“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, do you wash my feet?’ Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’ 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? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 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. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 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.” I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.’”

Strong Enough to Serve

Through the first twelve chapters of John’s gospel, we’ve seen Jesus’s ministry begin and unfold, fulfilling prophecy and spreading the good news of the coming kingdom. While there has been some overlap, John’s gospel, coming so much later than the three synoptic accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, shines a different light on Jesus. The same message of salvation in Christ is proclaimed, but John has strived to communicate the deity of Jesus with a different, arguably more persistent sense of urgency. This is where the book starts, and where it drives us with every teaching and miracle account – affirming and knowing that Jesus is one with the Father. But the start of chapter thirteen marks a notable shift, as we are now in the final hours before Jesus is crucified. What we see is another example of Jesus’s power and authority, but revealed by His display of submission. There is no need for Him to assert or to oppress in order to show His dominion when His authority is absolute. Instead we’re given a picture of service, with a calling to follow in His example, to live in a way that models our God – a God who is strong enough to serve.

1.      Assurance that Allows Submission

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

I remember being a little kid, fresh off watching the Power Rangers Movie, bouncing around the house (probably jacked up on all kinds of sugar), and telling my dad that if anyone ever broke into our home to hurt us, I would fend them off with my unstoppable martial arts skills. I’m guessing a lot of parents would have nodded and agreed just long enough for my lightning-fast attention span to snap onto something else, but for dad, this was a teachable moment, and what he told me has stuck with me for going on thirty years now. He kindly, but firmly told me, “you have no idea what you would do in a situation like that.” That brought me up short. He explained what an adrenaline dump does to people, how planning and reason goes out the window almost entirely, how even if you keep a cool head, things don’t always go the way you plan. He didn’t dash my little hopes completely, but guided me toward the reality that life is not a movie, and you simply can’t assume that things will play out like what we’ve seen on TV. As an adult I try to make sure I’m looking at everything through a Biblical, Christ-like lens, instead of running through life puffed up with bravado, and placing my confidence in the strength and durability of my flesh. I was recently diagnosed with melanoma, and while the doctors have assured me that everything is treatable, it’s a little unnerving to be told that you’ve got cancer in any capacity. Over the course of my life I’ve been to the doctor more times than I can count. No one ever tells you your “odds of survival” when you’ve got a cold, or a sprain, but now, that’s information that’s being provided and discussed. Praise be to God, my odds are exceptionally good, but it all brings the idea of dying, which has never been absent from my mind, a little closer than it was before. And it brings up a question that should be asked in the heart and mind of every person, and certainly every Christian. We spend so much of our lives trying to determine how to live. We’ll explore different teachings, ideologies, and philosophies, telling ourselves that we’re learning, growing, and becoming more adept at life with age. But I’ve known many people in and past what we consider middle age, who were no better at navigating their lives than they were when they were in their teens and twenties. The Word of God in its truly infinite wisdom will teach you how to live – not just in a practical, step by step way, but in a manner where you’re guided by the Spirit instead of your flesh. The world can’t teach you this, as the world has no life in it to teach from – and having no life, the world can’t even show you how to die rightly. God’s Word on the other hand can both teach you how to live, and how to die. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:1–5,

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

This is beautiful, it gives hope, but it’s also given in a general sense. But facing death himself, Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:6–8,

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

Standing before his own mortal end, Paul’s victory was found in giving glory to God, and to what was waiting for Him in eternity with God. Peter, in facing his death, made a point to direct his brothers in Christ to qualities that would keep them effective in the Spirit, and to confirm their calling before God. He wrote in 2 Peter 1:12–15,

“Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”

Knowing, as Paul had, that his time on earth was drawing to a close, Peter’s driving aim is to teach lessons and principles that after his death will continue to draw people toward Christ. The Bible teaches us both how to live and how to die as one who does not fear death in the way that those without Jesus do. But of the examples we’re given, as usual, the best one – the perfect one, is Jesus Himself. What can John write of Jesus as He approaches the final hours before His death? “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Jesus did not love up to a certain point, bowing out before things reached their most painful. He did not panic, He did not flee. He endured distress to the point that Luke’s gospel records Him sweating blood as He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. But in the agony of knowing what awaited Him in the cross, He did not turn aside – He loved. He loved completely and fully, to the end, without compromise and without fail. Commentaries will point to “His own” as having been the twelve, and this makes sense, but to treat it as if it’s only directed at the twelve is a mistake. Matthew 18:1–6 says,

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

If you read that on the surface, it just pertains to the judgement that comes against those who lead a child toward sin. But if we look just past the surface, we can see a broader meaning, and especially if we look at Luke 17:1–2, which uses parallel language, saying,

“And he said to his disciples, ‘Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.”

