It All Begins with a Meal

It All Begins with a Meal

(A Night Like No Other – Part 1)

#137 in Series: “The Life of Christ – in a Harmony of The Gospels”

(Summary statement: On the night before going to the cross, we learn several things about Jesus.  His words and actions reveal His heart and character.)

John 13:1-38

What we embark on today, is the narrative of events that took place the last night – the night that leads up to the crucifixion of Jesus…

John writes about these details, and he takes … 5 chapters to do so.  I am grateful the Holy Spirit had him record the details recorded in John 13 through 17!...  Lord willing, we are going to spend several weeks studying these chapters together.

Today, we are going to spend our time in chapter 13…  These are events that take place in the Upper Room, the night Jesus and His disciples celebrated their last Passover together.

When we study God’s Word, we do so with the understanding that we are going to … learn some things that we need to know…  We are going to learn some truths about the Lord, as well as truths about … ourselves.

In this chapter we learn a lot about the disciples… and the truth is … we would have been just like them, if we were in that room that night…  But, in our perusal through this chapter today, we are simply going to focus on what we learn about Jesus.

Now, Matthew 26:17-19, Mark 14:12-16, and Luke 22:7-13each tell us of the details of securing a meeting place for Jesus and the disciples to share Passover together.  The short of it is, Jesus gave specific instructions for the disciples to follow in locating and prepare the place for them to meet…

John’s text doesn’t repeat those details, but he does … get right into all that happened when they finally gathered in that room.

It’s a lengthy passage, so let’s get right into it…  There are at least seven truths we see about our Lord in this passage, and the first two are seen in the very first verse…

Let’s consider first –

1. The Anticipation of Jesus

John 13:1a

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father...

Let’s stop right there…  We could simply talk about the fact that Jesus … knows.  He knows something that no one else did…  He knows that “His hour” – the “hour” of facing the cross is upon Him…  

John will reiterate this truth again later —

John 18:4

So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”

There are no surprises for Jesus!  He knows!  Prior to this week – Jesus on more than one occasion said His hour has yet to come (John 7:6, John 8:20)...  But now… beginning at John 12:23, we read – “The hour has come…”

Here John is telling us that Jesus … knows it is time.  He knew when it was yet time – and He knows that it is nowtime…  The point is – these events take place in God’s timing!...

But, notice carefully what Jesus is anticipating!...  It is not the cross itself, in this statement, but what lies beyond the cross!...  Jesus is anticipating … going Home!

But, we will not skip past all that must take place before He … goes Home…

Jesus knows He is facing that “hour” – that hour that will … cost Him everything…  He is, Whom John the Baptist had introduced Him to be!  Do you remember? –

John 1:29

The next day he [John] saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

The Lamb was destined to die!...  How could Jesus face this … awful experience He was about to go through?...

The answer lies in what we see next…  Let’s consider –

2. The Motivation of Jesus

John 13:1b

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

Love is mentioned as the motive…  It is the predominant theme in the next five chapters! From here, through 17:26, love is the most stated theme!

We need to understand that this love is no mere … warm fuzzy feeling that people have for one another…  Love, true love, is far deeper than that…  Love is of God – God is love (1 John 4:8) – so, Jesus … having come from God is the most loving of all people who have ever lived!...

Those who have become His followers, are also a people who become most motivated … by love!

John MacArthur makes a great statement about this love – “God’s love for His own mentioned there in verse 1 is then explained in the next five chapters.  Let me help you with just a little summary.  It isn’t romantic love.  It isn’t sentimental love.  It isn’t emotional love.  It isn’t fickle love.  It is fixed eternal love that provides eternal salvation, eternal blessing, and eternal glory…  It is gracious love.  We don’t deserve it.  It is sovereign love.  He loved us first.  ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’  It is redeeming love.  It is love that reached out and sought us and bought us.  It is unconditional love.  It is not predicated on anything we have done and in full awareness of our wretchedness.  It is faithful love to the very end.  Nothing can separate us from this love, nothing, (Romans 8).”

The church that understands this, becomes the church that … lives this!

Those who come to know, love, and follow Jesus, will be the most loving, because this same Jesus abides within us, and He is still the most loving!

Next, we see –

3. The Humility of Jesus

Now this is a lengthy section.  Listen closely…

John 13:2-5

2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

Let’s stop here for a moment…  Notice carefully a couple of details…  We already know what’s coming – but notice that Judas is already stirred…  He is already given to the thought of betraying Jesus…  There is no love for Jesus in him, only … disdain.  What Jesus is about to do, only adds to that disdain…

What does Jesus do?...  He does what everyone else in that room … should have done!

Footwashing was a thing!...  It was a matter of necessity in that day…  The footwear of the day was open sandals.  The roadways of the day were … dry, dusty, and dirty…

Usually, when one entered someone’s home, there would be a servant – one of the most … lowly – who would be assigned the job of washing the feet of those who entered…

It was not a glamorous job.  It was not a job that a “peer” would do for another, must less, you would never see a “superior” so stoop, so condescend to wash the feet of a subordinate…  Unless of course it is Jesus!

Jesus willfully – purposefully – personally demonstrated one of the greatest acts of humility that could be demonstrated in that culture!

It is argued that there would be no doubt that any of the disciples would have willingly washed Jesus’ feet – but none would wash the feet of another disciple – why?...  In Luke’s record (Luke 22:24-38), we read about the argument the disciples were having with each other about who among them was the greatest!...  Those guys were not interested in being … foot washers!

