Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. Read John 13:12-38. What stands out to you? What have you not paid attention to before?
2. When you imagine yourself in Jesus’ position—knowing betrayal, denial, and abandonment are coming—what emotions rise up most naturally in you? What does it reveal about Jesus that love, not bitterness or self-pity, is His dominant response?
3. Jesus says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified,” at the very moment Judas leaves to betray Him. Why does Jesus see glory where we would see humiliation?
4. The sermon suggests that what we envy reveals our definition of a “blessed” life. Who or what do you tend to envy? How does that compare with Jesus’ picture of blessing—washing feet, serving quietly, loving sacrificially?
5. Jesus says the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another. If someone observed our church for a month, what evidence would they see of Christlike love? Where are you strong—and where do you need repentance and growth?

You are sitting with your friends. Or, at least, you think they are your friends. You have spent virtually every day together for the last three years. They have come to you as students seeking a teacher, a leader. You have taught them, shared your life with them, and born with their many sins and shortcomings, even when it became evident that they had some mixed motives. But it is your final evening with them. After this night, you will be arrested and taken away to your death. You have just knelt down and one by one washed the dirt, muck, and sweat off their feet. You have done nothing but love them. And you look around and here is what you know:

• One of these disciples is currently plotting your death.
• The rest will abandon you.
• The leader—the most vocal about his support for you—will not only flee, but when later questioned will deny he even knows who you are…three times.

How would you feel?

If you were in Jesus’ shoes and you have just seen Judas flee into the night, and you are hearing Peter say, “I’d die before I left you!”…what would be going through your mind?

Maybe scorn? “Oh, you’ll die for me, will you now, Peter? Ha! Please, don’t flatter yourself.”

Bitterness? “I don’t deserve this. I’ve done nothing but serve these ingrates. And all their words about love and loyalty is all fake.”

Or maybe a spiraling despair? “At my greatest hour of need, my closest friends won’t even stand by me. They just use me, and then leave me all alone.”

How does Jesus respond?

The old puritan, Thomas Goodwin, said that Jesus is “Love, covered in flesh.” Everything He does is love. And John told us at the beginning of the chapter, that Jesus loves His own to the uttermost (John 13:1). Not anger, despair, or bitterness…love is the predominant note that Jesus hits, despite his disciples’ weakness and even betrayal.

And after Jesus picks Himself up off the ground, He looks at His disciples and says: You do as I do.

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand 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, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” 21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

31 When he 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 glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you 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, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

• John 13:12-38

A Strange Glory

Judas flees into the night. And this obviously has more significance than just the time of day. All throughout John’s gospel, Jesus has used “darkness” to refer to the powers of sin and Satan. This is a theologically poetic way of dramatically picturing what has taken place in Judas’ heart: he is now wholly dominated by the prince of Darkness, and so he literally flees from the Light of the World, into the night, into the clutches of Darkness itself.

And at that moment, Jesus proclaims: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him,” (John 13:31). In Jesus’ mind, the high-point of His glorification is found in—literally—the lowest of all places: His death. Similarly, Jesus’ act of washing feet—so shameful and lowly—is the revelation of not only His love, but His glory. And with Judas fleeing to the authorities to rat Him out, Jesus celebrates this climactic moment.

“The glory of God is a man fully alive” - Irenaeus

Glory runs downhill, it pools up in the low places of the world.

Beyond the ephemeral and the dark stands “a sign from eternity, solemn and mighty, bathed in the radiance of the divine sun of grace and light—the cross. And there [God] hangs, his arms outstretched as if to embrace the entire world in love. - Bonheoffer

26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. - John 12:26

For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. - John 13:15-17

Do you want to find out if you are worldliness has shaped your understanding of what it means to be “blessed”? C.S. Lewis taught that if you want to find out if you have rats in your basement, you don’t flick the lights on and go down the stairs clomping, talking loudly. If you want to see if there really are rats, you are quiet, and then you jump to the bottom of the stairs and suddenly flick on the lights, and you’ll see them scurrying. So, here is a way for us to do that now.

Ask yourself: “Who or what kind of person do I envy?” There. That’s how you are defining what it means to have a “blessed” life. Envy is saying, “I wish I had their life…their body…their family…their charisma…home…career, etc.” It is your heart saying: That’s what blessing looks like!

And Jesus here says, Do you want to know what a blessed life looks like? It looks like washing feet. Wiping noses. Changing a tire. Helping someone login into their email. That is a life that is fully alive.

A New Command

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:33-35

Jesus is going away, but He is leaving a new commandment.

• Why is this “new”? The Bible teaches us to love others elsewhere
  • Love your neighbor as yourself - Lev 19:18
  • So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. - Matt 7:12
  • Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. - Phil 2:3-4

Pursue the good of others with all the passion, creativity, and single-mindedness that you pursue your own good.

• These are saying: “What you want is what you owe.” So, what do you want?
  • People to assume the best about you
  • People to initiate relationship, to reach out.
  • To be there when you really need help. To show up.
  • To not run away when they encounter what is ugly and broken in you, but to see it, cover it with love, and stay.

