Do you have to die to experience eternal life? You might think, “Yes, of course…isn’t that the definition of eternal life: ‘Life after death’?”
Maybe not. Think about it this way: Does Jesus really just want us all to die so we can experience eternal life? Is there another way to think about it? I believe so.
I recently read a history book, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation, by Daniel G. Hummel. It tells the story of the brand of evangelical faith of my family heritage. Dispensationalism is word describing a way to read the Bible that suggests God works in the world differently based on eras, aka dispensations. This viewpoint has a lot to say, especially about the end times. If you’ve read the Left Behind books, watched movies like A Thief in the Night or listened to David Jeremiah, you are hearing dispensationalism. This theology came to America in the 1800s by English Brethren, and eventually found its home at Dallas Theological Seminary in the 1900s. It spread rapidly and became a cultural phenomenon, truly shaping our nation, as the book title suggests. But since the 1990s dispensationalism has fallen on hard times. In fact, while it has some ongoing cultural impact, it’s nearly dead in theological circles. Why?
First, despite dispensationalists’ claims to the contrary, there are other superior and biblically-faithful ways to interpret Scripture. Second, dispensationalism has some serious weaknesses. One of its weaknesses is its claims about eternal life. Dispensationalists believe that we need to prepare as many people as possible as fast as possible for Jesus’ return, and the way to prepare people is to get them to assent to the Gospel.
Assent is believing an idea in your mind. Dispensationalists, in their vigor to “get people saved” heavily emphasized mental assent as what makes disciples. In this, dispensationalists have led many people astray, people who believed that mental assent has gained them access to eternal life. This is nominal Christianity. Christianity “in name only.” People thinking they are going to heaven when they die, but who in fact are not disciples of Jesus, as evidenced by how they live their lives.
As we’ll see next week in our continuing study of the life and ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of John, Jesus has a very different viewpoint of eternal life. He doesn’t want us to die so we can finally get to the better life. Jesus has a clear vision for how all people can experience eternal life now. See for yourself by reading John 14:1-14 ahead of time. Then on the blog next week we’ll talk about it further.
Over the years, people have said there are cliques in the church, and they don’t believe there shouldn’t be cliques in the church. A clique is a small group of people who like to be together and can be adverse to others joining them. What do you think? Are cliques antithetical to Christianity?
In the previous post, we learned what is perhaps a top five most important teaching of Jesus: “Love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.” It sure seems like Jesus would not be a fan of cliques in the church.
Let me push back on that a bit, though. Jesus is not saying that you need to be best friends with everyone in your church. Frankly, in most churches, it is not possible to be best friends with everyone. The average size church in America is around 65 people. 65 people is too many to be best friends with. You can, however, be loving to all, while being in close, deeply loving relationships with a smaller group.
The reality, though, is that some people are hard to love. Are there people in your church family you struggle with? Yes, of course there are. That’s true for any family. We all have people in our own families we struggle with, so it is only natural that we will have people we struggle with in our church family.
Examine your heart, mind and action. Do you need to confess and repent of unloving attitude and action toward someone in your church? Is there a broken relationship you need to restore? Again, the purpose is not to be best friends, but to establish the baseline of love.
Back in the Upper Room as Jesus is teaching this principle of love, I wonder if he had in mind the fact that one of the twelve would betray him. It would be exceedingly difficult for the other disciples to love Judas, especially once they found out about Judas’ betrayal. But as you and I know, it is not Judas that the disciples will have to learn to love. In fact, other than the brief moment of the kiss of betrayal in the Garden, which will take place in just a few hours’ time, the disciples will never see Judas again.
There is, however, another disciple they might have a hard time loving. Some of them very well might already have a hard time with this disciple. Now Jesus reveals something shocking about this other disciple that could make it even more difficult to love him.
I’m talking about Peter, of course. The bold, loud mouth. Those kinds of people can be annoying. Difficult. Remember the post last week when Peter says, “No Jesus you will never wash my feet.” The other disciples were probably rolling their eyes. They’ve heard Peter’s bluster so many times. I’m guess most of you can picture in your minds a person like that. Then when Jesus responds to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me,” Peter does a total flip-flop saying, “Well then wash my head and hands too!” The disciples were probably huffy at Peter about that too.