There is a great judgement against those who would harm children, but likewise there is great judgement against those who would encourage their brother or sister in Christ to sin, who make themselves a stumbling block for new believers. In this way, when John writes of Jesus, “having loved his own who were in the world,” he absolutely means the disciples, in particular the twelve with whom He shares the Passover meal. However it also applies to the world – all those who hear the call of their Shepherd, who have been made lights by the Light of the world, who seek the things of God above those of the world. Jesus loved us to the end – through His hour of glory on the cross, into death, back into life.

“During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.”

What we saw before in just the first two verses of this section is that Jesus, in knowing that His hour had come, loved to the end. We then see things play out during the Last Supper where He demonstrates the humility and compassion of His love – a King who loves and cares for His own as a servant. Concerning Judas, if we read this alongside Luke 22:3, which says,

“Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.”

It almost sounds like he was literally possessed by Satan, as in, he was not in control of himself when he betrayed Jesus to the Pharisees. This would remove the accountability from his actions and also distances us from being able to apply what Judas did to ourselves and learn from his transgressions. We can actually mirror Judas’s actions to what we see from Cain in Genesis 4. Genesis 4:3–7 says,

“In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.’”

But Cain did not rule over it, instead yielding to sin and killing his brother. Concerning Judas, Matthew 26:14–16 says,

“Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.”

Mark 14:10–11 similarly says,

“Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.”

Luke 22:4–6, continuing on from the earlier verse says,

“He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.”

John’s gospel has already told us of Judas’s nature, when he complains over Mary anointing Jesus at Bethany, John 12:6 tells us,

“He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”

Judas was a thief, he was a man of greed, and he had an option. He lived alongside Jesus, served Him as one of the twelve, bore witness to miracles, and was blessed himself to go out to heal, cast out demons and share the gospel. Matthew 10:5–8 says,

“These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.’”

Judas has had every opportunity to witness who Jesus is, but he’s faced with an option between embracing the Truth or indulging in his own temptation, and he yields to greed. Saying that “Satan entered into him,” or that the devil put it into his heart to betray Jesus doesn’t need to consist of direct Satanic possession if we take the rest of scripture into consideration. Ephesians 2:1–2 says,

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—”

To be in step with Satan we need to do nothing more than yield to our flesh and follow the guidance of the world instead of that which God offers us so graciously. Judas’s story is tragic, Jesus says in Matthew 26:24–25,

“‘The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’ Judas, who would betray him, answered, ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’ He said to him, ‘You have said so.’”

“It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” But it is a fate that he chose, that he brought on himself, when he gave his heart over to the world instead of loving his God above all else. Bear in mind that through all this, Jesus is the perfect example of the servant. He holds all the power – not just some, all. He is God made flesh, the personification of perfection, the obedient Son who is also one with the Father. And what He shows us is the complete opposite of the worldly, “survival of the fittest” mentality. In His abundance of power, He shows us how to be humble, to the point of washing the feet of those who serve Him – including the man who is conspiring to kill Him. Part of what allows this is that He knows Himself and the will of God entirely. There is no misgiving about His identity or His purpose – He offers us this display of submission knowing fully where He came from, and where He is going.

“He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

Despite the deep and profound symbolism of the act, it merits considering the practicality of washing your feet in a first-century setting. The primary footwear would have been some kind of sandal, and the primary mode of transportation was on foot. In the event that you weren’t walking, your transportation would have been animal based, meaning there were frequently animals on the roads, and if you’ve spent any amount of time around livestock, you know they’re not exactly particular about where they relieve themselves. We’re also talking about an era before any kind of modern plumbing existed. Putting all of these variables together means that your feet were going to get dirtier than anything we commonly run across in our modern world. The first-century dining experience also looked considerably different from the tables and chairs we’re accustomed to now. There’s a reason why we see multiple verses across the gospels that say that Jesus, “reclined at table,” with whomever He was dining with. Paintings of meals during this era show a U-shaped seating arrangement, sometimes around a low table, other times on cushions, with the food placed in the middle of the U. Those eating would be in a reclined, lounged position, propped up on their left arm or elbow and eating with their right. All this is relevant because your feet were considerably more on display in this sort of scenario than they would be in modern times. This means that having an opportunity to clean your feet upon entering someone’s home, and certainly before congregating for a meal would have been a big deal. We see this in what Jesus tells Simon the Pharisee concerning the unnamed, sinful woman in Luke 7:44,

“Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.’”

