Here in our text we have the Only Begotten Son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, also shown to be the Creator of the Universe, not demanding a certain etiquette for addressing Him, but rather, busy with the menial task of washing twelve pairs of dirty disciples’ feet! There is surely something different about Jesus. He knew Who He was, yet He served others.

Introduction

Robert Deffinbaugh (1) writes about an experience he had when in seminary back in the days before products like Pampers and Luvs made washday much simpler for mothers with small children:

"I remember all too well that day many years ago when my wife came home to tell me that one of the other seminary wives was having trouble with her washing machine. This woman had just recently given birth to a baby by cesarean section and was suffering from some complications. To have no working washing machine was a serious problem. And so I went over to work on it. It was in seminary housing, where there was no hook-up provided for washing machines or dryers. There was, however, a very popular work-around to this problem. They would put the washing machine in the bathroom, connect an adapter to the sink faucet to get hot and cold water, and place the drain hose in the toilet. This worked reasonably well, most of the time.

"The trouble on this occasion was that this woman’s washing machine was in a downstairs apartment. Every time the washer got to the spin cycle, the clutch would grab, the load in the washer would overload the motor, and the circuit breaker (which was located in the basement, some distance away) would trip.

"Every time I changed the adjustment on the clutch, I had to test it. Each time I did, the clutch would grab again, blowing the circuit breaker. And every time the circuit breaker would blow, I had to crawl out from under the washer, go around the back of the apartment complex, go down into the basement, reset the breaker, come back up the basement stairs, crawl back under the washer, and make another adjustment. This I did far too many times to count.

"After I had wasted a considerable amount of time, I laid there under the washing machine, grumbling to God. I was praying that God would enable me to fix this machine, but I was not a ‘happy camper.’ Just about this time, I could feel the ceiling and walls vibrating, and I knew that the woman upstairs was doing her wash. She was washing dirty diapers in the washing machine, but she had made one crucial mistake. She had left one dirty diaper soaking in the toilet, and then turned on the washer, with the drain hose emptying into the toilet. When her washer went into its spin cycle, a good volume of dirty diaper water drained from the machine into the toilet. The dirty diaper in the toilet lodged there, stopping up the toilet, so that all the dirty diaper water from the toilet and the washer spilled out onto the floor, and then somehow made its way down through the ceiling light fixture of the room I was in, and down onto my body, which was spread out on the bathroom floor. Only my head was protected from the flood of filthy water, safely tucked under the wayward washing machine.

"I called to the young mother who owned the washer, as she stood nearby trying to encourage me. I told her that the washer upstairs was overflowing and suggested that she turn off the light above me so that it would not explode. ‘Oh, it does that all the time,’ she explained, ‘and it never explodes.’ Poof! Just then, the light bulb exploded, showering my body with an abundance of small glass fragments, which was already soaked with dirty diaper water. It was sort of like sprinkling bits of coconut on a cake that had just been iced. That was about as much dirty work as I could take. Graciously, the Lord enabled my next adjustment to work so that I could go home and clean up."

Each of us has probably had to do our share of dirty work as we’ve gone through life. Perhaps we were somehow roped into doing it or, maybe like the man who wrote what I just read, we thought the cause worthy enough. Dirty work is typically something we’d rather avoid or delegate or perhaps hire someone else to do.

In the passage we’re going to consider this morning, we find Jesus doing someone else’s dirty work – the Only Begotten Son of God – the One For Whom and Through Whom All Things Were Created – is doing the work of a common servant. He is washing feet.

Please join me in John 13:1-17. I ask you to follow along as I read it.

(Read text)

There are three things from this text I want to focus on that this morning. I hope in doing so that they will help us get the issue of Christian service in better focus. Let’s consider first:

1. Jesus’ Willingness (v. 1-5)

(Read v. 1)

In this verse, John mentions two things he wants his readers to understand as he begins telling us about the surprising thing that Jesus did that Passover evening so long ago. In this verse He mentions Jesus’ knowledge and His love. (If you write in your Bible you might take a pencil and underline those words "knowing," "loved His own," and "loved them to the end." Jesus’ knowledge, that is, what he knew going into this Last Supper gives us the backdrop for what makes John’s account here so remarkable.

John tells us first that Jesus knew His future.

The phrase in verse one says, "Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father."

John is making sure his readers understand that Jesus was well aware of what the next 24 hours of His life had in store. He knew the pain and suffering awaited Him, yet He stayed the course and continued to teach and serve His disciples right up until the end. When someone knows he is within a few hours of his death, he is often understandably less concerned for others. Usually he is requesting that things be done for him. Not Jesus. John found that quite incredible. I do, too.

John also makes it clear that Jesus knew His identity.

Verse three says that Jesus knew (a) "the Father had given all things into His hands," (b) "that He had come forth from God," (c) that He "was going back to God." He knew who He was.

