As we have been reading John at Atlas, we know Jesus is going to be executed, but we don't know what he will tell his best friends before he leaves.
He has assembled twelve men. He has spent three years teaching them. He is going to die, but what is it he wants them to do after he is gone. For us as readers, these two chapters are essential. If we wanted to boil down the revolution Jesus wants to start to its core: this would be the place to look.
Now, this section of John is the beginning of what is known as "the farewell discourse," (chs. 13-17).
This is a large chunk of John's story which tells all the things Jesus wants to say on the night before he died.
So the setting here is Thursday night of passion week. It is the night before Jesus is crucified.So let me give some quick background on what Jesus has done here in the last week of his life.
On Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem to great fanfare--we covered this last week--and literally the whole city turns out calling him King and Lord. The masses believe he is the Messiah--the Returning King--come to over throw the Romans.
On Monday, Jesus returns to the Temple, the central location in all of Judaism, and he goes to the place in the temple reserved for non-Jews to worship, and he finds it overrun with profiteers selling stinky, noisy animals. The temple authorities have obviously allowed the sale of animals in this spot. And Jesus is outraged. Israel was to be a light for all nations, a blessing to the world. But instead of reaching out to gentiles, they have crowded their worship space with salesmen. So he begins turning over tables and reciting scripture. Now Jesus action is highly symbolic, for only the King can judge the conduct in the Temple. So by throwing out the merchants, Jesus is reaffirming his status as Messiah before all the religious leaders. But at the same time his actions are deeply insulting to the authorities. And it is this event, more than any other, that leads the priests to seek Jesus execution.
On Tuesday, the temple authorities come to question Jesus: does he really have the authority to judge them. They want to show the people listening that Jesus is not trustworthy, so they ask him where he gets his authority. They ask him whether--as the coming King--it is right to pay taxes to Caesar (a different king). They ask what Commands are most important to follow.But Jesus uses the opportunity to challenge their entire tradition. He tells them their Temple--the place they consider God's home--will soon be destroyed, but that he will rebuild the temple: and his temple will be his followers.
On Wednesday, Jesus returns to Bethany about 2-3 miles away, where Lazarus, Martha, and Mary live and this is the day Mary comes and pours the jar of costly perfume on his feet (as we read last week). Now, Mark tells us that it is this event that sends Judas Iscariot over the edge, and Judas leaves Bethany to speak with those plotting to kill Jesus. He will be the one who will hand Jesus over to his enemies when no one is looking. He will show the authorities where Jesus sneaks off to after he teaches. He will betray Jesus into their hands.
On Thursday, in John's story, we find Jesus and his followers have walked about three miles in sandals down a hill from the home of Lazarus into Jerusalem. And John implies that these sweaty men have all walked into town, walked up some stairs into the upper room of a home and they have plopped down to eat what will be known as the Last Supper. Now in ancient Jewish culture hygiene was very important. You have to wash your hands before all meals. You have to wash all your body parts before worshipping God on certain days. But also, it was a social custom to have your feet washed--especially after travel or a long days at work--by the lower members of the household. Some have pointed out that most Jewish servants wouldn’t do it, but that it was reserved for the gentile-foreigners.
Now, in this story, no one washed the disciples' feet at the door. The disciples are upstairs waiting for dinner. They would have been sitting on the floor, which was the custom of those being served. And they are awkwardly sitting around. It would be like hiking all day through the woods and coming home to your nice carpet, sitting on the floor, and not taking off your boots.
Of course, seeking higher office in the administration of "Jesus the Messiah" meant none of the Disciples would volunteer to wash feet: that would be to present yourself as the lowest person there. If you want to be next to the King, you talk about policy. You talk about your skill-set and what you bring to his administration. You jockey for position. You don't show off by doing menial tasks. So the guy who washes feet in this culture is like the manager of a football team who collects towels and jock straps. Or it is like the guy who works in a high rise office building late cleaning bathrooms. Or he is the bus boy at a nice restaurant. These are all places where the lowly find a place in the social structure. The quarterback doesn’t put down his play book to help pile laundry.
The CEO doesn’t take Saturdays to wash the toilets on floor 30. The master chef doesn't help shove nasty plates into the dishwasher. Jesus kneeling to clean his disciples feet is akin to these awkward pictures. And John implies that the disciples do not speak. It seems they do not have the categories to understand what is happening.
Here's a question for you, who washes feet in our day? The picture that comes to my mind is pedicurists, and these are most often administered by Asian woman who are first generation immigrants trying to enter our culture.