It would have been poor hospitality to not offer your guest water to wash their feet with, and in many respects, unhygienic to sit down to dinner with dirty feet. But what is the significance of Jesus doing this for His disciples? It seems to be an act that in most instances was carried out by the individual – when entering someone’s home in modern times, you would normally remove your shoes yourself, you would wash your own hands before dinner, no one else would perform these acts for you, and washing your feet seemed to be much the same. In the event however that someone did it for you, it was seen as the work of the lowest servant. Some commentaries even point to this having been the work of specifically non-Jewish servants. It was the least desirable task, an act of pure service, devoid of any glory or pride – and yet Jesus makes a point to do it Himself.  Not because He had to, or that the disciples were incapable, but because it was so important for Him to illustrate, to truly display an example of the behavior He expected from those following Him.  

2.      Submission that Offers Redemption

“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, do you wash my feet?’ Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.’”

I had a conversation recently where I fellow believer shared an experience with me that had left her spiritually saddened. Some Gideons had delivered Bibles to her workplace, and she overheard a snippet of conversation between her coworkers as they spotted the Bibles. “I mean, why didn’t He just get down off the cross?” one asked sarcastically, as another laughed. The woman I spoke with earnestly loves Jesus, and hearing His glorious sacrifice discussed so callously, hearing His love and mercy treated as a joke and used to belittle the Word of God and the Way of Christianity hurt her to hear. This happened some time ago, and she had since resolved to evangelize her coworkers through being loving and compassionate – not in a pandering, worldly way, but as a Christian. What she overheard, the calloused blasphemy, just shows another quality of Jesus that the world simply cannot comprehend, and what He shows when He tells Peter, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” A sinful, worldly viewpoint doesn’t have an issue with the general idea of God. While there are many who would call themselves atheists, and claim that the spiritual is nonexistent, it seems that the majority of people believe in something. Some kind of higher power, a vague, distant, twisted perception of who God really is. It’s usually tied to a gray kind of moralism – if you’re good, you go to the good place, and if you’re bad you go to the bad place. There’s not really a qualifier of good and bad, or what heaven and hell really are, it’s all just spiritual guesswork, based on what feels good. It’s a wide road with plenty of room on it, and it leads to an eternity separated from God. What Jesus says, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me,” shows us again what we must accept in order to come to the Father. God is great, wise, powerful, merciful, just, wrathful, and full of grace beyond our comprehension – He also became flesh, lived perfectly, gave up His life sacrificially to overcome the sin debt of mankind, and took up His life again to free us from the sting of death. Jesus, who acted out the will of the Father with humility, gave up His life in the most agonizing, shameful death possible – the world cannot reconcile this with the life and death of God made flesh, the King of kings. Be if you refuse to accept the Son who shows us God the servant, the we have no part in the glorious inheritance we share with Christ. Romans 8:11–17 says,

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Worldliness refuses to allow us to see and accept the true, intimate sacrifice of God’s love for us, but by the Spirit we may have open eyes to see and know the glory of our God.

“Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.”

It can sometimes be tempting to take shots at the mistakes and failings of the disciples – this might seem easy, but it’s certainly not fair. While they may have stumbled along the way, shown poor faith at times, and fled at the time of Jesus’s arrest, we fool ourselves if we think we would have done any better. What Peter says here is awkward, yet beautiful. It would be a mistake to read this and think him fickle, as it ties in perfectly with what we’ve seen from him before. In the aftermath of the feeding of the 5,000, when many disciples depart, and Jesus asks the twelve if they want to leave too, John 6:68–69 says,

“Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’”

