right foods, wear our seat belts, drink purified water, and put on sunscreen when we go outside, then we will be protected from death. In the end, nothing can protect us from the fact that the death rate in this world is 100 percent!

   You are probably thinking, “I do not want to hear this today! I have had a hard week, and now I am being reminded that I will die!” I would not bring up such a painful, distressing subject if the gospel did not provide the answer to it. Jesus, in the marvelous story in John 11, proclaims to people of all time, “I am the resurrection and the life.” It is wonderful news, but we had to be reminded of the bad news first in order to appreciate it.

  The story of Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb helps us to confront our own fears of death. Because of what Jesus did then and still does today, we do not have to deny the reality of death in order to be happy in this life.

   As Christians, we do not run from death; we face it. We do not pretend that it will not happen to us; we proclaim to the world that we have an answer to it. This new attitude is seen in the following two examples from the writings of Paul:  (Rom. 8:38-39)  “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, {39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(1 Cor. 15:54-55)  “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” {55} “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?””

Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter (23) and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade ‘The Jews gathered around him, saying “How long will vou keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

The origin of the Festival of Dedication lies in one of the greatest times of ordeal and heroism in Jewish history.  There was a king of Syria called Antiochus Epiphanes who reigned from 175 to 164 B.C.  He was a lover of all things Greek.  He decided that he would eliminate the Jewish religion once and for all, and introduce Greek ways and thoughts, Greek religion and gods into Palestine.  At first he tried to do so by peaceful penetration of ideas.  Some of the Jews welcomed the new ways, but most were stubbornly loyal to their ancestral faith.

It was in 170 B.C. that the deluge really came.  In that year Antiochus attacked Jerusalem.  It was said that 80,000 Jews perished, and as many were sold into slavery.  It became a capital offence to possess a copy of the law, or to circumcise a child; and mothers who did circumcise their children were crucified with their children hanging round their necks.

The Temple courts were profaned; the Temple chambers were turned into brothels; and finally Antiochus took the dreadful step of turning the great altar of the burnt-offering into an altar to Olympian Zeus, and on it proceeded to offer swine’s flesh to the pagan gods.

It was then that Judas Maccabaeus and his brother arose to fight their epic fight for freedom.  In 164 B.C. the struggle was finally won; and in that year the Temple was cleansed and purified.  The altar was rebuilt and the robes and the utensils were replaced, after three years of pollution.

It was to commemorate that purification of the Temple that the Feast of the Dedication was instituted.  Judas Maccabaeus enacted that “the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year, by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month of Chislew, with gladness and joy” (1 Maccabees 4:59).

For that reason the festival was sometimes called the Festival of the Dedication of the Altar, and sometimes the Memorial of the Purification of the Temple.

But as we have already seen, it had still another name.  It was often called the Festival of Lights.  There were great illuminations in the Temple; and there were also illuminations in every Jewish home.  In the window of every Jewish house there were set lights.

According to Rabbi Shammai, eight lights were set in the window, and they were reduced each day by one until on the last day only one was left burning.  According to Rabbi Hillel, one light was kindled on the first day, and one was added each day until on the last day eight were burning.  We can see these lights in the windows of every devout Jewish home to this day.

These lights had two significances.  First, they were a reminder that at the first celebrating of the festival the light of freedom had come back to Israel.  Second, they were traced back to a very old legend.  It was told that when the Temple had been purified and the great seven branched candlestick relit, only one little cruse of unpolluted oil could be found.  This cruse was still intact, and still sealed with the impress of the ring of the High Priest.

By all normal measures, there was only oil enough in that cruse to light the lamps for one single day.  But by a miracle it lasted for eight days, until new oil had been prepared according to the correct formula and had been consecrated for its sacred use.  So for eight days the lights burned in the Temple and in the homes of the people in memory of the cruse which God had made to last for eight days instead of one.

It is not without significance that it must have been very close to this time of illumination that Jesus said:  “I am the Light of the world.”  When all the lights were being kindled in memory of the freedom won to worship God in the true way, Jesus said:  “I am the Light of the world; I alone can light men into the knowledge and the presence of God.”

“Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, {26} but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. {27} My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. {28} I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. {29} My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. {30} I and the Father are one.””

Jesus’s answer was that he had already told them who he was.  Jesus’s two great claims had been made in private.  To the Samaritan woman he had revealed himself as the Messiah (John 4:26) and to the man born blind he had claimed to be the Son of God (John 9:37).  But there are some claims which do not need to be made in words, especially to an audience well-qualified to perceive them.

This passage shows at one and the same time the tremendous trust and the tremendous claim of Jesus.

In Jesus’ day, people had different understandings of what “the Christ” would be. If Jesus said, “Yes, I am the Christ,” He would be terribly misunderstood by the people who expected “the Christ” to be a powerful, earthly king like David or Solomon.

If He said, “No,” then He would be denying the truth about Himself.

