A Slave and His Master – Betrayal

 

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me…Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” (John 13:21 and 31).

 

If the slave is not greater than his master, (Jn. 13:16, 15:20), then since Jesus was betrayed we ought not to think it strange when we are betrayed, nor should we hesitate to embrace the Cross of Christ when we are betrayed, for are we not called to know the koinonia of His sufferings?

 

However, let me hasten to add, that betrayal carries a particular pain and sorrow in its cup that touches the depths of our souls – and I suppose we carry its scars just as Jesus carries the print of the nails. To be admitted to the “fellowship of the betrayed” is not something anyone ought to aspire to, nor is it something that we should glory in – for betrayal is beyond words and is costly – both to the one who is betrayed and to the one who is the betrayer.

 

“For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it; nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me, then I could hide myself from him. But it is you, a man my equal, my companion and my familiar friend; we who had sweet fellowship together walked in the house of God in the throng.” (Psalm 55:12 – 14).

 

In his Inferno, Dante reserves the depths of Hell for traitors. Barbara Reynolds describes Dante’s depiction of the city of treachery thusly:

 

“It is a freezing of all human bonds, of kinship, loyalty to country or party, hospitality, and gratitude for benefaction.”

 

We may contrast betrayal with the love of God, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Great love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12 – 13).

 

Betrayal sacrifices others, God’s love sacrifices itself.

 

Consider that not only does Jesus wash the feet of Judas, His betrayer, but that in the midst of this betrayal Jesus continues to love and serve His disciples. That is, Jesus continues to focus on loving His friends, and in loving His friends who were in His immediate presence, He is loving us who will come to know Him (John 17:20; Heb. 12:1 – 2).

 

When we are betrayed, the pain and uncertainty and surprise is so great, the threat is so unexpected, that the betrayal can absorb our attention and energy to the exclusion of all else, to the exclusion of loving others. The betrayer can loom larger than anyone else in our lives. Yet should anyone be larger than God in our hearts and minds and souls? Is not Jesus Christ our Lord, does He not remain Lord of all?

 

Judas’s betrayal did not alter Jesus’ commitment and obedience to the Father, in fact, if anything it confirmed and highlighted it.

 

“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” (John 12:27). The “hour” that Jesus speaks of includes the great betrayal.

 

When Judas leaves the Upper Room to consummate his betrayal of Jesus, Jesus says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.” (John 13:31 – 32).

 

The Betrayal plays a role in the glorification of the Father and the Son – then and now.

 

Peter writes, “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you…Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.” (1 Peter 4:14 & 19).

 

In the midst of being betrayed, Jesus continues to commit Himself to the Father, trusting that the betrayal is in the Father’s plan for glorification and for the salvation of others. Likewise we also, when we are betrayed, are called to continue our commitment to our Father and Lord Jesus, trusting in the Holy Spirit to fill us and rest upon us as we walk through the betrayal; trusting God to use the betrayal for His glory, for our glorification in Him, and for the blessing of others.

 

We must not allow betrayal to distract us from loving and serving others, we must not allow betrayal to make us bitter and vindictive. In the midst of betrayal, we ought to embrace our call to follow Jesus Christ and to take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34 – 38) and to view betrayal as an opportunity to allow the Cross to work within us for the glory of God. Is the slave above his or her Master?

 

This, my friends, is one of the differences between a spiritual child and an adult – a child sees betrayal as all about himself, while an adult offers betrayal to the Father for His glory. A child tells everyone about the betrayal, an adult only speaks what is necessary, when it is necessary. Indeed, to the adult betrayal is an element in the pilgrimage of the Cross. Indeed, the adult realizes that at one time he (or she) played the role of Judas himself – for we were all enemies of God at one time.

 

None of this lessens the pain and anguish of betrayal, and the more we have trusted the betrayer the deeper the pain. I recall a time when an employee who I had poured myself into and opened many doors for betrayed me. I could not believe what she had done. Even though my eyes told me the truth of the betrayal, my heart could not accept it – until I had another trusted employee review and confirm the theft – only with this additional confirmation could I accept what my mind told me was true.