I was on a website the other day that had to do with etiquette in interacting with Royalty in England. Here are some instructions for you if you want to send mail or email to the Queen:

If you wish to send a communication to Her Majesty The Queen, your letter (unless you are a personal friend) should be directed to "The Private Secretary to Her Majesty The Queen". You should request that the Private Secretary "submits for Her Majesty’s consideration" your communication; alternatively, you may ask "if Her Majesty’s attention may be directed to" the matter at hand, or simply state something that "it may interest Her Majesty to know...". You should write "Her Majesty The Queen" at the first mention, and thereafter simply "The Queen". Do not use the words "she" or "her"; instead, use "Her Majesty" and "Her Majesty’s".

A letter written directly to the Queen may typically use the following style:
[To commence:] "Madam –
With my humble duty..."
[To end:] "...I have the honour to remain,
Madam,
Your Majesty’s most humble and obedient servant...".

The envelope should be addressed to "Her Majesty The Queen", and the phrase "Your Majesty(’s)" should be used in place of "you(r)".

Letters addressed to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother are composed in a similar style, except that "Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother" is substituted for "The Queen". She is later known as "Her Majesty"; the term "Queen Mother" alone is never used.

If you meet the Queen in person, here are the instructions:

In person, one should never refer to members of the Royal Family as "you", but as "Your Majesty" or "Your Royal Highness" (e.g. "I trust that His Royal Highness is pleased with the weather..."). On meeting and taking leave of a member of the Royal Family, it is customary for a man to bow his head from the neck to the waist, and for a woman to curtsey briefly.

It is not acceptable to offer a handshake; if a hand is offered, it should be taken briefly.(2)

So much for dealing with Royalty in England. There is a definite code of conduct there as to how you are to treat royalty. Certainly you should not expect British Royalty to condescend to commoners. Such things simply aren’t done.

Here in our text we have the Only Begotten Son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, also shown to be the Creator of the Universe, not demanding a certain etiquette for addressing Him, but rather, busy with the menial task of washing twelve pairs of dirty disciples’ feet! There is surely something different about Jesus. He knew Who He was, yet He served others. But there is more that Jesus knew…

John also tells us that Jesus knew His betrayer.

Verse 11 says, "For he knew the one who was betraying Him."

Jesus knew what Judas was going to do that night. (For that matter, he already knew that Peter was going to betray Him and that Thomas was going to doubt Him and that the other Disciples were going to desert Him at the cross.) He knew these things, yet he washed all 12 pairs of feet that night. He didn’t skip a single one – not even Judas.

What is it that is happening in this passage? John tells us in one of those other phrases I asked you to underline in verse 1: "He loved them to the end."

His example of servanthood in serving those beneath Him, even to the extent of serving an enemy and others He knew would let Him down is an unmistakable picture of love! That is the point John is making!

At an earlier time than this, as Jesus wept at the grave of His friend, Lazarus, the Jews who were looking on remarked, "Behold how He loved him!" (3) Here, I think John would want his readers to conclude the same: "Behold how He loved them!"

*If Jesus knew of the suffering that awaited Him, why didn’t He take steps to avoid it?

*If Jesus knew His identity, why didn’t He demand the proper treatment of royalty?

*If Jesus knew His betrayer, why didn’t he blow the whistle and thwart Judas’ plans for the evening?

Why, instead, is He serving them?

Again, John says: "He loved them to the end."

What we see here is authentic love. There is no possibility in such an act for guile or deception or a selfish angle. Our world has a huge absence of authentic love today. By authentic, I mean the kind of love that puts others’ needs ahead of its own. When is seen, it attracts attention. It was true then and it is still true today.

I say "when it is seen" because sometimes, in our grabby, get-ahead, step-on-everyone-else society, we run right over the top of such examples. We either don’t notice them or, if we do see them, we either don’t understand or look at them with suspicion. That is what I see next in this text. That was Peter’s problem. We’ll look next at:

2. Peter’s Reluctance. (v. 6-9)

What we see in Peter here must have been present in the others to some extent. (They just weren’t as quick to shoot off their mouths.) Ever the outspoken one, Peter holds his peace at first. Jesus gets up, removes His outer garment, picks up the towel and the basin of water. Perhaps the disciples are turned to one another at first, still engaging in dinner conversation, but as soon as they notice Him, every eye is riveted on His movement around the room. Make no mistake. They knew what that towel and basin were there for. These items were usually placed in plain view beside the entrance of a room such as this for a servant to take up on behalf of the honored guests. There had been no servant present for this purpose on this night so it is probable they had all carefully stepped around the towel and basin as they came in that evening. No one was going to pick up that towel! These are Apostles of Jesus! They’re distinguished. They’re soon to be Royalty. They don’t wash feet! If it occurred to them at all that one of them might do it, the thought was probably quickly dismissed as ridiculous.

Now Jesus has the towel and basin in His hands and He is stooping over to grasp that first set of feet. The only sound is the sloshing of the water in the bowel. The first pair of feet carefully patted dry, He moves on to the next, then the next. All the while Peter is watching as Jesus is getting closer. "What is happening here?" he must have wondered. "Jesus shouldn’t be washing feet! It’s beneath his position! Jesus is to be a King! This shouldn’t be happening. What is He doing?" Jesus finally gets to Peter. Peter recoils.