My point is that I bet Peter could sometimes be difficult to love. But Jesus has just said that the disciples will show the world that they are his disciples by how they love one another. Now he has something to say that might make it incredibly difficult to love Peter. But first Peter seems stuck on the part back in verse 33 where Jesus talked about leaving them. Look at verse 36-37.
“Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
I bet the disciples were whispering to each other, “This guy. Such a big talker. Will he ever shut up?” But Peter, it seems, was sincere. He meant everything he said. He believed it. Peter had made plenty of bold proclamations before. Now Jesus has a shocking response in verse 38,
“Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
Jesus has been bold with Peter before. But this is intense. You’d think Jesus would say, “Thank you, Peter, for your commitment to me. Thank you for saying you will lay your life down for me. What about you other disciples? Are you going to lay down your lives for me too, like this awesome disciple Peter?”
But nope, Jesus does not affirm Peter at all. Instead, he says, “Really, Peter? Really? You want to know the truth about your big talk? You’re doing to disown me three times before next morning.” My guess is that the look on Jesus’ face when he said this, and the tone of voice he used, made it abundantly clear that he was serious.
I wish John told us about how Peter responded. We are left wondering if Peter said anything back to Jesus. Did he feel embarrassed, put in his place, and thus was quiet? Shamed? Or was he typical Peter, loud and aggressive in his disagreement? As one person pointed out to me, it is also possible that Jesus shared the news of Peter’s denials as a private aside to Peter, so perhaps the rest of the disciples didn’t hear Jesus’ words in verse 38. They’ll find out though in a just a few hours when it happens. Then the disciples just might find it very difficult to love Peter.
For now, we return to the principle of loving one another as the preeminent mark of the church. There is always hope for people, even when they seem too far gone, too difficult, when we take Jesus seriously and love them.
Jesus has only mere hours left before he leaves his disciples in a mess. It’s the night of his arrest, and he has just revealed the identity of the disciple who would betray him, Judas Iscariot. As we trace the logic of what Jesus says next, it seems that Jesus is feeling lots of emotional himself. He’s up and down, as you and I probably would be too if we were just hours from a betrayal, arrest, beating and awful death. He seems to bring his disciples along for the emotional ride. What he says, though, is of utmost importance.
When Judas was gone, Jesus speaks up again. Here’s what he says, as told in John 13, verses 31-32,
“When he was gone, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.’”
Jesus returns to a theme he has mentioned frequently in our study through the Gospel of John, the theme of glory. Through what is happening and through what is about to happen in Jesus’ life, he says is glorified in himself, and he is glorifying God. He describes an undoubted connection between Jesus the Son of Man and God the Father. But it is more than a connection. You and I can be connected to God as well. What Jesus suggests here is something richer and deeper. Jesus refers to their shared glory because Father and Son are total equals. Whatever is happening or going to happen, Jesus is saying that he and the father are equals, both glorified.
What is this glorification? The word itself in the original language is where we get our English word “doxology.” Maybe you know the song often included in church worship services called “The Doxology”: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him above ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”
What is the theme of the song? Praise. When we glorify God we are praising him for his greatness. Jesus, likewise, is saying that in whatever is about to happen, he will be joining with God his Father in being praised for greatness. There is no more hinting at this glorification. It is no longer something that is in the future. Jesus says it is now. It is happening at once.
Think about this from the disciples’ point of view. Do they yet understand what this all means? They just learned that one of them will betray Jesus. Yet, while betrayal sounds awful, Jesus is now talking about being glorified, which sounds very, very good. Even more confusing, while he glorification is very good, Jesus isn’t celebratory. He is talking about glory, but he isn’t talking about planning his coronation, like we just saw a few weeks ago with King Charles of England. Jesus is troubled in his spirit. His talk about glory doesn’t match his emotion, his body language, or his bizarre prediction of Judas’ betrayal. Then Jesus continues his ominous tone in verse 33,
“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.”
This is not what you want to hear if you are one of the disciples. What you want to hear is that his glorification means that he is going to become king, and you, as his trusted followers, will be at his side governing in his royal palace, restoring Israel to prominence and defeating the Romans.
But no, Jesus is saying that his glorification involves him leaving, and them not joining him. This thing they’ve been involved in for the better part of three years, in other words, is coming to its end.
For the disciples, then, this is evening has been a most unusual Passover celebration. Think about the emotional ups and downs. First he brings them up with the very touching moment of washing their feet, teaching them the beautiful principle of servant leadership. Then he pulls them down, saying Judas will betray him. Next he yanks them back up with talk about glorification. Now he pulls them right back down saying he is leaving them. It’s emotional whiplash!
