Love Beyond Reason | John 13:1-38

Transcript is automatically produced. Errors may be present.

Good morning, south. Good morning. It’s good to see you all this morning. Yeah, if you’re tuning in online, I thankful that you joined us as well. I hope that maybe even just a fraction of what we experienced in worship this morning transferred over to your screen, wherever you are and that you can come and join us in person ’cause it’s so sweet to worship together with the people of God.

Hey, so if you’re new or new-ish, my name’s Aaron Bland. I’m one of the pastors here and we already mentioned this once, but I’ll mention it again. If that is you, we have a space in the lobby just for you. It looks like this. It’s the new here wall. It allows you to just ask some questions or you can come to the newcomers lunch a little bit later today and learn a little bit more about this community.

’cause here’s the deal if this is all you experience of South, then you’re missing out on so much of what it means to, to plug into the church and to. Be in community and grow in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus. So I’d encourage you to go a little bit deeper than just attending a Sunday morning experience.

Yeah. How we doing? I dunno about you, but I had to bring my, I’m notorious for shedding tears, so I brought my box of Kleenex. I’m ready to roll. Are you ready to roll? I’m gonna pray again for me. Father, I just thank you for your great love.

Maybe just take a moment right now and take a deep breath in

and a slow breath out. I don’t know what happened for you this week. I don’t know how you come in here this morning, whether you’re excited, overjoyed, whether you’re heavy hearted,

but our intention today is to try and turn our hearts towards the living God and encounter a message that he might have for us. And so let’s be fully present to that.

Father Holy Spirit, would you soften in our hearts?

Give us the capacity to comprehend your goodness, we pray. Amen. Our three-year-old daughter is in the most delicious kids say the darnedest thing phase right now, and there’s probably four or five times. Per day where she says something that just cracks us up so much. This happened a couple weeks ago at the parent information meeting for the student ministry.

Sean and Nathan were hosting a information meeting where they were helping share like what’s coming up in the coming year and what’s, how they’re managing the two service thing and all of that. They served some sandwiches and they had a large. Container of lemonade on the counter. And so I was there alone with Clara because my wife was out to lunch with some friends of hers.

And so I’m scrambling, I’m doing the standard parent thing, the two plate thing, and I’m trying to get her some food and me some food and then, and she sees this lemonade. And she says, daddy, can I have some orange juice? Daddy, can I have some Daddy? Can I please have some orange juice? Daddy, can I have some orange juice please?

I’m thinking, I’m like, kid, I’m okay. Just a minute, Clara, just sit down and I’ll be there in just a minute, and then I will get you some. Orange juice or lemonade. But Vanessa Sells, who’s one of our amazing student ministry volunteers and oversees a lot of the hospitality and stuff.

She overheard this exchange and she ran over and got a small glass of lemonade. Interpreting that lemonade equals orange juice for Clara and brought it to Clara. By the time I made my way back to the table and I sat down the plate and I got situated, I said, Clara, isn’t it so sweet how Ms.

Vanessa got you some juice? And she greedily finished her little sip, sat down her cup, and she said, yes. It’s so sweet. She is a genius.

And I agreed. Yes. And so I told, I proceeded to tell Vanessa that she was a genius for helping me out and, but later on it got me to one thinking about the way that worked. It happened so fast, right? Clara has this need and this desire, and the moment Vanessa meets that need, she becomes the best person in the entire room.

She’s a genius, right? And I don’t think we grow out of this, do we? Have you ever noticed how easy it is to like people that you know, you just so I don’t throw Claire under the bus and make her feel like she’s the only person that does this. There was several years back that I overheard someone down a hallway talking about, I don’t even know what they were talking about, but they just sounded so angry and so grumpy.

And I just was like, I was concerned and every time I heard them talk, they just sounded so angry and so grumpy. And so I was confiding in a friend, should, do we need to do something about this or what should we do? And that friend told me, proceeded to tell me that said grumpy person had told them how much they appreciated my leadership and how much they valued the fact that I was here and I led so well, and I thought instantly, maybe they just don’t know how. They sound like they’re actually warm and fuzzy in the middle, and they just, they’re just not aware of the tone of voice that they have. They’re actually an amazing person, and we do this is how humans show up, isn’t it? It’s so easy to love people that love us in return, isn’t it?

