Sermon by Rev George Hemmings
I wonder what you think a leader looks like? We asked that question at the CLAY small group on Friday night. Actually we asked people to draw a typical leader, and their qualities, and this is what we got. I wonder how that matches up to your ideas of a leader? I think there’s some pretty good descriptions in there. Confident, forward thinking, respectable. Few supermen there. Glad that at least one person drew a female leader. A few people drew tall, strong powerful. All in all, I think a pretty good likeness! And I didn’t have to pay anyone anything to write those things! What would you add?
If we use that list as a guide, Jesus is a real leader. He ticks a lot of those boxes. He’s got followers. He’s got a great vision of the future. He knows his hour has come, the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified. The hour has come to depart from this world and go the Father. Along with this Jesus is forward thinking. As we saw a fortnight ago, Jesus has withdrawn from public. He’s spending time with the disciples, preparing them for what’s to come. He’s preparing them for the Cross, and he’s preparing them for what comes after that. We see that in today’s passage as he tell them, they won’t fully understand what he’s doing just yet. And Jesus speaks wisely, he’s a good orator, and is knowledgeable. The disciples call him Teacher. They also call him Lord. At this point might just be a polite title, the equivalent of ‘Sir’ today. But in time the disciples will realise that he’s the LORD. And Jesus is certainly powerful. ‘3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands.’ He’s got absolute power and authority. And he’s a leader who takes charge, who’s in complete control. Even in the face of betrayal of Judas, Jesus knows what is going to happen, and is even in control of this as we see in verse 27.
What do you think a leader is like? To help us think about this, we’ve decided to host a leadership seminar at church today. We’ve asked a few people who are influential leaders in their workplaces to hold a seminar to help us think about leadership. So I’d like to welcome to the stage, Guy, Ian, Ruth and Chris. [To those reading online, at this point the St. Thomas' Youth Group performed a short skit. You should listen online!] Thank you very much! I should say any resemblance to figures real or imagined is entirely coincidental.
But in this passage Jesus does some very un-leader like things. He’s gathered with his disciples to share a meal. (That’s a good thing for leader’s to do). It’s likely the Passover supper. Everyone’s taken their places at the table. It wouldn’t have been a nice big dinning table like we’re used to, but a low table, probably U shaped. As was the custom, especially at important feasts, they were probably reclining. Resting on their left arms, ready to use their right hands to eat, legs pointing away from the table. But during the meal, perhaps just before, or just after the food has been brought out, Jesus gets up. John says he took off his outer robe. That’s a polite way of saying he stripped down to his jocks. He takes everything but his loincloth off. I don’t know about you, but that’s not something I’d expect a leader to do. In fact if we’re at a staff lunch and Chris was to do that, I’d be pretty shocked. But what Jesus is doing is dressing down, to the level of a slave. As shocking as that would be, what he does next is even more incredible.
‘5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.’
This is unheard of. A child might, maybe, wash their parents feet. A disciple might, maybe, wash their master’s feet. But most often it was a job left for a slave. In fact, it was often a job given to a Gentile slave. Even a Jewish slave is too important to wash someone’s feet! But here’s Jesus, down on the floor, going from disciple to disciple washing their feet. If you recall the start of John’s gospel, John the Baptist proclaimed that he wasn’t even worthy to untie the sandals of the one who was coming after him, of Jesus. But here’s Jesus not only untying the disciples’ sandals, but washing their feet, and drying them with a towel. Imagine you’re the disciples. How would you feel? Uncomfortable? Embarrassed? Confused? Indignant?
It appears they’re stunned into silence. They’re shocked. They don’t know what to say. Until Jesus comes to Peter. You can always count on him to have something to say. As Jesus takes off his sandals, as he prepares to wet Peter’s feet, Peter blurts out, ‘Lord, are you, going to wash my feet?’ He knows this isn’t right. You get a sense for how unusual what Jesus is doing is, by the fact that Peter’s not offering to get down and take over. Peter’ not offering to wash Jesus feet. And neither Peter, nor any of the disciples are offering to wash one-another’s feet. If it were a job like washing the dishes and someone picked up a scrubbing brush, everyone else would grab a tea-towel and pitch in. But that’s not what’s happened here. Jesus starts washing the disciples feet and they’re too stunned to do anything. It’s so not proper, so not the done thing, that they don’t know what to do at all. Peter’s just the only one who voices what they’re all thinking.
Jesus’ answer shows there’s more going on here than just a bit of podiatry hygiene! If it was just about having clean feet before a meal, Jesus might say, “OK then, you wash your own feet.” But what does he say? “You don’t understand now, but later you will.” We’ve seen this a few times in John. Something the disciples didn’t understand at the time, things that only make sense on the other side of the Cross, things that only able to understand after Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, as we’ll see in chapters 14 & 15. Jesus says this is one of them. Because what Jesus is doing is foreshadowing, demonstrating what’s going to happen on the Cross.
We can begin to understand that as the conversation unfolds. Peter emphatically declares, “You will never wash my feet!” But Jesus tells him that, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” He’s not saying to Peter that if you don’t wash there’s no dinner. The idea behind sharing is of union. Other translations put it, “you have no part in me.” Unless our sins are taken away, we can have no part with Jesus. Unless we come to him to have our sins washed away at the Cross we will never be clean.