"Never shall You wash my feet!" he says as he pulls away his bare feet.

"Lord, this isn’t the way it works! Have You lost Your mind? What are you doing!"

Humanity correcting deity – that makes sense, doesn’t it?

"If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Says Jesus to Peter.

To his credit, brash as he was, Peter is quick to conform even if he doesn’t fully understand.

"Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head."

I suspect that when Christians first discover the thought that God has called them to serve others, even in menial ways, they might also recoil. Trained for so long to think like the world, where the idea is to climb to the top, this kind of stooping servanthood seems demeaning.

An admirer once asked the famous orchestra conductor Leonard Bernstein what was the most difficult instrument to play. He responded with quick wit: "Second fiddle."

F. B. Meyer said: "I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves one above the other; and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them. I now find that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other. It is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower; that we have to go down, always down, to get His best gifts."

Henry Ward Beecher said, "The world is to be cleaned by somebody, and you are not called of God if you are ashamed to scrub." (4)

It may take us a time to figure out that the call to discipleship in Christ is also a call to servanthood, yet when we finally realize that this is what Jesus asks of us, may we be just as quick as Peter to change our direction!

That brings us finally to what I’m going to call:

3. Our Business (v. 10-17)

Jesus gave them instruction that day that should be taken as though it were written directly to us.

(Read v. 13-17)

Notice there in that last verse (17) Jesus makes it clear that the blessing comes in the doing.

Doug Nichols, of Bothel, Washington, helps us understand the attractiveness of servanthood that Jesus began and we are to continue. He writes,

"While serving with Operation Mobilization in India in 1967, tuberculosis forced me into a sanitarium for several months. I did not yet speak the language, but I tried to give Christian literature written in their language to the patients, doctors, and nurses. Everyone politely refused. I sensed many weren't happy about a rich American (to them all Americans are rich) being in a free, government-run sanitarium. (They didn't know I was just as broke as they were!)

"The first few nights I woke around 2:00 A.M. coughing. One morning during my coughing spell, I noticed one of the older and sicker patients across the aisle trying to get out of bed. He would sit up on the edge of the bed and try to stand, but in weakness would fall back into bed. I didn't understand what he was trying to do. He finally fell back into bed exhausted. I heard him crying softly.

"The next morning I realized what the man had been trying to do. He had been trying to get up and walk to the bathroom! The stench in our ward was awful. Other patients yelled insults at the man. Angry nurses moved him roughly from side to side as they cleaned up the mess. One nurse even slapped him. The old man curled into a ball and wept. The next night I again woke up coughing. I noticed the man across the aisle sit up and again try to stand. Like the night before, he fell back whimpering.

"I don't like bad smells, and I didn't want to become involved, but I got out of bed and went over to him. When I touched his shoulder, his eyes opened wide with fear. I smiled, put my arms under him, and picked him up. He was very light due to old age and advanced TB. I carried him to the washroom, which was just a filthy, small room with a hole in the floor. I stood behind him with my arms under his armpits as he took care of himself. After he finished, I picked him up, and carried him back to his bed. As I laid him down, he kissed me on the cheek, smiled, and said something I couldn't understand.

"The next morning another patient woke me and handed me a steaming cup of tea. He motioned with his hands that he wanted a tract. As the sun rose, other patients approached and indicated they also wanted the booklets I had tried to distribute before. Throughout the day nurses, interns, and doctors asked for literature.

"Weeks later an evangelist who spoke the language visited me, and as he talked to others he discovered that several had put their trust in Christ as Savior as a result of reading the literature. What did it take to reach these people with the gospel? It wasn't health, the ability to speak their language, or a persuasive talk. I simply took a trip to the bathroom. (5)

All service to Jesus isn’t done in the bathroom. It is done anywhere there is need and we have the means to help.

Conclusion

Writer Philip Yancey notes that as Albert Einstein grew older, the great scientist was grappling with the meaning of his life. One day he removed the portraits of two great scientists - Newton and Maxwell - from his wall. He replaced these with portraits of Gandhi and Schweitzer. Einstein explained that it was time in his life to replace the image of success with the image of service. (6)

Isn’t it time that some of us did the same thing? Isn’t it time that we replaced the image of success we’re so prone to chase after (or perhaps the image of indulgence) with the image of our Creator, Jesus Christ, of whom the Bible says, "apart from Him, nothing came into being,"(7) who now "dwells in unapproachable light," (8) bent over, washing the dirty feet of 12 disciples.

Are you serving others – or are you too proud to stoop? Jesus wasn’t. This morning, I call us all to take up the towel in service to our Lord!

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. Robert Deffinbaugh: http://www.bible.org/docs/nt/books/joh/deffin/john-31.htm
2. http://www.royalreport.com/etiquette.html
3. John 11:36
4. Henry Ward Beecher in Heirlooms. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 5.
5. Doug Nichols, Bothell, Washington. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 2.
6. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 4.
7. John 1:3
8. 1 Timothy 6:16

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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