But here’s the problem with that. That falls short of the invitation of the teachings of Jesus, doesn’t it? He says it like this in the Book of Luke. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. This is like bottom shelf human, human existence, right?

And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that, but love your enemies. Do good to them? What? What kind of person loves like that? What kind of person can muster the capacity to genuinely from the heart? Love someone who betrays them, someone who speaks negatively about them.

Someone who’s an enemy to them. Maybe another question is, how in the world can we learn to love like that? I think the passage that we have today is gonna help us tremendously learn how to learn to love a little bit more like that. So the text kicks off by pointing out. Tremendous love of God for us.

I asked the question already, what kind of person loves like that? Jesus does. Jesus is the kind of person that loves like that. Look at this. It was just before the Passover feast, a festival. Jesus knew that his ours coming. In other words, he knows he’s about to go into this excruciating betrayal process and murder on the cross.

And hi. His hours about to come. For him to leave at this world and go to his father and having loved his own, his disciples who are in the world, he loved them to the end. So he’s pondering the cross and his concern is, I’m really worried about these guys.

I am really worried about these guys. Interestingly, the phrase there, love them to the end. It could mean to, to the end of this particular story to the end of time, but it also could be translated. He loved them to the uttermost, like he is overwhelmed by love for them. There is no part of him that could love them anymore.

This is what our text opens with. So throughout this passage, one of the things I think I wanna point out is it’s gonna feel like I’m jumping through the text and then going back and then jumping through it again, and then going back and jumping through it again. And the reason that is, is that. John especially, and this is true of a lot of scripture, but John is a master literary artist, and so he layers meaning on top of meaning, on top of meaning, and he leaves these little sort of Easter eggs all throughout the text to give you one layer and then another layer, and then another layer.

It reminds me of this movie. Have any of you seen this movie Inception? Yeah, it’s inception a little bit of a spoiler alert. I won’t give you any of the super details away, but Inception is this sort of movie that explores what in the world consciousness is you have you’re able to enter into other people’s dreams, and then by the end of the mo me, by the end of the movie, they’re going from inside of a dream.

Into another dream. Within a dream, into another dream, within a dream. This is how the Book of John works. John is layering these meetings. And so we’re gonna do a lot of back and forth and I’ll try my best to keep you on track with it. ’cause if you’ve seen this movie, it’s sometimes a little difficult to track with all of it.

But we’re I believe in you guys we’re good. We got this right. So layer one one, you see it opens with this understanding that this is all driven from the love of God. And then we see this, we see layer one is his authority. Look at it with me. It shows up all throughout the test text, but I’ll give you just a couple.

Verse three says this. Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. This is a statement of power, of authority, of strength. Actually, the verse we already read, the first verse. It says that he loved his own. That’s a possessive word there.

It means he has a posse that all looked to him. So even that little nugget is this authority of Jesus, this majesty. And then later on in verse 13, he says, you call me teacher and Lord, and you’re, and rightly so for that is what I am. So all throughout the text he’s referred to as Lord. He refers to himself as Lord.

He doesn’t even deflect this reality. He says, I am teacher. And the teacher in ancient Jewish tradition was one of the most respected positions in all of Judaism. So he’s saying, I am like this highly respectable personality and I am your Lord or your master, and that’s what you should call me for.

That’s what I am. And John does this to sort of position who he actually is, and then he moves into layer two, which is that particular character, the Lord the master, the one who owns these disciples in one sense, he’s the one that serves. He’s the one this great God most high. Serves, look at it with me.

After that, he poured water into a basin. He began to wash his disciples, feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, there’s that term again. Lord, are you gonna wash me? Jesus replied, you do not realize what I’m doing. But later you’ll understand.

No, said, Peter, you shall never wash my feet. There’s a triple strength negative here in the Greek. Like it, it’s this first line. He says this statement, Lord, are you going to, that’s like the shock and awe. Why? Why? Shock and awe was the first two layers. Peter knows this is the Lord, right? And then he sees the position that the Lord is putting himself in and he’s shocked by that.

And then when he gets to this, no, in the Greek, it’s actually no, never uhuh. Under no circumstances will you ever wash my feet. So there’s another layer, this servant. Position that the Lord puts himself into. Here’s another layer, the cross inside of this text, this is where John gets really subtle in his writing style.

He’s trying to help us understand this entire story is just a little tiny microcosm of what he’s about to do at the cross.