 

I have also experienced betrayal within the professing church, and I will frankly say that this scar tissue remains with me – I am writing about something I have experienced. There is perhaps no pain like the pain of betrayal by professing Christians, by brothers and sisters (other than betrayal within marriage and family).

 

But here is the thing, no matter the degree of betrayal, no matter its results, we are still called to serve Christ and others, we are to embrace the Cross, we are to love – and we are to wash the feet of Judas well as the feet of Peter. We are not better or greater than our Master, and we ought to be thankful that Jesus trusts us enough to call us into the fellowship of those who have been betrayed…for we know that the Father will be glorified, that Jesus Christ will be glorified, and that we…individually and as Christ’s Body, will be glorified in the Trinity.

 

If you are bitter about a betrayal in your own life, please meditate on our Lord Jesus Christ and what we see in Him in the midst of the great Betrayal by Judas. Are you greater than your Master?

 

How might you allow Jesus to walk with you and speak to you?

 

Please ask your Father for grace to forgive the betrayer(s) – let us not forget that we are to forgive others as we desire God to forgive us (Mt. 6:12; Eph. 4:32).

 

Let us guard against the trap of closing ourselves off from others because we have been betrayed – let us rather embrace the Cross and the comfort of our Father and love and serve others out of our broken vessels (2 Cor. 4:7 – 12).

 

After all, life is about Jesus Christ…and if we are to find ourselves, our destiny, we must lose ourselves in Him.

 

A Slave and His Master

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:16 – 17).

 

Later that night Jesus will remind them, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:20).

 

How often do we expect and insist on special considerations that were never given to our Lord Jesus? How often do we assert our privileges and supposed rights, how often do we advocate for special recognition in areas which are contrary to our status as slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ? That is, how often do we insist that we are treated better than Jesus was treated?

 

I cannot think about this without pain and shame because I cannot begin to count the ways I have thought myself worthy of more consideration that Jesus was given.

 

Now to be sure there are complexities to these questions, for example, in the workplace my sense is that we ought to assert our rights and protections against discrimination and harassment in its insidious forms – not solely for our own sakes, but for the sake of others. I write “for the sake of others” because if one person is being discriminated against it is usually a pattern, meaning that others are being discriminated against. Discrimination is respect of persons, and it is using a false balance, which is an abomination to God (Proverbs 11:1).

 

Paul asserted his right as a Roman citizen to be treated according to Roman law and to appeal to Ceasar. His appeal to Ceasar led to his witness to many in authority over the course of his imprisonment and journey to Rome. His invocation of Roman citizenship both protected his witness and expanded his witness.

 

I wonder why Paul didn’t immediately assert his Roman citizenship in Philippi. (See Acts 16:22 – 40). Whatever the reason, the beating of Paul and Silas and their jail experience was quite a testimony to our Lord Jesus and led to the jailer’s conversion and that of his household.

 

The heart of the issue is whether we see ourselves as slaves of Jesus Christ, whether He is our Master and we are His servants. Do we see ourselves as being purchased by His blood and as belonging to Him? Paul writes in 1 Cor. 3:23, “…you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” Then in 1 Cor. 6:20, “For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

 

To identify with Jesus Christ is to bear the reproach of Jesus Christ. The recipients of the letter to the Hebrews were reminded of this in the midst of persecution, “So let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.” (Heb. 13:13 – 14, see also Heb. 11:13 - 16).

 

Peter writes, “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrow when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…” (1 Peter 2:18 – 21, of course please read the context to get the full import!).

 

Then we have, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing…If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rest on you…but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glory God in this name.” (1 Peter 4:12 – 16 passim).

 

But the idea of Jesus as our Master and we as His servants is not limited to our witness and the world’s response, as critical as that understanding is – it is to encompass all of life, hence Jesus not only speaks of the Master – slave relationship in the context of persecution (John 15:18 – 16:4), but also in the context of feet washing and serving one another.

 

Jesus washed the feet of Judas knowing that Judas was betraying Him. While I hope to consider the subject of betrayal in the next reflection, for now let me say that if the Master washed the feet of His betrayer that we, His slaves, are called to wash the feet of our betrayers and those who would destroy us. (See also Matthew 5:38 – 48).