In verses 34-35, he brings them back up again with what is one of his most memorable and important teachings,
“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 that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The word for love here is “agape.” It’s the famous kind of love that is described in 1st Corinthians 13:4-8,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Jesus is saying that kind of active love for one another is the way his disciples will show that they are his disciples. This is so important, so vital for his disciples that Jesus declares this is a new command he is giving them. Love one another. This is what we are to be known for. We are people who actively love one another.
Over my years of pastoral ministry, when people experience sickness, lose a job or mourn the passing of a loved one, they have often asked the question, “Why did God allow that to happen?” In those painful situations, it’s quite natural to wonder what role God might have behind the scenes. Some go so far as to suggest that God “made” their misfortune happen. Is it God’s fault? Maybe you wonder that too.
Because we don’t know, we’re often left feeling unsettled. Does God see our pain, hear our cries, and care about the struggle we’re enduring? To answer, “No,” we believe, would be akin to losing our faith, and so we often conclude, with a bit a despair, “Well, no matter what, God is in control.” I suspect most people, when they say, “God is in control,” really mean, “No matter what I am going through, I still have faith in God.” That might be emotionally helpful, but I think there is a better response, a better way to understand the difficulties of life. In this devotional, we’ll hear the better way that God himself suggests to people in difficulty.
In our continuing study of the life and ministry of the prophet Jeremiah, we’re now at chapters 46 & 47. What we notice immediately is that format has changed, at least in the NIV 1984 bible that I’m reading. Most bibles follow suit, and for good reason. What is happening in Jeremiah chapters 46 through 51 is different from the genre of the recent chapters. In Jeremiah chapters 46-51, the genre is predominantly prophetic declarations about the nations surrounding Judah. This is quite different, as nearly the entire book of Jeremiah to this point has focused on Judah. Over the next month or so, right through to the end of the book of Jeremiah, we’ll study these international prophecies.
Chapter 46 begins this new string of international prophecies with a prophetic poem directed towards Egypt. Skim through chapter 46 and you’ll learn that the prophecy relates to the defeat of Egypt by Babylon which occurred many years before the events of chapters 39-44. We also notice that the prophecy describes the battle in colorful language.
Frankly, though, there’s not a whole lot to say about the battle. The beautifully written poem in verses 3-26 can be summarized as follows: Babylon will destroy Egypt. There is a hint, a subtle indication in the poem, that Yahweh God of Israel wants to make it clear that he is the true King, not Pharaoh of Egypt (see verses 17-18) and that he is the true God, not the gods of Egypt (see verses 25-26). The only miniscule hope for Egypt is the final line of verse 26 where God says that one day in the future, Egypt will inhabit its land again. That’s it. Everything else in this poem is bad news for Egypt.
But then in verses 27 and 28, God has a poem for Israel too. It’s a short poem, but it is loaded with powerful teaching. Before we look at the poem for Israel, let’s peek ahead to chapter 47. It’s another prophetic poem, this time for the Philistines, Israel’s ancient enemy. The message is again simple and devastating. Philistia will be destroyed. That’s it.
Clearly, foreign relations are tumultuous in this era and area of the world. Get ready, because it will be a lot more of the same in the next few weeks as we hear more prophetic poems about the nations. But thankfully, we can skip back to chapter 46, verses 27 and 28, to God’s very different message for Israel.
There is a structure to the poem for Israel, as each of chapter 46 verses 27 and 28 begins with a matching line, “Do not fear, O Jacob, my servant.” God is not talking about Jacob, the ancestor of the Jewish people, the man whose sons (and a couple grandsons) would become the twelve tribes of Israel. Remember him? Jacob wrestled the angel, and God renamed him Israel, which means something like “contends with God.” He was the father of the nation. So here in verses 27-28 God is talking to all Israel.
He starts with the important words, “Do not fear.” Why would Israel fear when the preceding prophetic poem described how Babylon would decimate Egypt? Think about it this way: If powerful Egypt couldn’t even stand up to Babylon, there was no way that tiny little Israel could do any better. In fact, the menacing Babylonian military would have caused fear in the hearts and minds of all the nations in the region. They were blitzkrieging their way through everyone and everything.
