Wednesday Bible study: John, the homestretch, part one

 One thing about studying John as in-depth as this has required, is that individual passages you passed over before hit you different now.  For example, the one that kicks off this post; they have eaten the Last Supper- an event that John, curiously, left out of his telling of the tale.  Perhaps, by the end of this post, we'll figure out why it wasn't important in John's tale.  But what was, was this:

Joh 13:2  During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,
Joh 13:3  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,
Joh 13:4  rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

Okay, so why do I find this important?  Step one:  He knows about Judas' upcoming betrayal. Time is running short, and there is so much that these guys just don't get.  No matter what He does on this earth, some are going to not understand- and some are not going to care.  Even in as intimate a crowd as this- a crowd He prayed hard over before ever selecting.  You or I might have questioned the futility of it all.

Second, all of this was a mortal moment.  He had been with the Father, and He would be again with the Father, in the Eternal Moment.  He was God, and the control of every molecule in Judas Iscariot's brain, in Simon Peter's heart, were at His command.

Step three: Even with this knowledge, He was about to perform the most menial task He could have found at this moment- a task that humbled Him below God, below Pharisee, below even fisherman or tax collector.  Below even a traitor. Why would He stoop so low?

Joh 13:12  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?
Joh 13:13  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
Joh 13:14  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
Joh 13:15  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
Joh 13:16  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.
Joh 13:17  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 

For once, He told them right out- this is an example to follow.  That it was an example they needed was "skillfully" pointed out by Peter:

Joh 13:6  He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?"
Joh 13:7  Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand."
Joh 13:8  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."
Joh 13:9  Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!"

"You have no share with me." Do YOU get this? I don't know that I fathom it yet.  It is so important a lesson, to be able to humble yourself below ANY other, that it is an "in or out" question to Jesus.  And here, I think, it where we start to see the parallel but diverging paths of Peter and Judas.  Peter didn't get this, but was willing to go over the top to learn.  Judas, well...

Joh 13:10  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."
Joh 13:11  For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean."

Joh 13:18  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.' 

"I know whom I have chosen." Judas wouldn't be human if a chill didn't crawl up his back right there. But there's not one word of his reaction, if any; I wonder to myself if he was even paying attention at this point.  Jesus has been good for him, financially (by robbing the purse) and politically (or so he thought at first).  But he had been getting more and more disenchanted; he'd probably been eyeing Mary's perfume from earlier in the week- how easily the figure of 300 denarii (around $1500 today, much less than the world's current most expensive perfume, but the container for it stands almost 2 meters tall and is encrusted with "3,571 diamonds, gold, silver, pearls and topaz,"so you probably wouldn't break it open) leaped from his mouth!  Judas obviously missed the part about "You cannot serve God and Mammon" (Matt. 6:24).

Where Judas seemed to have given up hearing, Simon Peter was hanging- or hanging himself- on every word.  After flubbing the feet washing lesson, he kept silent- even when Jesus announced in no uncertain terms He was about to be betrayed by one of them:

Joh 13:22  The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
Joh 13:23  One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus,
Joh 13:24  so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
Joh 13:25  So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is it?"
Joh 13:26  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.

So now, there are three in on the secret: Peter, frozen by inaction; John, not willing to leave the Lord's side long enough to do anything; and Judas:

Joh 13:27  Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."
Joh 13:30  So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. 

 
Again, his only reaction, seemingly, was, "There's my cue".  Still, there was yet a betrayer in the room; and when Peter again opened his mouth, he became the big fat target:

Joh 13:36  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."
Joh 13:37  Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you."
Joh 13:38  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. 

 

But now, here's the difference between Peter and Judas- and it is poignant that Jesus saved it for after Judas left- is that the remaining Disciples, whatever their flaws, had one thing going for them:

Joh 13:34  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.
Joh 13:35  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." 

They had love- for God and for each other (notwithstanding a few friendly rivalries).  And they would need that; for behold, the night was here, and it was time to go.  

And guess what?  I see a possible reason John left out the breaking of the bread and sharing of the cup.  The other Gospels featured this as a symbol of the new COVENANT. But in John's telling, we hadn't arrived at that point.  Instead, he focused on the new COMMANDMENT- a theme he will hit again in his letters. One focuses on the love from Christ to His Church- John felt that more than any of the others, thus he calls himself "the one Jesus loved". The other focuses on the fact that is yet another example- As Christ loved, so now love each other, serve each other.  These two examples were to be the foundation of their upcoming ministry, and they needed to get this right now.