 

Have we considered that when Jesus was washing the feet of the other apostles that they did not understand what He was doing and what we can learn from this? The apostles did not thank Jesus for washing their feet – or if they did it isn’t recorded. In fact, the apostles had just argued about who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom (Luke 22:24 – 27), so their minds and hearts were hardly focused on servanthood.

 

Jesus was serving the apostles and they had no idea what He was doing and, as far as we know, they didn’t express appreciation for His service to them. Do we serve others when we don’t receive recognition? When we do serve others and do not receive thanks and recognition, how do we think and feel and act?

 

Consider that Jesus would shortly be betrayed and abandoned and tortured and crucified – and yet the Master is still serving His servants – without receiving thanks or recognition. In fact, as the Upper Room unfolds in John chapters 13 – 17, Jesus not only continues to serve, He invites His servants, His friends, into intimacy with the Father, the Spirit, and with Himself, the Son. That is, the Master calls His servants into the love and life and joy of the blessed Trinity; He loves His own to the end (John 13:1). Jesus is holding nothing back, He is giving Himself away to those who, at the moment, do not understand what He is doing, do not appreciate what He is doing, and are not thankful for what He is doing.

 

How does this compare with us?

 

Are we willing to serve, to wash the feet of others, without thanks and recognition? Are we willing to be like our Master?

 

If we consider the sacramental element of feet washing, as explored in a previous reflection, the reality is that if we wash the feet of the saints with the Word that few will know what we are doing, for few of us live in the Word and are therefore aware of the Word. O for sure we may know current “Christian’ jargon and pithy sayings and the latest songs, but we typically don’t breathe the atmosphere of the Word of God. We may know the title of a Christian best - selling book or DVD series, but we don’t live in the Word, we don’t speak the Word, we don’t recognize the Word. We know more about “Chrisitan” therapy than we do the disciplining and molding and convicting of the Holy Spirit.

 

If we are not speaking the Word to others (Col. 3:16), how will we know when someone is speaking the Word to us?

 

When we consider other forms of service in the Church and in the world (Rom. 12:3 – 21), are we willing to give and to serve without recognition? (See Matthew 6:1 – 18).

 

Is there not something amiss in the professing church when those in vocational ministry are elevated to pedestals? It is one thing to honor those who faithfully serve our Lord Jesus and His People, but to make them (and often their families) the objects of veneration…how does this harmonize with what we see in our Lord Jesus and His life and ministry?

 

But are we not all infected with pride and a desire for recognition? Do we not insist on others being thankful for us and on being given, despite what we may say, some measure of the spotlight? Some acknowledgement?

 

While we all need encouragement, how easy it is to move beyond a desire for encouragement to a hunger for glory centered on ourselves. I know what it is to drink from this poisonous cup.

 

What would our congregations look like if we were willing to wash the feet of others without recognition? What would we look like, as God’s People, if we served one another out of love, without thought of reward and recognition? What would we look like if we served others whether or not they realized our service?

 

While I have seen much beauty within the professing church, I have also seen ugliness. I have seen more ugliness and destructive behavior in the professing church than I have seen in decades in the business world – much of this has been about recognition, praise, and honor; much of it has been about who is the greatest. O that we would learn to wash one another’s feet. O that we would learn that the servant is not above his or her Master. O that we would learn the high calling in Jesus Christ to serve others, to wash others with the Word, with loving service – whether or not they recognize what we are doing, whether or not they recognize us.  

 

When we serve others, we serve our Master (Matthew 25:31-46).

 

Is this enough for us?

 

He Knew The One Who Was Betraying Him

 "For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, 'Not all of you are clean.'" John 13:11.

In the holy place of the Upper Room, in the midst of the sacred and sacramental acts of the Bread and Wine, and Feet Washing - there is Judas Iscariot. Iscariot even intrudes upon us by reference in John 17:12, before reappearing in the garden in 18:3. 

Before we ponder the glorification of the Son of Man in the midst of betrayal (John 13:31), I want to look at Judas Iscariot so as not to gloss over him. I'll do this by sharing something posted a while back, it is a handout I prepared for a congregation in 2009. I hope it will be helpful.