But God says, “Do not fear…do not fear.” Why not? What can he possibly say to help the people of tiny, impotent Israel to not freak out as Babylon marches toward them, having just disposed of mighty Egypt? God will get to his reasons why Israel should not fear in a moment.
Interestingly, he first calls Israel his servant. It seems the people forgot this relational dynamic. What led to their destruction is that they didn’t think they needed God. But from the beginning, God covenanted with his people, declaring that they would be his people, and he would be their God. If they served him, he would protect and bless them. Sadly, they chose time and time again to rebel. Now God is throwing them a reminder, that Israel must see themselves as his servants.
Seeing themselves as God’s servants will require a change on Israel’s part, and it remains to be seen if they will change. There is still hope that this prophecy will get through their hard hearts and impel them to repent and return to serving God. You and I know the end of the story. In chapters 39-44, we’ve just studied the end of the story over the past few weeks. Judah does not repent, and they, too, are decimated by the Babylonians.
But at this juncture, about 15 years prior, that sad end has not yet happened. That is an important message for us. No matter what station we are in life, we can turn to God. No matter what we believe about impending disaster we believe we see on the horizon, we need not fear as servants of God. Why? God gives them some reasons.
He says in verse 27 that he will surely save them out of a distant place, and he will save their descendants from lands of exile. If I’m a Jew, that’s not what I want to hear. Distant places and exile mean that I and my people will have to endure bad things for many years. I want my descendants to be saved, but I want to be saved too! Israel could hear this prophecy and think, “What are you saying, God? That you’re allowing us to face destruction? That you did this?” Their thoughts would likely be the same as our thoughts when we face hardship.
The rest of verse 27 is more of the same. God says Israel will experience peace and security, and no one will cause them to fear. But is that a promise and hope only for the future? Again, think about how the people of Israel might here these words about peace and security, “What? I want peace and security now. I don’t want to go through hardship.”
We know, though, that the reality of life is not one of uninterrupted comfort, ease and fun. That’s Humanity 101: we will all somehow, some way, struggle. In the end, we will all die. I hate to be so blunt and harsh, but if we are to fully embrace what God is saying, we will only be able to do so in a mindset of reality.
Yes, God’s promise is of peace and security and freedom from fear one day in the future, but that is because there is struggle and insecurity and fear now. At least that was the case for the people in Judah. Babylon was coming, and there was no stopping it. You might think, “But why couldn’t God just stop Babylon?” It is the question we so often ask about the difficulties in life. Why doesn’t God intervene and make life easier for us for often? I sure seems that God answers a whole lot of prayers for help with, “No.” Why? Is he cold, angry, jaded? No. Instead God gives us a glimpse into his thinking when he answers that question next.
In verse 28, after the repeated opening line “Do not fear, O Jacob my servant,” God now says, “…for I am with you.” There we have some assurance. God is with us in the mess. He doesn’t say that he will always clean up the mess. He says he is with us in the middle of our mess. While it might seem that God is nowhere to be found, asleep, or not answering his phone, he confirms that he is actually right there beside us all along.
It can be difficult to see God right there at our side, or living within us, when we are going through painful times. We tend to fixate on the negative. Cognitive Behavioral Therapists rightly remind us that we can believe the worst, even when the evidence is to the contrary. Perhaps when things are so difficult, we can’t see God because instead of looking for him right there with us, all we want is the escape hatch, the problem to be solved, and the pain to cease. We don’t want God in the middle of our pain, we want ease, comfort and fun. Often we will search passionately for a way out of the pain, when God is saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
As God continues in verse 28, he says that he will completely destroy the nations, but he will not completely destroy Israel. Does that sound good? Yes and no. It sounds like Israel will be at least partially destroyed. Partial destruction is still destruction. Maybe they can take a bit of hope in the idea that their land and people will not be completely destroyed, but they will still go through serious pain. Why?
God says, at the conclusion of verse 28, they will face the pain because he will correct them with justice. The word “correct” is sometimes translated “punish” or “guide.” It carries the idea that God is not random, but instead he has a purpose. The people have rebelled against him, and he is just in correcting them. He has their best interest in mind. Their rebellious actions involved idol worship, pagan religious practices, and many actions of injustice. The people cheated, stole, murdered, beat the downtrodden, and mistreated the poor, to name just a few ways they perpetrated injustice.
