#21 The Upside-Down Kingdom – John 13:1-17
Various Readings
The Upside-Down Kingdom Or Loving Service is the Road to Greatness
Read: John 13:1-17
"If I the Lord and Teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."
Jesus, John 13:14
This week's story moves us into the final days of Jesus' life. For those of us who observe the season of Lent-the
period of preparing for Easter-this and the upcoming weeks of our series may help us walk with Jesus in His journey to
the cross and to a new resurrection way of living.
The setting of our passage today is just before the Passover feast begins. Jesus is hosting a final and private meal
with his disciples. The crowds hailed him with the Palm branch “wave” just days before on Palm Sunday. His hour to die
and return to the Father has come. He knows Judas will soon hand him over to human captors and to the Divine plan (Jn.
13:2,10,18ff).
On my first reading of this story, I found my mind jumping ahead to what would come next; all the other gospels
that preceded John have the same setting and tell the same story (see Luke 22:14ff, e.g.). Jesus, in his last night with his
disciples, predicts his death and confidently reveals its purpose: His body and blood will be broken and poured for our
sake. New wineskins and new wine promised centuries earlier were now to be born: permanent forgiveness from sin and
freedom from the bondage of a hard heart and stiff-necked living.
Jesus, however, knew the disciple's understanding lagged in the darkness of their misperceptions. Not expecting
the Messiah to bear suffering or shame of any kind, the cross did not even cross their mind. Listen to their arguing around
the table this night about their future status, position and greatness, and you get a sense of how thick the walls were.
To break through the fog, Jesus gives them a tangible and unforgettable sign. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the
sign is what we call communion. Jesus breaks bread and says this is my body, broken for you. Wine is poured into a cup
and bowl, a picture of his blood to be spilled out on Golgotha's tree for sinners all. Then the timeless command: "take,
eat and drink my body and blood. Do this in remembrance of me." This meal, practiced now for centuries as a church
memorial feast, would help them remember. It would remind them first of their Lord's death, and then of that final day
when they would join Jesus, the Calvary thief and all the saints in the eternal party of Paradise.
Here's the curve ball in the book of John. After the traditional beginning of Jesus' last meal with the disciples, the
breaking of bread and pouring of wine do not appear. John omits the institution of the Lord’s supper. Or does he?
What we find instead is the account of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. In the middle of this Passover meal that
He Himself is hosting, the drama begins. Jesus stands, takes off his outer robe and puts on the uniform of a servant. After
the towel is wrapped around his waist, he pours water into a basin. To the chagrin of his guests, Jesus does what only
servants were allowed to do: he washes their feet from the dirt and whatever else primitive, animal trodden roads would
harbor.
The disciples are stunned ("this is unheard of! Shameful!"), shocked at the outlandish gesture. Peter's words of
resistance ("don't wash my feet, Lord!") reveals what everyone else must have been feeling: "What is the Master and
Messiah doing?" Jesus then gets up, redresses, and closes the ceremony with the command: "now that I, your teacher and
Lord, have washed your feet, you now go and turn the world’s idea of greatness upside down. Wash one another's feet."
I think John knew exactly what he was doing in replacing the Lord's Supper scene with this story of shocking
service. In suggesting that the Lord's Supper and the foot-washing are parallel passages, John helps bring more light and
meaning to those of us who now participate in the Lord's Supper.
When we take communion, we say "Yes" to at least three things. Each of these are found in both of these stories.
First of all, we declare the supremacy and centrality of Jesus Christ. This carpenter who lived miraculously,
spilled his blood and rose from the dead, He is Lord and Master (Jn. 13:14, 16)! As King of kings, Jesus will one day
fully bring His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. That will be a day of victory and celebration, when even death, the
last great enemy, will be fully conquered.
Yet, before Jesus is victorious in the way we'd naturally hope and think, He is Lord in a way that surprises us.