                As we’ll see below, the Bible does not tell us a lot about Judas Iscariot (not to be confused with another Apostle named Judas), but that is the case with most of the Apostles, and in one sense this shouldn’t be a surprise because the Gospels are about Jesus Christ and not about us or anyone else. Of the twelve original Apostles we know more about Peter from the Gospels and the Book of Acts than anyone else, and next to Peter we know more about John than anyone else – but beyond those two Apostles our information is pretty scanty and in some instances nonexistent.

            Concerning Judas Iscariot, of the four Gospel writers John tells us more than Matthew, Mark and Luke; the Book of Acts (also written by Luke) also refers to Judas (in the first chapter) – but John is where we get more of a glimpse of Judas than anywhere else…and yet it is only a glimpse.

            The temptation with just getting a glimpse of something is to read more into it than we ought to and to build an image or teaching which may not be there at all; it is a temptation that most of us, including me, find hard to resist!

            The temptation with getting a glimpse of Judas is that we want to find some way to understand why he betrayed Jesus. Why did he do it? What was he thinking? What was he feeling? Perhaps he wanted the best for Jesus and just went about it the wrong way? Maybe he repented after he saw the consequences of his actions and asked for forgiveness? Isn’t there some way we can turn Judas into a sympathetic figure?

            The challenge in asking these questions is to stay within the Biblical text – a difficult challenge with almost any Biblical text; but perhaps a particular challenge with a tough subject like Judas Iscariot.

         Below are the key New Testament passages referring to Judas Iscariot, I have not included passages from Mark or Luke because they parallel those in Matthew and John – what do these passages teach us?

 

            JN 6:70 Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

 

            The word “devil” means “slanderer” and whether or not Jesus means that Judas is a slanderer as opposed to being possessed or influenced by the devil at that particular time, the fact that Jesus uses this particular word forms an association with Judas and the evil one, known as the devil or Satan.

 

   JN 12:4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

 

          Here is another glimpse. We are told that Judas was a thief and we are shown that Judas was also a liar and a deceiver. In John 10:10 Jesus teaches that the thief (referring to the devil) comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. In John 6:44 Jesus also teaches that the devil is a murderer, a liar, and in fact “the father of lies”. So once again we have association occurring with Judas and Satan.

 

            The following passage in John Chapter 13 occurs in the Upper Room:

 

  JN 13:2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.

 

   JN 13:26 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.

 

            In 13:2 we see that Judas had already moved to betray Jesus; see also Matthew 26:14; Mark 14:10; Luke 22:3.

            In 13:26 – 27 we see something akin to a consummation of relationship between Judas and Satan – though the exact nature of what we’re reading is hard to grasp. Without a doubt a line of demarcation is crossed with the words, “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him”.

  

  MT 27:3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4 "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." 5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

 

           Here is another glimpse of Judas, which without a full Biblical context could be open to different interpretations. Could this mean that Judas came to God in repentance, asked forgiveness, and was forgiven? This is a fair and reasonable question. Of course we all know that remorse can take many forms, from true repentance and confession and seeking forgiveness; to being sorry for being caught. Remorse coming from a recognition of sin, a recognition of wrongdoing, does not in and of itself mean that it is remorse leading to repentance. Are there other Biblical passages that might throw light on this question: Did Judas turn to God in repentance?

 

JN 17:12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

 

2TH 2:1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

 

            In John 17:12 Jesus refers to Judas with a specific term, in the NIV it is the one doomed to destruction. Other English versions translate this phrase the son of perdition or son of destruction – and indeed the word son is exactly what the Greek text says. So Jesus is referring to Judas as the son or child of perdition or destruction. What does this mean? A look at Paul’s passage in 2 Thessalonians may help us to understand this phrase.

 

            In 2 Thessalonians Chapter Two Paul is dealing with, in part, the personification of Satan and Satan’s opposition to the Church of Jesus Christ. In describing the man of lawlessness, or who the Apostle John refers to as the antichrist, Paul uses the very same term that Jesus uses with respect to Judas; the man doomed to destruction (NIV), the son of destruction, the son of perdition (other English versions).