Now God say that he will allow the people to be corrected, through the pain of loss and exile, so that they might return to him, return to the flourishing justice that he desires for them because it is in their best interest. This is why they need not fear, because he is with them, actively seeking their correction through justice.
We can learn much from this prophetic poem. God desires human flourishing through justice, and he himself is intentional, interactive and relational, intimately involved in our lives to bring about his justice. God is here. He wants us not to fear the pain and difficulty in the world by joining with him in the pursuit of his justice in the places and people that are currently experiencing injustice. This is why we give ourselves sacrificially to eradicate injustice wherever we see it. Be it poverty, discrimination, corruption, crime, marginalization, division, and more, we bring the Kingdom of God when we seek to bring justice.
So when we’re experiencing pain and difficulty of any kind, instead of escaping our reality by saying, “God is in control,” is seems that God says to us, “You need not fear because I am with you, and I want to work together with you to bring justice.” That means you might need to confess and repent to bring justice. That means you might need to look around you for the injustice.
I have some acquaintances who lost their son to childhood cancer. Their response to their deep pain? They started a foundation to provide pajamas and financial support to other families in the region who were struggling with childhood cancer. That’s one way we turn difficulty into justice for human flourishing. How about you? How can you have God’s viewpoint of your pain?
Jesus has just shocked his disciples with the news that one of them will betray him. Understandably, they want to know which of them could do such a thing. That leads a deeply dark moment in this story. Look at verses 26-30,
“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. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. ‘What you are about to do, do quickly,’ Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 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. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.”
Jesus looks at Judas. Is Judas able to look Jesus in the eye? Or is Judas looking down? The emotion is crackling between them. Jesus is troubled in spirit. He loves Judas, investing in him for three years. Though Jesus now boldly calls Judas out, it would be just like Jesus to also be reaching out to Judas one last time. We already saw Jesus refer to Psalm 41 that talks about the friend who shares bread but is a betrayer (see post here). Now Jesus says the betrayer “is the one to whom I give this bread.”
Is Jesus dooming Judas? Is Jesus sealing Judas’ fate?
I think Judas still has a choice at this moment. Judas can refuse the bread and call off the plan to betray Jesus. There is always a choice. There is always hope.
But no, Judas seems to have been thinking for some time that Jesus has been making bad choices. Remember Judas’ reaction when Mary dumped out perfume on Jesus? (See post here.) It was perfume that was worth $70,000 in 2023 US dollars, and Judas was not happy about what he perceived as utter waste. Yet, Jesus rebuked him! In that same story, found in John chapter 12, we also learned that Judas carried the ministry money bag and helped himself to it from time to time.
So it doesn’t seem that Judas was ever all-in, that he was ever a true follower of Jesus. Jesus, however, seems to still be reaching out to him. I wonder if there’s a bit of a hopeful question in Jesus’ words, “Are you going to take the bread, Judas? Are you really going to follow through with the plan to betray me? You don’t have to.” Judas might have a sliver of desire to give his life to Jesus.
Too often, though, we allow ourselves to be carried away by the strong current of our selfishness. Believing that the corners we’re cutting, the bridges we’re burning, the little cheats here and there aren’t that bad, and they will help us get ahead in the long run. Or maybe we’re feeling a strong current of despair, thinking that there’s no hope for us. Believing we’re too far gone. Or maybe it’s the strong current of fear, believing that we have to abandon a friendship for another one that seems more promising.
My point is that we shouldn’t caricature Judas as some horribly evil person that is totally unlike us. As if we would never betray Jesus. We just might. Some of us have over the years in ways big and small betrayed Jesus. Judas’ humanity doesn’t let Judas off the hook. Nor does our humanity let us off the hook. Instead I hope it helps us get real about the temptations and pressures we all face, about the amazing reality that just as Jesus loved Judas, he loves us, reaches out to us. Jesus always has hope for us. When we think we are too far gone, he still offers us forgiveness. Think about it. Just a few minutes before this interaction, Jesus washed Judas’ feet.
Sadly, Judas chooses self-loathing, self-harm, selfishness, and what will ultimately mean self-destruction. He takes the bread. And as he does, Satan enters Judas, and he leaves.
There is, however, another way. Choose life, choose hope, choose the way of Jesus.