The golden rule says: what you want is what you owe. It is fundamentally a law that operates on “grace” because it does not limit our love to the qualifications someone else has achieved.

The world runs on the “paycheck” rule: what I owe depends on what you earn. This feels so natural in so many ways—you earn your place, prove yourself worthy, you deserve it because you’ve worked—but it is antithetical to the entire Law. Jesus says that the whole of the Law and the Prophets is summarized by love others the way you’d like to be loved.

But Jesus’ teaching here actually elevates the golden rule in two ways.

First, the standard for love is no longer “what you want, how you’d like to be treated,” but instead is, “How did Jesus treat you?” Here, Jesus just washed the feet of His disciples, and then tells them: Do as I do, wash one another’s feet.

• How menial it can be (washing feet)
• How unrequited it can be (Jesus’ love for His disciples outpaces their love for Him)
• How costly it can be (washing feet symbolizes Jesus’ death)

Second, He particularizes it to brothers and sisters in Christ. “Love one another” means, among you disciples. Love of ‘neighbor’ simply refers to anyone that you are around, that God has brought across your path. But here, this command, is summoning a unique Christ-like love for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

I am, at this point, tempted to read the entirety of 1 John to you. 1 John is a letter the gospel author, John, wrote to a church, and if you had to summarize the whole book, you might be able to summarize it as: “Those who are loved by Jesus, love one another.” More than 40 times in the book we are told about love of God and love of fellow Christians. I won’t read the whole letter, but here are few insights that show that these two ideas—Jesus’ love for me and my love for fellow Christians—are intertwined together.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. - 1 John 3:16-18

“It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. ‘See,’ they say, "[see] how they love one another, . . . How they are ready even to die for one another!’ No tragedy causes trouble in our brotherhood, [and] the family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you, create fraternal bonds among us. One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us [except] our wives. (Tertullian, Apology, 39).

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. - 1 John 4:8-12

The logic is simple. The reality of God—who is love, and who loved us and gave Himself up for us when we were unlovely—is revealed by our love for one another. So that…

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. - 1 John 4:20-21

Do you care about being evangelistic and missions oriented? Jesus says, all people will know you are His disciples by your love for one another. Maybe you are super, duper smart and know more than most of the people in this room about doctrine and history. Maybe you give more money to charity, have been on more mission trips or serve in more community outreaches, maybe you host evangelistic bible studies to engage the lost. Maybe you are more spiritually gifted, maybe your quiet times every morning last several hours and you hover off your chair by the end of it…but if you do not love your brothers and sisters? Then you are a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal, all your knowledge, and faith, and sacrifice, Paul says, is nothing (1 Cor 13:1-3).

“As Jesus has loved you, so you are to love one another”

• How has Jesus loved you? He washes feet. He dies for your sins. He loves when we didn’t love Him. His love covers a multitude of sins. He endures our cold hearts, not with gritty cold-hearted stoicism, but with open, warm, ever-ready love.
• Is that how you treat the other members of this church?

An Old Problem

The new command is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate, profound enough that the most mature believers are repeatedly embarrassed at how poorly they comprehend it and put it into practice. - Carson

Why is this command so hard to obey? A couple of reasons

1. We confuse love with unqualified approval

Love is washing feet. When we love one another, we want good for them. We are glad that this person exists. But that also means we are against that which congests their true being. Sin clogs and sours. And because we love one another, we do not approve of sin. 2. We confuse love with feeling

Love is washing feet. Love is not just sentiment. Love is action. Love is costly. Love is inconvenient. Sentiment and feeling are wonderful and important, but also fickle. Why have Christians exchanged wedding vows? They are a testament that love is not just a feeling. And when you don’t feel like loving your spouse, you remind yourself of the vows: “For better or worse.” When our hearts don’t feel loving, that does not mean we cannot be loving. Our actions follow our hearts, but the opposite is also true.

Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. - Lewis, Mere Christianty 3. We confuse love with hunger

Tim Keller says that most of the time when we say, “I love you,” to someone, what we really mean is, “I’m hungry…and you satisfy that hunger.” People, thus, are treated like commodities. You will love people so long as they satisfy you. And when they don’t

One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, - John 13:23

This is the first place that John is described this way—and from this point on, it is the only way he is described (John 19:26-27, 20:2-9, 21:1, 20-23). Something happened at this moment that altered John's identity. Remember: John is one of the disciples who flee Jesus at the moment of arrest. Yet, as he remembers Jesus washing his feet nonetheless, he is struck by the depth of Jesus' love for him. Who is John? He is the disciple whom Jesus loved. And you must have that same transformation; in the moment of your sin and weakness, when you see that it was when you were an enemy, when you were weak, when you were sinful that Jesus still loved, served, and died for you...it will change you. You will know that His love is the love you are intended to feast on, to be filled with, long before you ever strive to love another like Christ did.