 

            Once again we are confronted with the association of Judas Iscariot with the devil or Satan, and now also with the spirit and persona of the antichrist – to the point where Paul and Jesus use the same term to describe both Judas and the antichrist. Considering this clear association it is unlikely that the “remorse” we read about in the Gospel of Matthew is a remorse of true repentance, for the Biblical picture of Satan and the antichrist presents no such picture – see Revelation 19:20-21; 20:10. While we may not understand any of what really went on within Judas Iscariot, anymore than we can say that we understand what went on with Satan that led to his rebellion against God; we can say in both instances that the Biblical picture ends in perdition, in an abyss that defies our understanding and which is beyond our comprehension.

 

           Beyond the above there are at least three Old Testament prophecies of Judas Iscariot, Psalm 41:9, which Jesus quotes in John 13:18; Psalm 69:25 and 109:8 which are both quoted by the Apostles in Acts 1:20. And then we have the words of Jesus about Judas in Matthew 26:24, “…but 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.” Perhaps all we need do in reading about the remorse of Judas in Matthew 27:3 is to look back to what Jesus said about Judas in Matthew 26:24 – perhaps Matthew did not intend to leave us with any question about the irrevocability of Judas’s betrayal?

 

            There are many mysteries in the Scriptures, things that we can dimly see but which we cannot fully understand; as much as we would like to engage in speculation, speculation is generally unprofitable and diverts our attention from the Biblical text with its focus on Jesus Christ, God’s love for humanity, and the offer of redemption that is extended to us through the Cross and Resurrection.

 

          What can we learn from Judas? The first thing is in the words of Jesus, “Therefore when he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him,’” John 13:31. God uses persecution and betrayal in our lives to transform us into His image and to be glorified in us. If we are going to know Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10) it will likely mean that we experience betrayal. We are called to allow the most painful experiences in life to be the means by which we are transformed into the image of Christ and the means by which God is glorified within us.

 

            The second thing we can learn is the heinousness of sin and the consequences of alignment with Satan. We are not engaged in a religious game; the Gospel is a matter of eternal life versus eternal death. What we believe matters, how we live matters, and our faithfulness to Christ matters. There is a lot we may not know about Judas Iscariot; but we should give heed to what we do know. 

Do You Know What I Have Done To You?

  

“Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you…If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” John 13:12b – 15, 17.

 

Did the apostles know, in that moment, what Jesus had done? Do we understand what Jesus did and why He did it? What do we see in feet washing and how do we wash the feet of our brothers and sisters? Do we see into and through and beyond the water, the basin, and the towel? Are we touching Jesus the Christ and is the Christ touching us?

 

“If I then…you also.” What do these words mean? What heavenly portal do they open?

 

O dear, dear friends, this is about so much more than taking physical water and washing physical feet – this is about our life in Christ and the life of Christ in us, this is about life with one another in Christ.

 

“If I then…you also.”

 

Consider what Jesus says in His follow up:

 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34 – 35.

 

Can we see the call, the reality, of “If I then…you also”?

 

We are to wash feet as Jesus washes feet, cleansing one another with the Word, and we are to love just as Jesus loves.

 

Consider: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12 – 13). The Apostle John later writes, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16).

 

May I ask, what would our churches look like if we loved as Jesus loves? What would they look like if we saw and understood and obeyed, “If I then…you also”?

 

One of the first things Jesus teaches us is that we are to forgive others as God forgives us. “And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12).

 

Paul incorporates “If I then…you also” in Ephesians 4:32 – 5:2:

 

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and as a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

 

Here we have both love and forgiveness incorporated into “If I then…you also.”

 

We are to wash one another’s feet with love and forgiveness. We are to live barefoot in the church, barefoot with one another in Christ.

 

When Jesus, in the Upper Room, teaches us that He is the Vine and we are the branches, and that “apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5), He is saying to us, “If I then…you also.” We are to love as Jesus loves, forgive as Jesus forgives, live as Jesus lives, for Jesus is our Life. We are to be Christ to one another for we are, in Him, Christ to one another.

 

And so Paul writes that, “…nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives within me…” (Gal. 2:20).

 

Jesus says to the Father, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18). Later, after the Resurrection, Jesus says, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (Jn. 20:21). Can we see, once again, “If I then…you also”?