When we participate in the Lord's supper, we worship a powerful God whose primary name is-hear the scandal-the
LAMB of God. The Son has taken the very nature of a servant and obeying His Father's wishes to the point of dying
shameful on a cross (Phil 2:5-8). As Jesus would be stripped publicly on Calvary's rock, so he this night undressed
© 2012 John Lewis. All Rights Reserved
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himself in full view of the disciples. His greatest act of service, as the prophet Isaiah had rightly predicted (Is. 53) would
be interceding for the transgressors, taking on our sin in his wounds and body.
Secondly, and less surprisingly, when we take communion, we receive God's forgiveness. Matthew is the only
Gospel author who directly says that the cup and bread were for the "forgiveness of sins," but it's implicit in Mark and
Luke. Blood, since OT days, was shed for atonement of sin (Lev. 17:11). Every learned Jew knew that a lasting
forgiveness of sins would be central to the New Covenant Yahweh promised to bring (Jer. 31:33-4).
So in the eating of bread and drinking of wine, we receive cleansing from our recent sin…in much the same way
that Peter got his feet washed. Jesus made it clear that Peter did not need his whole body washed. As Peter had just
ceremonially bathed before entering Jerusalem and the Passover holiday, so, too, those who have been baptized
("immersed") into Christ are clean by the "washing of rebirth." (Titus 3:5). Our salvation rests secure and is not at stake
here. God sees us snow white because of blood colored glasses. What IS at stake is bringing to God those "extremities"
that have been recently soiled by the dust and dung of our self-centered living.
As we confess and receive God's forgiveness for these at the Lord's table, we become who we already are in
Christ: fully clean once more. Ready for the journey ahead.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly for John in our passage today, when we eat and drink the bread and wine,
we say yes to the narrow path Jesus walked: death before resurrection. What is meant here is more than the hope that we
will be raised one day after we die, which of course is central to the communion meal. The emphasis here is the idea
found in John 12:25-6 and Mark 8:34-5: the first step toward life is death and the death of self. We must carry our own
cross as he carried His. Peter and all the disciples who had their feet washed would have heard the invitation loud and
clear: if we are to be his disciples and servants, we must hate and lose our life. Just as the Master lost His.
No, this isn't what the disciples thought they signed up for when they dropped their nets. Yes, it's upside down
and the opposite direction from the road the rest of the world travels. But the road less traveled is the only route to sharing
Christ's greatness and glory.
It is easy today-and was probably so back in the early church-to think of Christ's death as a means for forgiveness
and worship and then stop there. Jesus WAS uniquely God's servant in His death, and did on that cross what we never
could do for ourselves (thank God!). In another sense, though, he sets an example for us to continue. We are to take up
our own cross and follow him daily…in his steps! He would put His own reputation, pride and self interests on the shelf,
and take the "form of a servant." The robe of new life we receive at baptism is then to be wrapped around our waist as we
take on the name, "child and servant of God."
John reminds us that this is the call to all who would call Jesus Lord. “If I the Lord and Teacher washed your
feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.” The glory of the Christ-life shines when God’s children- rooted in our
purpose and identity-we can do menial things and disregard what others think of us. Spirituality and maturity are now not
disconnected with clothes washing, diaper changing, bed making, garbage emptying, and bathroom cleaning. If Jesus
lived and died that way, then as one not greater than my Master, I am invited to choose that same road.
I am probably not alone in confessing that living like a Lamb and a servant seems initially unattractive and
definitely impossible. That leads us to a fourth fundamental invitation of communion: to admit we can't do any of this on
our own, and to come to Christ for strength, wisdom and cleansing. "Digesting" God's grace and spiritual food, we leave
the sanctuary with a quiet confidence. With a clean towel secured around our waist and heaven's hope wrapped around our
heart, we step out to serve Jesus' children wherever we find them.
"A new commandment I give to you: love one another, (and here is what's new)-as I have (just) loved you (i.e., I washed
your feet! To love someone is to serve them sacrificially, practically!)"
John 13:34, in its context, additions all mine
© 2012 John Lewis. All Rights Reserved
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