Leadership is lonely, or so some say. As a pastor since 2002, I have felt that loneliness from time to time. Frankly, some loneliness is self-imposed. “I can do it better myself,” we think. Or we don’t want to put in the work to involve others. Maybe we struggle to release our grip on a task, an event, a ministry. A church.
In John 13, verse 20, Jesus teaches a powerful missional truth, “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
Notice the linkage Jesus teaches here, like a chain. First link in the chain is Jesus sends people. Second link in the chain is that Jesus himself is sent on a mission by the father. So the people Jesus sends are linked in a chain to the father.
What Jesus is talking about is the significant task of his mission to train up others and send them on mission. In the other Gospel accounts, we learn that during his ministry years, prior to this Last Supper, he had already sent people out on mission trips. One time he sent the twelve disciples out. Other times he sent out people he healed. Another time he sent our 70 people on a mission trip.
Those guys around that table knew this because he sent them on those ministry trips. They know he is talking about them. Now he seems to be hinting at the possibility of sending them out again. He wants them to know that when they are sent out, while they are on their ministry trip, if people accept them, those people are at the same time accepting him, because he is the one who sent them. Furthermore, those people will also be accepting the Father, because it is the Father who sent out Jesus.
Jesus wants his disciples to understand this missional principle. When the sent ones are ministering, they are not operating on their own power and authority. Instead, they are linked in a chain to Jesus and God the Father. The sent ones are serving and ministering under Jesus’ and God the Father’s authority and power. That’s an important principle for you and I to remember. Today, you and I are the sent ones who are pursuing Jesus’ mission in our day, and praise God, we serve his mission under his power and authority.
At the same time, Jesus is clearly insinuating here that not everyone accepts him. Including, possibly, some people right there in that room around that table. It would have been a shock to those disciples to hear that one or more of them might not accept Jesus. They were his inner circle. Could it be possible that someone there would not accept Jesus? We know the answer. Look at verse 21,
“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’.”
There it is, plain as day. If they wondered if it was possible that one of them might not accept him, Jesus says, “Yes.” This news is startling. Imagine how it would feel! How would you feel if you heard that someone you just spent the better part of three years serving with was a betrayer? How will the disciples respond?
In verses 22-25, we learn that disciples are rattled,
“His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ‘Ask him which one he means.’ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’”
Of course it is Peter who is willing to question Jesus. I wonder if Peter thought he himself might be who Jesus is referring to. But actually, Peter is perhaps surprisingly not bold enough to just ask Jesus outright. He nudges John, telling John to ask. That may simply be because John was sitting next to Jesus. Or it could be that Peter knew John and Jesus were very close friends, maybe what we would consider best friends. Thus it would be natural for John to ask, as it would be highly unlikely John would betray Jesus.
John asks Jesus, “Who is it?” That leads a deeply dark moment in this story, which we’ll study in the next post.
Are these phrases always true? I don’t think so. When I take my dog running, we almost always run by the home of a neighbor a few doors down from us. They have ornamental sheep in their front flower bed. The sheep are made of what appears to be concrete, and semi-realistic. If you saw them, you would immediately know they are ornamental. My dog, however, thinks they are real. Every single time we run by that yard, he lunges out toward the sheep, just like he does with other dogs, squirrels or rabbits. And every time the sheep make no movement. We’ve run by that house hundreds of times. My dog reacts that way every time.
I know that you and I have more intelligence than dogs. Like I said, if you saw the sheep, you would not be fooled in the least. But I suspect you have been fooled by people. I would venture a guess that you have thought people were one way and they turned out to be very different. A person who gives a warm, likeable first impression just might really be cold and difficult. A person who seems quiet and aloof can be fiercely loyal and humorous.
We’re going to see this surprising principle at work in the story we’re studying this week. There is often a lot more going on under the surface of people’s lives. Before we started reading our passage for this week, let’s review so we know the setting. In John 13, verse 1, we read,
“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.”
Jesus and his disciples are at the Last Supper. He has just washed the disciples’ feet, instructing them to follow his example of loving servanthood.
The foot-washing was an act of love by Jesus to his disciples. There was a warmth in that room, an affection between a rabbi and his followers. He instructs them to follow his example, and what’s more, look at what he says in verse 17,
“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
This is a very encouraging, hopeful, joyful teaching. The disciples could easily be thinking, “I love this guy, I love being his follower, and he wants to bless us.” So far, it seems their Passover gathering was warm and celebratory, the kind where people are laughing and having a great time.