But Jesus has a purpose for what He does…  He is not establishing another “church ordinance” (as some Christians believe)...  He is not prescribing that the church has a “foot-washing service”, like we do for the Lord’s Supper and baptism…  He is simply … demonstrating what true … leadership looks like!  

He’s been doing it for years!  Jesus’ life has been lived in service!  He came to this earth to serve, and give His life!  Those who become His followers – are to follow His lead!...  Are these guys getting it?  Not yet!

So, Jesus performs this act of being the One to volunteeringly take on the role of being … the servant in the room.  He does a … “Martha” and gets busy doing what needed to be done – not only for the purpose of meeting a practical need – but for the purpose of … teaching a lesson!

We know this because of what happens next.

John 13:6-20

6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” 8 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” 

12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 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. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 18 I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ 19 From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

There is a lot to Jesus’ lesson…  Peter got the lesson that Jesus was talking about spiritual matters, not just practical ones…  A redeemed man or woman does not need to “get saved” over and over – but we do need to have our “feet washed” over and over…  We walk in this world and will … accumulate its dust, so we need the daily cleansing of the Word and Spirit.  Peter was being taught this lesson…

But Jesus also presses home the point that … humility and service is the way of the disciple!...  There is to be no job too menial – to lowly – too smelly, dirty, or … undesirable that the Christian is not willing to do for the glory of God!...  True service unto God involves meeting the needs of others – for the glory of God!...  Jesus demonstrates that.  Disciples are to follow His example!

Do you have such a heart?  Do you have the humility – motivated by love – to serve?

Humility is required…  Humility is … needed…  I read that “Humility is something we should constantly pray for, yet never thank God that we have.” (Martin DeHann)

Oh that we would be more like our Lord!...

What comes next in the narrative is … hard to read…  It is not so much, something about Jesus.  It is something that happens to Jesus…  It is –

4. The Betrayal of Jesus

John 13:21-27

21 When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” 22 The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. 23 There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” 25 He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

Jesus becomes … deeply troubled…  This is a turning point in the whole agenda.  The wheels are now turning – the clock now begins to chime that … His “hour” has come…

Jesus openly declares that His betrayer is in their midst.  He does so in such a way that the others don’t figure out who it is…  Nothing is to interfere or delay what God has determined to take place!

We’ve talked about Judas already, but here we see that he is no mere … robot.  He has been the ultimate pretender.  His heart is nowhere near the heart of a true disciple – He is a fake, fraud, and now … foe!

His heart is … ripe for Satan to now take over!...  And he does!  And Jesus looks at Judas and tells him to … get on with it!

Let’s finish reading about it here –

 

 

John 13:28-30

28 Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. 29 For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor. 30 So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night. 

It was night alright!...  It was not only dark outside – there was no darker heart than that of Judas!...

Now stay with me here…  There is so much more to what is happening in that Upper Room, around that table that night!

Let’s not miss this, though we will not take much time.

Let’s consider –

5. The Glorification of, and by Jesus

John 13:31-32

31 Therefore when he [that is Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; 32 if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.

We know what is coming … the actual betrayal, beatings, and crucifixion of Jesus.  But Jesus seems not to be focused on those details  – as He is … focused on their … purpose!

“Now is the Son of Man glorified”!  The “hour” is here – but the purpose of the hour is not … defeat, but victory!

What Jesus is about to endure – is going to be that which will bring to Him .. and the Father … such great glory!

This is the focal point in all of redemptive history!  The cross of Christ was the most … horrific experience in human history – but it is the most important experience in redemptive history!

God is glorified!  His justice is glorified!  His Name is glorified!  His Son is glorified – in that which He is about to accomplish!  

As the events of the night unfold, we will try to hang on to this truth that Jesus is speaking of right here.  It is the only way to make sense of all that will happen!

So stay with me through these coming chapters, and we will learn more about that which fulfills God’s glorious purpose for sending His Son!

There are two more quick observations to consider…  Next is –

6. The Instruction from Jesus

John 13:33

Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

Jesus is preparing His disciples for what is about to happen.  He will be going away, and these guys will not be following … yet.

Meanwhile, here is the instruction … disciples are to follow:

John 13:34-35

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

This seems to come back to the very motive we read of earlier…  Christians are those who love.  We love God, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).  We love one another, because the love of God is “poured out within our hearts”(Romans 5:5).

The only thing “new” about this commandment is – that it is new to the disciples!  They’ve not been following this so much before – but they will!

[To love has always been the commandment - the first and greatest commandment, and the next-to-the-greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-34, et.al.)]

Love for one another will become one of the greatest responsibilities and privileges in the Christian’s life!...

There is one more, brief, but important thing we see about our Lord in our text today, and it is –

7. The Insight of Jesus

John 13:36-38

36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” 37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.

As Peter pushes back a bit on what Jesus is saying, we see yet again, that Jesus … knows Peter better than Peter knows Peter… 

He knows you better than you know you!

Do you recall how we learned earlier that –

John 2:24-25

24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25 and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

Nothing about this truth has changed!...  He knew Peter.  He knows you!

Hebrews 4:13

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

J.C. Ryle said – “Nothing can be concealed from Christ. What do we think of, in private, when no man sees us? What do we think of, in church, when we seem so grave and serious? What are we thinking of at this moment, while these words pass under our eyes? Jesus knows. Jesus sees. Jesus records. Jesus will one day call us to give account.”

 

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Questions to Consider in Community Group:

 

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