4/14/24 John 13:1-17 “Who Are You?”

07 Apr 4/14/24 John 13:1-17 “Who Are You?”

4/14/24   John 13:1-17        “Who Are You?”

I remember the last time we had the honor to visit my brother and his family in Texas.  It was a nice visit and we got to help him a little in his church.  We took part in a wonderful worship service and fellowship.  We also got to see many things as we visited the Gulf of Mexico which always captivates a flat lander like me.  One of the things that we did because both my brother and I are early birds, is we would sit in the morning, read the paper and have coffee outside.  I noticed the same thing there as here only on a little larger scale.  Every paper had accounts of how someone had shot someone else.  They had knifed each other.  They had stolen from others.  Texas have a legislature like ours in that it only meets every other year and they, like ours, they tend to ignore the rising crime rate among other things.  Our legislatures have other things on their minds like how they can get re-elected!  Anyway, the question that came to my mind was ‘What in the world are we doing?’  Have we no concept of peaceful living anymore?  Is everyone crooked?  Now, we have fights during baseball games, football games, basketball games and probably just about every other game you can think about.  There are now classes on how to have a civilized political discussion!  It’s almost seems to me that our school systems, our governments, our churches are all broken.  Now you all know that I think the underlying problem for all of this is that our churches are not laying the foundation for life.  People scoff and laugh at me for this but we are to blame.  We do a fair job here but there is always room for improvement.  Today, we are going to look at what Jesus did in His final hours.  Let’s see if we can help ourselves a little as we try to understand Jesus.

Being we have visited the south many times, I would like to begin with a raccoon hunting story.  It seems that Jim and Tony loved to do this.  Jim prided himself in being able to bring down a treed coon with one shot from his .22.  So Tony decided to have a little fun with him and he adjusted Jim’s sight so it shot low.  Next time out, the dogs got the coon treed and Jim steps up to finish the job.  He shoots and misses.  He shoots again and hits the branch under the coon.  The coon spooked and ran down the tree.  The dogs went crazy at this point and the coon ran up Tony’s leg and sat on his head.  Jim turned the gun on him and Tony screamed out, “Aim higher, aim higher!”  I have noticed so often in life that we tend aim too low.  We forget that we have Jesus on our side and we should be aiming higher than ever.

As we begin with this passage we find what may seem like a very strange way to aim higher.  We find that John presents a very different picture of the last supper.  John doesn’t talk about the passing of the bread and the wine.  Instead he talks about Jesus washing the feet of the disciples.  Jesus aimed at our feet and what could be lower?  But we all know that when we deal with Jesus, things aren’t always as they seem.

Please note that at this point Jesus knows that this will be His last night with the disciples.  He knows what is coming.  This will be the last chance He has to teach these people the purpose of His being there.  So far they haven’t really caught on and they still don’t get it but that is a whole different sermon.  Jesus decides to go out with a bang.  What could have more meaning, what could have a more lasting effect on the disciples and us than having the King of the World, Lord of the Universe bow down and wash the feet of His very disciples.

Now, we need a little background on this.  Can we even imagine how dirty feet would get if we never really had shoes?  They wore sandals at best and they might not have even been considered sandals by our modern standards because they would have been so crude.  Your feet would be exposed to everything that was on the paths they called roads.  So just let your imaginations run a little wild with this and their feet might have even been dirtier than we imagine.  So, we have these dirty feet and who cleans them?  Hospitality was the rule of the day as you always invited strangers into your house if it was evening.  The lowest of the servants or slaves would be the ones who were called upon to wash feet for their master and his guests.  There was even a pecking order among the slaves because Jewish slaves did not wash feet.  Only the Gentile slaves did this.  Therefore Jesus is taking the place of the lowest of the lowest of slaves.  Unfortunately, this point is lost on us today because we have shoes.  I know people who have 20+ pairs of shoes.  Our feet don’t get that dirty.

The question that comes to my mind in all of this is, ‘How can Jesus do this?’  After all, He is the ruler of the universe.  Jesus does this and other things because He knows exactly who He is.  Verse 3 is very important as it says, “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.”  This pretty much says it all.  I get a real hoot out of people who say that the Bible doesn’t say this and neither does Jesus say that He is God.  This is pretty plain.  And Jesus tells us here and in many other places that He is indeed God in human form.

So Jesus knows exactly who He is.  Now He is trying to set the example so that the disciples will know who they are.  So far they really don’t have a clue.  We have Judas who has decided to betray, not only Jesus but all of us.  We will have Peter denying Jesus 3 times.  We have all the other disciples head for the hills at the first sign of trouble a little later this very evening.  At this point, these guys have no idea who they are or what will be expected of them.

I think that this is very crucial for us also.  Who are you?  There are some who can answer this question but I think that the vast majority of people cannot.  They will say that they are a farmer, or accountant, or a common worker or a father or a mother.  Some will say they are a son or daughter, a student, a truck driver.  All these people will have one thing in common and that is they are all wrong.  Jesus knows that we do all these things and more.  However, these things only describe us.

Jesus wants us to say that we are sons and daughters of God.  That is the most important part of who you are and should always, always be mentioned first.  This is something that should be taught in every school, every university in the country.  If you want to be a success by any standard, you start out by being a son or daughter of Christ.  If you think that you are a success because you have money or power or a big house, then we need to talk because these things mean nothing.  People who are truly successful know and love Jesus first and foremost in their lives.