In the middle of their joy, Jesus says something that doesn’t fit the mood. Look at verse 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.’”
If you were there that night, I think you would have sensed a change come over Jesus. Likely his tone of voice became more concerned. The look on his face darkened a bit.
He is saying, “You know all that stuff I just said, all that about you guys following my example of love, and that you will be blessed if you do these things? Well, that doesn’t apply to all of you.”
If I am one of the disciples sitting around the table, I am instantly confused. Those disciples could be thinking, “What does he mean that his teaching doesn’t apply to all of us? Aren’t we all equal parts of the group? How can he say, ‘I know those I have chosen’? Hasn’t he chosen all of us? Why is he quoting Psalm 41, in which King David writing about his friend betraying him? Is Jesus saying that psalm applies to us? Is he saying one of us is going to betray him?”
Yes, Jesus is beginning to reveal the shocking news that one of the Twelve will betray him. But why? Is he just being dramatic? Why does he say this before the betrayal? He answers that question in verse 19,
“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He.”
Do you get what he is saying to them? Jesus knows that in just a few hours’ time, these men will experience their world turned upside down. He is trying to prepare them for that upheaval. When it seems like all is falling apart, he wants to help them remain steadfast, because he knows they will have a strong urge to give in to fear, run away, hide, and give up.
By quoting the psalm, he is hinting that someone would betray him, and he is telling them in advance so that when it happens, they will be able to say, “OH, he said this would happen, he was right, he is the Messiah, he is the truth.” Jesus wants to help them confirm their belief in him.
Have you felt as though some people are just too far gone, as if there is no hope for them? Maybe it is a relative who has made a series of poor choices. Maybe it is a friend who has struggled for years. Maybe you wonder about yourself.
It could be the person who is in and out of rehab. It could be the person whose past is littered with broken relationships. It could be the one who can’t seem to keep a job.
In recent weeks a woman living at a nearby hotel has been calling churches in the area. She’s asked us to pay for her to stay at the hotel, saying that she has been trying to get into a local homeless shelter, but they are all full. If we could just pay for her hotel stay, she’ll have the buffer she needs to keep calling shelters until a bed opens up.
Whenever we get calls like this, I immediately feel a combination of pressure, confusion, compassion, and skepticism. I have no way to verify the woman’s story, and yet I want to help. Thankfully, the Conestoga Valley Ministerium communicates when people call us. So I reached out to see if the woman had called any other churches. She had called other churches, and what’s more, a local Christian social services agency had been working with her for 10+ years. They reported that the woman rarely followed their programs designed to help her live a more stable lifestyle.
In other words, we now had every reason to believe that if we helped this woman, as soon as her hotel stay expired, she would be right back to calling churches for more help. The CV Ministerium churches decided together to not help her at this time. It was difficult, and yet we felt it was better to give our finances towards the many others in need in our community who are truly striving to find more stability.
Yet, when I talked with the woman to tell her this decision, I felt embarrassed. What would she do? Is there hope for her? Should we have helped? Is she too far gone. It’s very messy and complicated, isn’t it? I wonder how Jesus might answer those questions. Perhaps we’ll get a chance to hear how he might answer those questions in our sermon this coming Sunday. We’re studying John 13:18-38, as the story of the Last Supper continues. Though the men around the table with Jesus are his closest followers, Jesus gives them the shocking news that some of them might be too far gone. There is talk of betrayal, of disowning. Are they without hope? What Jesus has to say has great ramifications for us, when we feel hopeless, when we are interacting with others who seem too far gone.
I invite you to read the passage ahead of time, and I look forward to exploring further with you next week on the blog.
All week long, we’ve been studying the famous story in which Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. Why did he do it? Jesus explains why in John 13, verses 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. “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 an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
This is the counter-cultural Jesus. The rabbi was doing servant’s work. How radical is that? A rabbi, a teacher, lowering himself to wash his followers’ feet? It’s a powerful image. But it’s not just radical in his culture. It is just as radical in our culture.
How do we practice foot-washing in our culture? When Jesus says that he has set an example that his disciples should do for others as he has done for them, is he saying that he wants us to practice ritual foot-washing in our church services?
Yes, we can have foot-washing as a part of worship services, like my church has done on Maundy Thursday in years past. But starting a foot-washing ritual was not Jesus’ intent. Instead he is teaching the principle of servant leadership.