Peter, despite his stumblings, despite his rejections, was all in. The idea of His Christ, His King, the One he professed as the Son of the Living God, stooping to wash his feet was unthinkable, and so he rejected the very idea. When Jesus replies, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me,” Peter does a complete 180. It shows the depth of the faith that he’s putting in Jesus, that despite the fact that seconds before, the idea of Jesus washing his feet was repellant, if it is something that Jesus is commanding, something that means Peter has share in what it is that Jesus offers, he’s completely on board. And he doesn’t want just a little, he desires everything that Jesus is and offers. “If washing my feet brings me closer to you, makes me clean by your hand, then don’t just stop with my feet, make me clean entirely.” It’s beautiful. He’s also gotten the idea behind the act almost completely wrong, but to be fair, Jesus told him that he would not understand, and if nothing else, I find Peter’s enthusiasm and commitment admirable.

“And you are clean, but not every one of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’”

Peter was clean – literally, in preparation to eat a meal, he was clean, and in the aim and intent of his spirit, he was clean. But Jesus knows, and John’s gospel makes it clear, that He also just washed the feet of the man who is spiritually wicked – Judas, who He had spent years traveling with and teaching to, who is plotting to betray Him. This is a reminder to what Jesus says in Matthew 5:43–45

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

As well as what Paul wrote in Romans 5:8,

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus knew what was in the heart of Judas, just as He knows what is in the heart of every man, and yet He washed His betrayers feet, and He gave up His life on the cross to offer salvation to all mankind.

3.      Submission that Comes from Authority

“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? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 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. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

One of the most pivotal pieces of leadership advice I was ever given was, “don’t ask anyone to do something that you’re not willing to do yourself.” I have always strived for this to be true of myself, and I’ve flocked to those who display this quality. But as with everything that humanity may do well, Jesus did it perfectly. God’s aim for His children was not that we play the games of a sinful world, vying for power and ruling with an iron fist, but that we be submissive, showing faith in a spiritual authority that supersedes the world. This was so imperative to our relationship with God that He made a point to act out how we are to be, giving a perfect illustration of Christian conduct. Luke 22:24–30 says,

“A dispute also arose among them (the disciples), as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he (Jesus) said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

We are not meant to fight for our power, but to fight for and aim to the things of God, and trust fully in Him that He will deliver us. What God shows us is that He Himself is not some fragile royalty, who requires being waited on in order to verify His authority. His greatness is the reality of things, whether acknowledged by humanity or not. God’s power is such that He is strong enough to illustrate the lowest station, to bear the load of the servant, while holding all the glory and authority of the King of kings.

“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.’”

This again draws us to consider John 10:14–16,

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

The sacrifice of Christ was sufficient for the sin of the world – and yet the voice of Christ is not heard by all. Jesus knows the twelve He has chosen, as He knows all to whom the gospel will be presented to. Yet he also knows the spiritual condition of His disciples, saying in John 6:70–71,

“‘Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.’ He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.”

Likewise, Jesus knows whether the roots of the gospel will grow or wither in the hearts of the individual. He’s clarified before that His reception in the world fulfills Isaiah 6:9–10,

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

But even in Judas’s betrayal, the words of the Old Testament are fulfilled, as Jesus cites Psalm 41:9,

“Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”

“I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.”

Who does God need to prove Himself to? No one. And yet, throughout scripture, God makes a point of revealing Himself, of easing the concerns of His people, in displaying His power, and proving His position. When Jesus raises Lazarus, it says in John 11:41–42,

“… And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.’”

Jesus didn’t have to cry out to God and beg Him to raise Lazarus for God to take notice – Jesus knows the will of the Father, He’s the very embodiment of this will, and the two are one. And yet He speaks aloud, purely for the purpose of the onlookers having the opportunity to hear, and in hearing believe. Jesus now illustrates the significance of serving with humility from a position of power – showing the depth of His love, and predicting, not just His death, but His betrayal, so that in the aftermath, those He has chosen might see the pieces, and understand the whole.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.’”

Paul wrote in Galatians 2:19–20,

“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

When we share the gospel and the Truth of the Word of God, we do not share our own message, but the message of God that has become our own. In serving God, we pointedly do not serve ourselves, which in doing so would be service to the flesh and to the world. We serve God, in His name and in His Spirit, and in this service, we are delivered to a peace and authority that is beyond the world.

Pastor Chris’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEsltBb4d2o