So first of all, we have to know who we are and we are children of Christ.  Then we have to let Jesus serve us.  As Jesus began to wash their feet, Peter said that he would never let Jesus do this.  He said this because he knew that Jesus was God but he wasn’t fully aware of all the implications of this yet.  But Jesus would have none of this as He tells Peter and the rest of them that unless He washes them, they will have no part in Him.

This is the part that I don’t think we give much thought.  Jesus has just given or is about to give them their first communion. He is also telling them that they have to be cleansed.  This is pretty easy when we are looking at others.  You have heard me say many times that we need to confess and come to Jesus.  This is a must for the person who is first coming to believe.  They have to stop and let Jesus cleanse them of their sins.  In this scene, Jesus is using water to cleanse but in a short time He will let His work on the cross do the cleansing.  One of the reasons that we have to be cleansed is that if we are going to heaven, we have to be clean.  God will not permit sin to enter heaven because it is a perfect place.  So we need to be cleansed initially as we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  That is the easy part for us to understand because many of us have been there.

However, it is a little harder to admit that we are still sinners.  These guys sitting around Jesus that night were believers except for Judas.  These were the intimate followers of Jesus and still they needed cleansing.  In my limited way of thinking, we are in far worse shape as far as sin in concerned.  There aren’t many who can compare to Jesus’ disciples.  Therefore, I suggest that you confess your sins to Jesus on a daily basis.  You don’t have to be specific.  Just ask Him to take away all your sins.  This is the same as when you first come to Christ.  There are groups that insist that you name all your sins individually or you cannot come to Christ.  There is just one small problem with this.  If you have to name sin individually, you will miss some.  I know that I would miss a lot.  All you have to do is confess all your sins to Him and He takes them away.  If you have a special sin, then name it.  Otherwise, you have to let Jesus do the work.  This is what He does for you.  I remember when I confessed like this for the first time, I felt a weight off my shoulders for the first time in my life.  If you have never done this, I suggest you do it today.  You will never regret it.

This is the main ingredient of life and it is the hardest for us to learn.  Let Jesus do it.  We all think that we can do it ourselves.  Let me be the first to tell you that you are right.  You can do it all by yourself because you are made that way.  However, you will do a real lousy job of it.  You might even think that you are very successful but this is nothing compared to the feelings of success you have with Jesus.  Allowing Jesus to lead you in all you do is the ingredient that many people miss in their lives.  They know Jesus but they don’t trust Jesus.  If your life isn’t where you want it to be, think about this for a bit.  Jesus is the answer for everything and not just some things.

The last very important item I would like to point out in this reading is that Jesus tells his disciples to go out and do the same.  Can you imagine what was running through the disciples minds?  It is no wonder that they wouldn’t get it until a little later.  This would be a hard pill to swallow.  They were to go out and do the things that no upstanding Jew would even consider; like touching lepers and washing feet.  They were to do the things that Jesus had been doing for 3 years.

This is a hard concept for us also.  We are called by Jesus to go to the untouchables in our area and minister to them in ways that are pleasing to God.  It is not that hard a concept but we are a little too comfortable to be able to do this on any regular basis.  I heard a pastor tell his congregation once that they were to go out and bless three people in a week.  They could be anyone you know or meet but one had to be someone that was totally undeserving of a blessing.  I thought that this was a great idea so I’m going to make this my assignment for you this week.  Go and bless 3 people of which one is undeserving.  Then do this for another week.  Hopefully, this can become a habit, a very good habit.

In our society, we need more servants.  There are times when I just shudder because of all the people who only think of themselves.  Greed!  We talked a little about this a couple of weeks ago.  Our society is all about me, me and me.  How do I feel?  How do I look?  How can I get more money?  The list just goes on and on.  I have already covered this a little but the reason you are so self-centered is because you are not focused on Jesus.  People laugh at me and look funny at me when I say that all our problems are because we do not trust Jesus with everything in our lives, in our world and we refuse to do what He has told us to do.

The things that Jesus taught are not that hard.  You can go through all the work of going to an online bookstore and read all the self-help books, all the books that promote happiness, all books that guarantee success and you will end up a failure.  You will not be happy.  You will not be satisfied.  The only thing that you may have is a whole lot of worldly things and good luck getting them to heaven.  Jesus is the answer; the amazingly simple answer.  Come to Him and do not delay.

A good example is Mother Teresa who was a great servant of God.  She did a lot of work in India but she also worked in this country.  Douglas Bryan tells of in 1989 she opened a home for the destitute in Phoenix.  She was interviewed after this opening.  After she finished, the interviewer asked if there was anything he could do for her.  He was thinking she would ask for some money for this project or the next but that wasn’t what happened.  Instead, she replied, “Yes, there is.  Find somebody nobody else loves and love them.”

You have neighbors who need help getting their yard ready for summer because they are too old.  You have young families with not much money who never get out because it costs too much for a babysitter.  You have people with disabilities who could use a hand here and there.  There are countless ways to love people.  Bless three people this week.

Then as you go out and bless people, I also want you to help out one person.  You can help more if you want but if you aren’t used to this, start with one person.  Help them as you try to see life from their point of view.  If you do this you will find satisfaction that you don’t find very often.  Jesus wants us all to be happy and satisfied.  You can be and you will be if you just follow His lead.  Jesus will take you to new heights!  That is a guarantee.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.