Family Supper

I. Introduction

a. Any identity thieves?

i. Jon Mark Lipka

ii. Born XXXX

iii. Moved to xxxx

iv. Moved to xxxx.

v. Ordained deacon September 20, 2003, and priest June 2, 2007

vi. Married…oh, wait, not yet!

vii. That’s where I’ve come from.

b. Where I’m going, who knows?

i. Every time I think that I have a handle on the direction of my life, it seems that somebody like to stir the pot and keep me guessing.

ii. You know, if Jesus is indeed “the Lover of my soul,” he certainly makes sure that I to His bosom fly, and frequently at that.

iii. Ultimately I am “looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10).

c. Well that’s where I come from and where I’m going.

i. What’s my place? Where do I belong? Somewhere in between.

ii. All of this, we see in tonight’s Gospel.

iii. And there’s a caution sign for us.

d. We can miss out on—or outright refuse—God’s grace due to our insecurity about our place in His kingdom.

i. Insecurity over where we’re from, where we’re going, when we get there, how we can accomplish it.

II. Jesus wasn’t insecure about His place in the Kingdom, and He accepted the entirety of the Father’s will.

a. “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to…go to the Father” (Jn. 13:1b).

i. Jesus knew what was His destination. The Father was Jesus’ goal.

ii. Jesus knew the time for His departure. The time was now come.

b. “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power…” (Jn. 13:3a).

i. Jesus knew His place and status with the Father (and all creation).

c. “…and that he had come from the God and was returning to God…” (Jn.13:3b).

i. Jesus knew what was His origin and destination.

d. “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world…” (Jn. 13:1a).

i. The world was not Jesus’ destination.

ii. The world was the place where His work would be carried out.

iii. His work would take Him back to the Father.

iv. Jesus’ return to the Father reopened the path for us to God.

e. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love” (Jn. 13:1c).

i. Jesus didn’t merely stop in for a cup of tea.

ii. Jesus came out of love.

1. Jn. 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

2. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Jn. 13:34).

f. Jesus didn’t allow His relationship with the Father to interfere with His service to others—a service of love—because He knew where He came from and where He was headed.

III. We, like Peter, sometimes aren’t so sure about our place in the Kingdom, about our relationship to God.

a. The eleven (including Judas) allowed Jesus to wash their feet silently.

i. Perhaps Jesus’ action left them speechless. Shame certainly would have been in order.

ii. Would I feel okay if President Obama came down to Hall Drive and fixed a pot hole simply because everyone else was too proud to get a little dirty?

b. Peter alone had the gumption to speak up, and to voice what they all felt. “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” (Jn. 13:6).

i. It wasn’t that he felt that his feet were too good for Jesus to wash.

ii. Peter saw a reversal, the Messiah misplaced. Peter couldn’t allow this indignity to continue.

iii. “No, you shall never wash my feet” (Jn. 13:8).

iv. Peter had had enough. If this is how Messiah acted, what then of His disciples?

1. If Jesus didn’t hesitate to perform the lowliest of tasks, what wouldn’t He do?

2. If the Teacher and Lord could stoop to do this humble—humiliating—duty, would Peter—I—have to do the same?

v. Peter was insecure about his own place in the Kingdom. Perhaps Peter was even insecure about Jesus’ place.

1. How could he be expected to carryout such lowly service?

2. What kind of Kingdom has its King to serve the servants?

c. Peter questioned the Master, and then, in response to the need for cleansing, overreacted.

i. Peter wrongly thought that he was entirely defiled. But Jesus declared that Peter was clean.

ii. Peter rightly felt unworthy before Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus said, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so for that is what I am” (Jn. 13:13).

iii. Peter didn’t understand that Jesus’ washing was enough—the water that Jesus had given them was “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14).