My wife has tried to get me to go in and get a pedicure for the experience alone, but even though my feet could use the work, I won’t do it. The activity strikes me as uncomfortably intimate. It would make me feel helpless: in that I could not help do some pretty nasty work. It is absolute service.
And this is exactly the picture Jesus wants his disciples to receive and remember. He wants them to know love is intimate and tangible. He wants them to know that they are to serve in places that may be considered humiliating. He wants them to showcase their care for people, by lowering themselves. Washing feet is Jesus showing us what dying to yourself looks like. And Jesus unpacks it in V. 13 "You call me teacher and Lord and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you and example that you should do as I have done for you…" Some translations say, "I have set for you a pattern that you should follow."
Now this is huge! It's as though Jesus has given us the blueprint of a master building we are to build, or he was written out a grand symphony for us to play, or he has designed a great feast for us to enjoy with all the recipes and details prepared." I have set for you a pattern (an example) that you should follow." Why? Because it will make your life music. It will construct the world into what it ought to be. It will bring the joy and delight of God to the masses.
NT Wright says, "For us as for Jesus, we should be looking away from ourselves, and at the world we are supposed to be serving. Where the world's needs and our vocation meet is where we ought to be ready to take on insignificant roles if that's what God wants, or to be publicly visible if that is our calling. And as with Jesus, the picture of foot washing is meant to serve not only as a picture of all sorts of menial tasks that we may be called to perform....It also points towards the much larger challenge, the challenge that Jesus issues to Peter in the last chapter of the book, the challenge to follow Jesus all the way to the cross, to lay down life itself in the service of God and the world he came to save" (49).
The pattern of Jesus is one of laying down his life for those he loves. And then Jesus says this (v.34), "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know you are my disciples."
It is not that his listeners had not heard that they ought to love each other.The revolutionary aspect of Jesus is that he redefined, symbolized, and acted out in dramatic and clear fashion what love really is.
Now notice this, it is after showing his followers how to love that he gives one of his hardest teaching of all: (ch 14:6) "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."How many of you have heard this, and struggled with it when you think of good people you know, who don’t believe in Jesus?
This is one of the most difficult positions for Christians to affirm, especially in a pluralistic culture like ours (and actually that of Jesus' day). "Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but through him." This is not a message of domination: My religion is better than yours. Jesus is affirming how things are at their deepest levels. And here is the crux--by placing it after his command to love one another, he is saying that the love between Christians will be the evidence that that is true.
Jesus isn’t sending his follower out as lawyers to argue the case for Christianity. He doesn't put together a list of reasons he is so much cooler than Buddha. And he certainly doesn’t give his followers swords: physical, verbal or otherwise-- to go defend Christianity: as though Jesus needs to be defended.
Jesus sends his followers out to love: and says everything else will follow. That is what evangelism looks like for Jesus. That is how lives will be transformed. That is how the Kingdom of God comes to those chained to sin. This is what the Jesus revolution is.
Now, in 20th century America we could get away with just standing on a pulpit and inviting people to get right with God. For most of that time, Christians were still seen as good people who had your best intentions at heart.
That time has passed. Christians are seen more and more by the secular mind as ignorant, control addicts. Watch the news on Comedy Central some night from 9-10. Read the Onion. Look at the output of Hollywood and see who is easily mocked as the bigoted, hate-filled, ignorant hoards out to subjugate the masses. I have heard that the Wachowski brothers new movie
V for Vendetta is case and point.
And if you think there is no reason for this fear from secular society consider the Terri Shivo incident, consider the Christian rights obsession with gay sex, consider the frequent use of people on tv calling the US a "Christian Nation": which is another way of saying, we've been in control for a long time and we should remain in control. Those who call themselves Christians in America have lost their credibility because they have failed to love first, and have put other issues at the fore. I am convinced that today the workers are many but the harvest is nearly non-existent because few people desire to be Christians. They do not see Christians as attractive people.
Let me confess, this is the place I am most depressed--seeing my brothers and sisters in Christ on TV pursue power for their organizations, or their political agenda, or their point of view. The issues at heart here are often about control.
I recall one very well known Christian on MSNBC recently saying his dream job is chief justice of the supreme court. That was his highest ambition. Think of that. Not eliminator of AIDS, not Peace bringer to war torn countries, I want to make decisions for everyone else about how they ought to live their lives. Control. It is a lust for power.
And how effective is this strategy? By some estimates evangelical Christians make up 1 in 5 Americans. But as one writer notes, a cup of salt in a pound of meat should taste different.