 

We are to go as Jesus goes.

 

How are we responding to Jesus’s question, “Do you know what I have done to you?”?

 

Do we really know?

 

Do our lives manifest that we know?

 

The lives of our congregations?

 

The Body of Christ, the Feet of Christ

 

The feet washing of John 13 leads us into the Holy of Holies of John 17, our perfected unity and oneness in the Holy Trinity, bathing in the glory of our Father and Lord Jesus – resulting in an ultimate declaration to the world and all creation that the Father sent the Son and loved us as He has loved the Son (John 17:20 – 26). We might say that Revelation chapters 21 and 22 are the outworking of John 17; just as we might say that John chapters 13 – 16 lead us up and into John 17. We might also say that John chapters 1 – 12 lead us from the Incarnation to the INCARNATION of chapters 13 – 21, meaning that the grain of wheat falling into the ground is bringing forth much fruit (Jn. 12:24).

 

In Ephesians 1:3 – 12, as in Colossians 1:9 – 20, Paul gives us an eternal cosmic perspective, a perspective which the author of Hebrews 11 emphasizes is a characteristic of godly faith – faith which is always and ever “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) and which touches and lives in the communion of the saints (Hebrews 12:18 – 24).

 

In Ephesians 2:11 – 22 and 4:1 – 16 we have portrayals of the Temple of God, One New Man, and the Body of Christ; then in Ephesians 5:22 – 32 we have the image of the Bridegroom and the Bride – these are ever present cosmic eternal realities that are transcendent in Christ, spanning heaven and earth and time and space as we sit in the heavenlies in Him (Eph. 2:6).

 

Then we have this statement in 1 Cor. 12:12, “For even as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.” Is it any wonder Paul writes like this? For Jesus said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). That is, to touch the members of the Body is to touch the Head of the Body.

 

And this, my friends, is what the feet washing of John 13 is about, it is about washing the feet of the Body of Christ – the Body which is “the fulness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23b). These are the feet beneath which the Father has put “all things in subjection” (Eph. 1:22).

 

These are the feet of Psalm 110:1, the feet of Joshua 1:3 (can we hear the Father speaking to the Son?), the feet of Isaiah 60:13 and 14, the feet of Isaiah 52:7; Zech. 14:4; Mal. 4:3; Psa. 8:6…and more.

 

The feet are those parts of the Body that have contact with earth, and while the Body has been fully bathed in the Word and blood and water, while the Body has been fully sanctified and consecrated unto God our Father (Hebrews 10:10 – 14), those of us on pilgrimage on earth, throughout our generations, need our feet washed.

 

Hence we have both our continual cleansing (1 Jn. 1:7) and our specific confession (1 Jn. 1:9) of sins. Hence we have the washing of water with the word (Eph. 5:26). Hence we have feet washing, speaking the Word of cleansing, affirming forgiveness, speaking the Word of justification and sanctification and of glorification to one another in Christ (Rom. 8:29 – 30).

 

Visualize the Body of Christ, the communion of saints. If we conceive of this Body spatially, we see the Head in the heavens and the feet on earth. All that which is beyond the dust of earth need not be cleansed again for it does not have contact with the earth, but we in the here and now, we who are on the earth – O how we need our daily and continual cleansing and refreshing – for while we have been fully bathed in Christ Jesus, we nevertheless walk in the dust of the earth.

 

And this means that when we wash feet, when we touch our brother or sister with water and towel, that we are touching so much more than the physical feet of a brother or sister (as holy as that person and that touch indeed is in Christ!) – but we are also touching the feet of the Body of Christ – the feet of the transcendent and indwelling Christ.

 

Jesus’ teaching in the Upper Room of the indwelling Trinity, of our union with the Trinity and with one another in the Trinity, and the subsequent coming of God to live in His Temple at Pentecost, lead us to this holy awareness.

 

Is it any wonder that Jesus said, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter”? (Jn. 13:7)

 

 

But You Are Clean

 

“He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean…” (John 13:10a).

 

What does Jesus mean, “…and you are clean…”?

