Bible Challenge John 13: ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me’ In this chapter of the New Testament Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and predicts his betrayal and denial. Read John 13 online or look it up in your Bible. Going Deeper Before you start your daily reading, say a prayer asking God to guide your thinking as you read, and then read the Bible with the aim of learning something new. After the reading, consider how it may affect your life and relationship with your heavenly Father and allow your increased knowledge of the Scriptures to shape your character and strengthen your trust in God. Discussion notes on John 13 • How literally should we take this command (v14) from Jesus? • Who do you think this disciple could be (v23)? More on John 13 The washing of the disciple’s feet by Jesus was far more than a lesson in humble service. Such cleansing was always performed before a meal. This act was so profoundly significant because it was performed during or after the supper. The writer of this gospel sees the incident on the same level as the cleansing of the temple or the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. He deliberately links the act with Christ’s awareness of His divine authority and vocation. It was when He knew ‘that the Father had entrusted everything to Him, and that He had come from God and was going back to God’, that Jesus undertook the service of a slave. Peter’s first refusal of Christ’s service is typical of our human pride. He would much rather wash Christ’s feet than allow His Master to wash his own feet. And this pride is more basic than the passing embarrassment of this occasion. The feet washing points forwards to the Cross. Are we not, like Peter, reluctant to admit our need of Christ’s cleansing ministry? Christ’s statement that Peter’s refusal would exclude him from fellowship was no arbitrary ruling. Unless Peter recognized his own deep need of cleansing, and unless he was willing to see lordship in terms of humble service, his pride would forever be a barrier between him and Jesus. We noted above that the evangelist saw much more in the feet washing than a lesson in humble service. Yet the deeper symbolism must not blind us to the more obvious meaning. In the fourth gospel the narrative often moves on two levels: we must try not to miss either. Although facing His most momentous task – which would be accomplished in direct pain and suffering – Jesus did not miss the chance to perform a menial service. Indeed He made the lesser task a foreshadowing of the greater. Following Jesus on this path of humble service requires the sacrifice of all arrogance and pride. Von Hügel taught that “there is no humility without humiliation”. Humiliation is being brought low, being cast down, usually in public. This is what Jesus accepted. And through all ages His servants, like most others in the servant class, have been hurt through humiliation. Yet this was the form He himself chose for His incarnate life on earth, and it was the servant-form He prescribed for His disciples and His Church. Today’s reading confronts us with three mysteries, one of which is relatively unimportant. In this passage we are first introduced to the figure of ‘the beloved disciple’. As this gospel nowhere names ‘the beloved disciple’ there will always be some conjecture as to his identity. A more relevant mystery, because it touches our own moral struggles, is the enigma of Judas’ treachery. That one who had experienced intimate fellowship with Christ, and had received the divine commission, could turn traitor is inexplicable. Or is it? The anxious questioning of the disciples, recorded in Matthew’s gospel, ‘Lord, is it I?’, suggests that more than one had doubts about his absolute loyalty. The story of Judas is not an invitation to indulge in moral superiority: it is an exhortation to watchfulness. The third mystery here is that of Christ’s infinite compassion. The offering of a special morsel from the common dish to a particular guest was a sign of special favour. Jesus met the hostility of Judas with unrelenting love. In the same way, the love of God holds on to us despite all our ingratitude and failure. At the beginning of this gospel it is declared that, because the Word became flesh, we beheld ‘His glory’. In the Old Testament the glory of God was the manifestation of His nature and presence, in a way men could apprehend, usually as a radiance of dazzling light. How significant then, that at that moment when Judas left the upper room to set in motion those forces which would bring about Christ’s death, Jesus should declare, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified.’ In one sense when Judas went out, ‘it was night’. But in a deeper sense the true light of God’s love was now beginning to shine in all its splendour. The fourth gospel emphasizes that for Jesus glory and victory lay not on the far side of Calvary, but in the very Cross itself. Since for Jesus, glory lay in the uttermost self-giving, His disciples dare not seek it elsewhere. Ambition, domination over others, lust, power, success: these can all provide temporary alleviation for insecurity. Few are entirely free from the attractions of all these pseudo-glories. Dare we placer our ambitions between the glory which Jesus sought and achieved? As Thomas à Kempis wrote: ‘God weigheth more with how much love a man worketh, than how much he doeth. He doeth much that loveth much.’
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 03:40:42 +0000