Jesus promised three things.

(i)  He promised eternal life.  He promised that if they accepted him as Master and Lord, if they became members of his flock, all the littleness of earthly life would be gone and they would know the splendor and the magnificence of the life of God.

(ii)  He promised a life that would know no end.  Death would not be the end but the beginning; they would know the glory of indestructible life.

(iii)  He promised a life that was secure.  Nothing could snatch them from his hand.  This would not mean that they would be saved from sorrow, from suffering and from death; but that in the sorest moment and the darkest hour they would still be conscious of the everlasting arms underneath and about them.  Even in a world crashing to disaster they would know the serenity of God.

He also described the nature of the true believers:

– Sensitivity. They hear my voice (vs. 27)

– Fellowship. I know them (vs. 27)

– Obedience. They follow me (vs. 27)

– Life. I gave them eternal life (vs. 28)

– Assurance. They shall never perish (vs. 28)

– Security. No one shall snatch them out of my hand (vs. 28)

Do these verses teach eternal security, with no possibility of “falling from grace?” The verses clearly indicate that this promise is to those who hear the voice and follow the voice.  Those who fall do so on their own volition; it is not because of any failure of the Lord nor because temptation is irresistible. Before all men is the choice of good and evil; some choose good and some choose evil.

The Jewish leaders understood clearly what He was saying: “Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, {32} but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” {33} “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.””

To the Jews Jesus’s statement that he and the Father were one was blasphemy.  It was the invasion by a man of the place which belonged to God alone.  The Jewish law laid down the penalty of stoning for blasphemy.  “He who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him” (Leviticus 24:16).

He told them that he had spent all his days doing lovely things, healing the sick feeding the hungry, and comforting the sorrowing, deeds so full of help and power and beauty that they obviously came from God.  For which of these deeds did they wish to stone him?  Their answer was that it was not for anything he had done that they wished to stone him, but for the claim he was making.

Our Lord used Psalm 82:6 to refute their accusation and halt their actions: “Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? {35} If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came–and the Scripture cannot be broken– {36} what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? {37} Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. {38} But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.””

The picture in Psalm 82 is that of a court, where God has assembled the judges of the earth, to warn them that they too will one day be judged. These Jewish leaders certainly knew their own language and they knew that Jesus was speaking the truth. If God called human judges ‘gods,’ then why should they stone Him for applying the same title to Himself?

Verse 36 is critical because it gives a double affirmation of the deity of Christ:

– the Father sanctified (set apart) the Son and sent Him into the world

– Jesus states boldly that He was the Son of God (5:25)

What was their response? “Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. {40} Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed {41} and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.” {42} And in that place many believed in Jesus.”

This was apparently a place which would provide a safe retreat; the Jewish leaders were not likely to follow Him there. Also it was a good place to prepare for His final week of public ministry when He would lay down His life for the sheep.

The place to which Jesus went is most significant.  He went to the place where John had been accustomed to baptize, the place where he himself had been baptized.  It was there that the voice of God had come to him and assured him that he had taken the right decision and was on the right way.  There is everything to be said for a man returning every now and then to the place where he had the supreme experience of his life.

Even on the far side of Jordan the Jews came to Jesus, and they too thought of John.  They remembered that he had spoken with the words of a prophet; but had done no mighty deeds.  They saw that there was a difference between Jesus and John.  To John’s proclamation Jesus added God’s power.  John could diagnose the situation; Jesus brought the power to deal with the situation.  These Jews had looked on John as a prophet; now they saw that what John had foretold of Jesus was true, and many of them believed.

At the Jordan many people came to Him. This was an act of faith on their part. They said, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true” (10:41).

Their words implied that John had not performed any signs, in contrast to Jesus, who had performed many signs. Significantly, the special word John used for “sign” appears in verse 41 for the first time in chapter 10.

Earlier in the chapter, Jesus’ miracles were called only “works,” because they had not produced faith in the hearts of those who had seen them. However, where faith in Jesus is described in verse 41, the word “sign” reappears.

The conclusion of all the events in chapter 10 is that “many believed in Him there” (10:42).  

By this point in the Gospel of John, those who believed in Jesus had come to understand that the content of true belief is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

They had also come to understand that the cost of this belief could be conflict, division, and even the threat of death. After all, we see them at the end of the chapter with a band of outcasts in the wilderness, following the One in whom they had come to believe.

Even though John presented a tough message about how costly faith can be, his message is, at the same time, one of encouragement. He wanted us to understand that we will be opposed as believers in Christ.

However, it should not surprise us or crush our spirits. Furthermore, the example of Jesus is to stand firm on the truth we believe—even when we are persecuted. His consistent response to violent opposition was to speak truth, and we should do the same.

Jesus is the Door: Have I ‘entered’ in by faith so I can be saved?

Jesus is the Good Shepherd: Have I heard His voice and trusted Him?

Jesus is the Son of God: Do I believe this and is He first in my life?