I’ll never forget a conversation I heard when I was a missionary intern in Guyana in the summer between my junior and senior year of college. I was talking to the leader of the denomination there, a Guyanese pastor. He told me that the man just below him in leadership, the #2 pastor in the denomination, was willing to clean up vomit in the nursery in church. That’s a servant leader.
There is nothing a servant leader believes is beneath him or her. In fact, Jesus is specifically calling his disciples to be people who treat others with the kind of sacrificial love that he demonstrated for them.
That means you and I are not on some kind of trajectory where we are promoted higher and higher, and people must serve us. Instead, followers of Jesus are people who give ourselves to serve, meaning that we are willing to go lower and lower.
Do you find the church bathroom toilets need to be cleaned? You clean them.
Do you find there are refugees who need transportation? You drive them.
Do you find there are openings in the local school district volunteer team? You fill them.
Recently, I was so inspired by several people in our congregation who gave themselves to serve. We have people who volunteer as stewards to count the money given in our offering baskets every Sunday. For the last few years we’ve had six stewards. That might sound like a lot, but when you considered that we require two stewards to count every Sunday, that meant on average a steward was counting every third week. That adds up. Over the course of the year, that’s more than once/month. Our stewards serve sacrificially, which is amazing. But we also wanted to see if we could lighten their load a bit.
We put out a plea to a bunch of people asking for more Stewards, and we had four more sign up! Over the next two months, the new stewards will come on board, and now each steward will be serving less than once/month. Because when more people are willing to serve, to love, then less people get tired and burdened from the weight of the job. Then we are functioning as a unified body, a team working together.
There are all sorts of ways to serve others. Certainly, you can serve in your church. What serving teams and ministries could you serve with? Most church families could use volunteers in the nursery, singers and instrumentalists in worship, help with projects around the building, volunteers on the sound board, the projection system, and more. If you are not serving, I bet your pastor and church leaders would love to talk with you, to learn how God has gifted you, to see what might be a good fit.
You can also serve in the community. This is important. We should be known for being people who serve in our community. This past spring it was wonderful to see so many people from Faith Church serving with SEEDS ESL classes. Our people did meal prep, childcare, teaching, and leading. They were serving with loving selflessness.
I’m not calling you to serve solely for the benefit of others. Jesus showed us the way of servant leadership because it will help others and because it is best for us too. Serving others in love is good for them and it is good for us, both personally and as church families together.
Let’s be people who are known for serving in love.
When Jesus says that unless he washes Peter’s feet, Peter has no part with him, that gets Peter’s attention. Peter responds a characteristically big way, as we read in John 13, verse 9,
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
A classic overreaction from Peter. We love Peter for his passion, though. I can see him shoot his feet out from under his robe, so Jesus can easily wash them. Peter is serious. When he asks Jesus to wash he hands and head, I don’t think Peter is joking around here. He’s the kind of personality who would probably make the other disciples roll their eyes, “Geesh, Peter, calm down. You’re so dramatic, so literal!”
No, Jesus wasn’t interested in giving literal baths here. Yes, symbolically he does want to wash or clean the whole person, but not the physical body. That’s what a bath is for. Jesus has a deeper cleaning in mind, emotionally, intellectually, relationally, spiritually. You could say that Peter is, unknowingly, on to something here. Jesus wants us to experience holistic transformation.
But Peter has jumped the gun a bit, which is why Jesus responds in verse 10,
“’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.’ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.”
I think Jesus smiles at Peter and is essentially saying, “Just doing foot washings today, Peter. But you’re on to something. You don’t realize how clean you are.” I think Jesus could be saying, “Peter, I know you are my true follower. You have truly given your life already,” especially considering what he knew Peter would do in just a matter of hours. Peter would do something that you would not think a true follower of Jesus would ever do. Peter would deny Jesus three times, and yet Jesus would affirm that Peter was his genuine follower, and Peter truly was a genuine follower.
But one person sat around the table that night who wasn’t a true follower of Jesus, Judas, and the amazing example of Jesus washing his betrayer’s feet. Think about Jesus, loving Judas, even at the end, reaching out to him, but also speaking truth to him, knowing that Judas had not given his life to follow Jesus, and was actually already actively working against Jesus. Jesus loves him too.
Then Jesus explains why he washed their feet, and we’ll learn about that in the next post.
Engaging Scripture 