This is exactly what is going on in John's story. When Peter objects to Jesus washing his feet, he desires a figure head of power, not one of love. When Judas rebukes Mary for pouring perfume on Jesus feet, he desires a messiah who solves problems with monetary power verses one who dies for the poor, as well as wealthy. If you read the gospels closely, you will see that Judas (the betrayer) and Peter (the Rock) are often at exactly the same spot. If you look at John 13:18-30 it is about Judas's betrayal. Verse 31-38 is about Peter's denial. Both object to Jesus embracing a cross. Both voice strong opinions about who Jesus ought to be. And as with the Palm Sunday Crowd (last week), both worship power and leave Jesus to die alone.
The worship of Power is the rejection of Jesus.
Now, Chapter 14 ends with the question of Thaddeus (called Judas here): v.22 "Lord why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" In other words, 'Why don’t you exercise your power, and demonstrate convincingly that you are God?' Have you ever wondered why Jesus doesn’t show himself to your family? Have you ever wondered why Jesus doesn't show himself to your friends? 'Why Jesus don't you let people know who you are in a more glorious, a more vibrant, a more POWERFUL way?'
And Jesus answer is amazingly cryptic (v. 23), "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." That is, my Father and I will be revealed in the lives of those who obey my teaching to love. And that is how I am showing myself to the world.
I have often pointed out that Colorado University--which is the heart of secularism in our state--honors only two men's birthdays as holidays. It is not Lincoln or Washington or Jefferson or Columbus or Ford or Marx (as some might assume). It is Jesus Christ and a Christian minister from the south named Martin King.
Think of the most powerful Christian people in the world now, and I guarantee you their names don't make it into the minds of the person on the street when they ask themselves what the good life look like. But I tell you, without fail, every ethics class I have taken has mentioned Mother Teresa as the epitome of a life of beauty and ethical virtue.
"I have set a pattern for you to follow."
GK Chesterton rightly said "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has instead been found difficult and left untried." The truth is, the closer we get to Jesus, the more revolutionary his prescriptions will look. It will expose selfishness in us; it will strike us as odd and overly idealistic. We will fight back with excuses: certainly if everyone did THAT society would fall apart The Taliban or the nazis would rule the world. I would have nothing to eat, or car, or clothes. I would be a door mat for thieves and bullies.
And it all boils down to this: if I followed the things Jesus actually says, my life would no longer be mine.
"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried." What if there were small communities around the world that stopped making excuses for the hard sayings of Jesus, and actually began embracing their difficulty. What if there were small communities of Christ followers who made each other's needs, each other's priorities. They served one another so that together they could serve the world. What if they identified real places of want, neglect, and destruction in their society and they lovingly, gently, passionately entered those place of pain and brought with them just love. Just love. How can I wash your feet?
There are people in the Atlas community who make it their absolute ambition to go build homes for families in desperate want. Here, let me wash your feet. We spend the first 15% of all money given to Atlas on serving, teaching, even saving the lives of kids, so that they can be Jesus to others in their world. When you give to Atlas you wash the feet of desperately needy kids some of whom have AIDS, most of whom have lost one or both parents. Here, let me wash your feet. We have a few folks here who simply go and wash the feet of teenage moms in our city by baby sitting their kids for a couple hours, so they can go and be regular teenagers. Giving them a little freedom. Giving them the chance to rely on the church and know Jesus. Giving them the chance to possibly meet a spouse who they can depend on. And they're saying, 'Here, let me wash your feet.'
When we moved into our building last November a lot of us heard a collective groan from people in this area. We took a space that was well loved for its atmosphere and service and the good things it brought to the college area, and we replaced it with a building that sits empty for 6 days a week, and where weird singing and sermons that are way too long are presented on Sundays. I long for the day when the people at the Mirror and Mellow Yellow and UNC say, "I am so glad those people took over the Beanery. They bring so much to this area.
What would it look like for the church to simply dedicate all its resources and energies to washing the feet of the people close to them?
I wonder deeply whether it would not be the most effective evangelistic strategy ever devised. There seems to be good authority behind it.
Donald Miller was using this video as part of a lecture he gave relating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the Gospel.
It may be inappropriate, but I seem to have a secret passion to want to undermine the Left Behind series when ever possible.
So for the two of you who still come to Healing Malchus, I want to make a promise. I have been swamped recently with the amount of teaching I do on Sundays now, but I will make it a renewed point to atleast post at the beginning of the month.
As we have been reading John at Atlas, we know Jesus is going to be executed, but we don't know what he will tell his best friends before he leaves.
Peter Kreeft - Summa of the Summa