At this, Peter’s reluctance turns to unrestrained exuberance. “Alright then” he says, “Not just my feet, but also my head and my hands then!” He’s still hasn’t quite understood, he’s still trying to dictate to Jesus how things should be, but at least he’s trying. He doesn’t want to miss out on being united with Jesus! But Jesus tells Peter this isn’t necessary. And he uses Peter’s reply as an opportunity to add some extra teaching in, to stretch the metaphor to tell them something more. Having bathed, there’s no need to wash again. Having been forgiven by Christ, having our sins washed away, we are clean. Once we’re united with Christ, we’re not easily snatched out of his hand, as he put it in chapter 10. But as one of the youth at CLAY put it so well, ‘Our daily walk through life leaves our feet dirty.’ We need to come continually for forgiveness, which is what we’ll be doing a little later in the service.
What kind of leader is Jesus? He’s a leader who loves his own. He’s a leader who loves them to the very end, who loves them completely, without fail as verse 1 puts it. He demonstrates this by washing his disciples feet. But this is just a pale example of his love, compared with what he’s about to do, as he humbles himself even further by dying on the cross. What’s a bit of foot washing compared with that? Love, humility, sacrificial service are critical to true leadership.
As we heard in the skit, leadership involves delegation. Throughout John’s gospel, Jesus has said that he’s been sent from the Father, he’s come from the God. But now as he’s preparing to return to God, Jesus is preparing the disciples for their mission. He’s about to send them out into the world, just as he was sent by the Father. And in verse 20 he says, they’re going to be so identified with him, that to receive them, to receive their word, is to receive Jesus’ words, which is to receive the Father’s words. And this mission has been passed onto us. Jesus mission, to proclaim God’s Kingdom, has become our mission. So it should be no surprise that Jesus says that we should do as he has done! Like any good leader, Jesus doesn’t just delegate, he’s also led by example.
“14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”
If Jesus is our leader, if he is our master, then how much should we follow his example! Think about it, if we don’t we’re saying we’re above him! We’re more proud, we’re more important than he is!
So to help you follow Jesus example, CLAY has prepared a little something for you. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough buckets and towels to go round. But we do have the next best thing, baby wipes. They’re a magical wash and towel in one! If you’d like to kick off your shoes, a CLAY member will be along shortly with a wipe, so you can clean your neighbours feet.
Actually, I’m just joking. Because Jesus didn’t mean that we should literally wash each other’s feet. Though it’s a good example of what he was calling us to do. He wasn’t setting up a rite or a ritual that we should follow. He’s calling all of us to humble, self-sacrificial service. He wants us to follow his example of lovingly serving one another. So look around you. Look at the person next to you. I want you to take a moment and think about how you could serve them.
Actually, the person sitting next to you is probably someone you know really well, a friend, a brother or sister, husband or wife. So look across the aisle. Look at someone you don’t know. How can you serve them? It might mean getting to know them better, so you know what that looks like. Jesus isn’t calling us to just serve those we already like, those we’re already close too. It’s easy for me to think about serving Sarah. It’s harder for me to think about how I can serve someone else.
At that last meal, Jesus didn’t distinguish. He washed the feet of the beloved disciple. He washed Peter’s feet. And Jesus washed Judas Iscariot’s feet, even though he knew that Judas was about to betray him. In fact he does more than just wash his feet. After about the third time that Jesus tells the disciples that he knows one of them is about to betray him, Peter’s finally starting to get the message. So he gets the ‘beloved’ disciple, most likely John, to lean back and ask Jesus who it is. When Jesus answers, “It’s the one I give this piece of bread when I’ve dipped it in the dish,” he’s not setting up some secret signal. At a feast the host might offer a choice bit of bread or meat to a guest as a sign of favour or honour. Judas must’ve been sitting close by to Jesus, perhaps on the other side to the ‘beloved’ disciple. Judas is sitting in a position of prominence, and now he’s passed a prime cut! It’s a final, astonish act of loving friendship and appeal. The sad thing is that Judas doesn’t respond. Whether the initial seed was through Judas’ greed, his frustrated desires, his disenchantment with Jesus methods, or something else, Judas’ shut his heart. Even as Jesus offers him one last opportunity to come into the light, Judas turns away. Satan, not Jesus, takes prime place in his heart. So Judas sets off, into the night, into the darkness, out of the light, out of understanding, out of God’s kingdom. Judas shows us that we shouldn’t be surprised when some within the Church stumble and fall, even reject faith, lash out at Christ and his body. But when they do, like Jesus we must continue to hold out, in the hope that they will repent. As Jesus did we must continue to serve and love all!
Go back to the person that you were looking at before. I’m not saying you should be wondering if they’re going to turn into a Judas! I want to know, can you still remember what you thought you might do in order to serve them? Because it’s not enough to just think about it. Jesus said, ‘If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them!’ It’s not enough to think about serving one another. We’re only blessed if we actually do them! Jesus calls us to put our love into action. He calls us to follow his example, to be humble, to serve, to love one another. He calls us to do that with our whole lives. He put his life on the line for it.
