Bible Studies
You Should Do As I Did to You (Jn. 13:1-20)
Series: Additional StudiesIntroduction:
1. Often we interpret this account as a message of humility. It certainly illustrates Jesus’ humility. 2. But, I think this is not the main point. Jesus makes the main point in verses 14-15: “If I washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. You should do as I did to you.” 3. So the main point is that we should serve one another.Discussion:
I. Christ’s service models attention given to the least without neglecting the others.A. Interestingly, this episode is not contained in the other gospel accounts of the last supper experience.
1. The other accounts (Matt. 26:17-30; Mk. 14:12-26; Lk. 22:7-30) identify the eating of the Passover, the institution of the Lord’s Supper and the part about Judas’ betrayal, but omit the account of the washing of their feet.
2. Luke does include an episode that may give us some more background on the washing of their feet. In 22:24ff he mentions that there was a dispute among the disciples about which one of them was regarded to be the greatest. Cf. Matt. 20:20ff; Mk. 10:35ff.
3. It doesn’t take much imagination to see the disciples arguing over their positions and then Jesus washing their feet. His lesson on greatness is “Serve one another!” It must have been a humbling experiencing. (More on this later.)
B. Truly Jesus serves the least. Was Judas washed or had he been dismissed already? John places Judas’ dismissal after he had washed the disciples’ feet.
1. Each of the disciples was washed, even those who thought they were greatest.
2. Such had been evidenced by Jesus before.
a. He ate with tax collectors and sinners (Matt. 9:10ff).
b. He gave attention to Zacheus even though he was small in stature and also a tax-collector (Lk. 19:1ff).
c. He gave attention to children (Mk. 10:13ff) not to receive a blessing from them but to bless them.
d. He gave attention to the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was demon possessed (Matt. 15:21ff).
C. Jesus also entered the house of Simon the Pharisee (Lk. 7:36ff).
D. Our service is to be inclusive.
1. James teaches that we are to not show partiality (2:1ff).
2. Service is not always easy (Matt. 5:38-42, 43-48).
3. Slaves are to serve masters, seeing Christ in them (Eph 6:5-7).
4. Spouses too are called upon to serve in unpleasant circumstances (1 Pet. 3:1ff).
E. Service is not about what you can get, but about what you can give.
1. Like the disciples we may be ready to fight for a throne, but not for a towel of service.
2. “Divine love leaped over the boundaries of class distinctions and made the Lord of Glory the servant of men” (Merrill C. Tenney).
3. When divine love controls us we will serve too.
II. Christ’s service involves cleansing us from sin.A. Being cleansed frominvolves a humility on our part.
1. Perhaps this is why Peter is hesitant to let Jesus wash his feet.
2. Unless we let Jesus wash us we have no part with Him.
3. Judas remained unclean. Was this a reflection of his lack of humility?
B. We must accept the services of Christ.
1. It involves His humiliation (Gal. 3:13; Phil. 2:8). I had rather Christ not have to be humiliated for me.
2. I am humbled by His humiliation for me.
III. Receiving those whom Christ has sent is equivalent to receiving Christ and receiving the Father (18-20).A. Ability to predict the future validates Jesus as “I am” (v. 19).
1. Identifies Him as omnipresent. That is, not limited by time.
2. It is this factor that allows prediction of future events.
3. Some associate predictions with God’s power. Their reasoning is that He has the power to make things happen therefore predicts them and by His great power makes them happen. God indeed is omnipotent.
4. But it is not His omnipotence upon which His predictions are based. It is the fact that He stands above time. This allows knowledge of all events whether past, present or future.
5. Thus He and He alone can predict what will take place.
B. When we receive the message of his prophets and apostles we have received His message.
C. His message is the message of the Father. He sent His son in service.
D. The converse is also true. To fail to receive the apostles is to fail to receive Christ is to fail to receive the Father. Do you allow them to serve you?
E. The apostles evidenced their servant-hood when they gave themselves to “drink the cup that Jesus drank” (Matt. 20:22-22). Are you so transformed by what they have done for you that you serve others?
Conclusion:
1. It is fitting that the self-sacrifice evidenced in the Lord’s Supper and its establishment is the backdrop against which this episode occurred. 2. As Christ has served others let us serve one another. 3. Not so that we can be exalted, but because we are loved and now love others in self-sacrificial giving (Jn. 13:1). It is by this self-sacrificial loving service that we are known as His disciples (Jn. 13:34-35).