 

Let’s observe that this cleansing took place prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. I point this out not to explain it, but simply to remind us that the transcendence of the slain Lamb is indeed transcendent, that is, it radiates through and beyond and into dimensions that dwarf our chronological thinking and experience. Even when God shows us a door open in heaven, and says to us, “Come up here,” (Rev. 4:1) our propensity is to remain on the first floor of our house and not venture into the unknown, even when that unknown is in Jesus Christ.

 

A bit later in the Upper Room Jesus says, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (Jn. 15:3). Jesus says this when teaching us about the Vine and the branches; we cannot bear fruit unless we abide in Him, and apart from Him we can do nothing. There is a connection, a dynamic, between abiding in Christ and His Word, and between cleansing in Christ and His Word – for after all, Jesus Christ is the Word of God (John 1:1). Our redemption and cleansing and restoration and abiding in Him is redemption and cleansing and restoration and abiding in His Word – not a “word” of ink and paper or electronic images, but rather the living Word of God in Christ.

 

Again, we touch the transcendent in Christ and it is more than we can comprehend, but it is not more than we can experience in Him, for after all, God has made us coheirs with Christ – Jesus Christ is our inheritance and our ever-present life.

 

The Word which Jesus has been speaking to His disciples has been doing a cleansing work within them, it has been bathing them, washing the bodies of their souls, purifying their minds. Now to be sure, as we considered in the previous reflection, their actions will shortly tell us another story, for they will desert Him and deny Him – but things are not as they appear to be, for what Jesus has worked within them is stronger than their momentary fears and desire for self-preservation. Therefore, Jesus can say, “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they have believed that You sent Me.” (Jn. 17:7 – 8).

 

What else can we learn about this cleansing with the Word? Consider Paul’s teaching to the Ephesians (5:25 – 27):

 

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”

 

Here again we see Christ washing His People with His Word. But do we also see His People washing one another with His Word? Do we also see ourselves following Jesus’ sacramental example in John 13, in the washing of feet?

 

In the context of Ephesians 5:25 – 27 we do indeed see feet washing with the Word, for in 5:18 – 21 we read that we are to be filled with the Spirit, and “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord…and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”

 

Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs are to be songs of the Word, songs expressing the Word (unlike so many of our songs today). Perhaps we see this clearer in what Paul wrote to the Colossians (3:14 – 16):

 

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

 

As Jesus cleanses us with the washing of water by the Word, in Him we wash one another’s feet with that same Word. Jesus alone gives us our bath in totality and finality, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet” (Jn. 13:10), but we are called in Him to continue the washing, the cleansing, the giving of the Word to one another as His body.

 

This brings us back to the question we asked in earlier reflections, “What does the washing of feet in the Upper Room mean?” Recall that Jesus says, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter” (Jn. 13:7). The washing of feet is about so much more than servant leadership, it is an invitation and calling into the koinonia of the Trinity in which we sacramentally wash one another’s feet with the Living and Abiding Word of God, in which we renew one another in Christ as we mutually live in Him – the Word.

 

(Also, please see Psalm 19:7 – 14 for a description of how the Word works within us, as well, of course, Hebrews 4:12-13).

 

But, is this our experience of church life? Are Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 the norm? O dear friends, how we cheapen 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 and Ephesians 4:11 – 16 with gift assessments, substituting the things of the natural man for the Spirit of God (see 1 Cor. 1:17 – 2:16). And let’s make no mistake, there are some gift assessments that take its users into things of darkness and self-absorption.

 

Show me a church living in the Word, in the expression of the above Bible passages, and then I will ask you, “Do these people really need such and such gift assessment?” For let me assure you that without living in the Word, no gift assessment will make dry bones live. And let me also assure you, than when Christ is the Head of the Body, and the Body is living organically in Him, that Christ is well able to lead us in the things of the Holy Spirit and into places beyond our imaginations.

 

The Holy Spirit and the Body of Christ are where gifts and callings are recognized and confirmed, forged in relationships, worked out in the ebb and flow of church life – in highs and lows, in sorrows and in joys, in victories and defeats, in seasons of faith and those of uncertainty.

 

O the glory of sacramental feet washing!

 

But there is more to this than what we’ve touched upon, we’ll attempt to go farther out and further in as we continue to look at feet washing in the next reflection in this series.