He washes their feet. And in that day and age, it was a massive act of service. Only servants did this, or people who wanted to, who were like the lowest of the low. The streets were dirty and their feet were filthy. Animals were walking these streets. They were walking in this feces, and they would come to a party like this and they would wash their feet, but it was the lowest of the low.

And if you were like a really respected host. Then you would provide a servant to do this. And so this is the position he’s taking and that’s amazing, right? It’s a, an amazing expression of love. Am I wrong? But the cross is even greater. ’cause he demonstrates his love even more at the cross. And the reason I think John is trying to like.

Lee breadcrumbs for us about the cross is this track with me for a second. ’cause it’s gonna take a little bit of an explanation. So he got up from the meal and he took off his outer clothing, and then later on he says in verse 12, when he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothing.

This Greek, these two Greek phrases. The only time they’re used in the book of John is. He’s already used it once in chapter 10, and it’s here. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life, it’s the exact same phrase, only to take it up. There’s the putting on of the close again. Again, no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord and I have the authority to lay it down.

Or to take it up. And so this little, in passing, he’s trying to john’s up to something. He’s trying to tell us a story, but he just leaves these little phrases that only show up one other place deeply talking about the cross that Jesus is about to face. And so he’s trying to teach us this John structures the foot washing as a symbolic preview of the crucifixion.

He wants us to see this is yes an expression of love. But he wants us to be prepared to see the cross as the ultimate expression of love. Alright, one more layer in this first section and then we’ll move on. It’s the gospel. I wanna zoom in to this interaction with Peter. We already learned about this word.

No. Said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. And Jesus answered. Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. What, what’s going on with this? Then? The Lord, then Lord Simon Peter replied, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well. I just love Peter. It’s so comical. No, under no circumstances ever shall you wash my feet unless you wash my feet.

You, you have no part with me. Alright, fine. Wash all of me like he’s just. So consistent in his stance on things, right? No. Like seconds under, no triple negative. Okay. Yeah. Come on, Peter. But he says not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well. And then Jesus answered. Those who have had a bath knee only to wash their feet, their whole body is clean.

And you are clean though. Not every one of you. It’s this fascinating interaction. What he’s saying is, Peter, unless you let me wash your feet, we can’t. This isn’t gonna work. Why is that? And I just put up the gospel is this layer, right? That’s the gospel. If you wanna earn this thing, you can’t. And I have a tremendous compassion for Peter in this context.

Think about the psyche of what’s going on. I’m just gonna back up so that we can look at this. Oops, it’s already there. Look at what he’s doing. He wants, I don’t know if who he’s trying to impress, whether it’s Jesus or the other disciples, or both, like he wants to be known as the one who so respects Jesus, that he refuses to let Jesus wash his feet.

He knows that this is the Lord, right? And so he wants to make sure that Jesus knows that he loves him. I love you real good. Jesus, I love you better than the other disciples. ’cause they’re letting you do that thing, that wash. Wash their feet. But I’m not gonna stand for that. And then when he finds out that’s the incorrect mechanism to earn God’s love, unless I wash you, you have no part with me.

Then he’s okay. New technique, new strategy. Not just my feet, but all of me. So are fine. If you have to wash my feet, I’m at least gonna get more of me washed than the other disciples. Like he’s desperately trying to find a technique, some mechanism by which he can earn this love. He can’t handle this act of service.

Let Jesus wash your feet or lose him entirely. This is hard. This is hard because we don’t encounter this kind of love in our everyday lives, do we? Another way of saying it is this, the gospel gEEP begins with receiving what you can’t earn and don’t deserve.

I understand that’s extremely difficult to stomach. It’s ex. I love that John includes this little interaction with Peter. ’cause I resonate with Peter. It’s very difficult for me to receive love. So yesterday was Valentine’s Day. How many of you’re just finding that out.

Oops. No. Oh no. So Valentine’s Day, you do these loving things for the people you love and you’re, you try and demonstrate your love. You do some gift giving, maybe this, you see these presence up here and you get a little bit of anxiety around this. I don’t know about you, but like sometimes gift giving gives me some anxiety.

Did I give enough? Do they feel enough love from me? Did I give too much and now they feel obligated to give me something bigger so that their loves equaled out. Have you ever gone to a party or somewhere and other people coming to the party with dishes or bottles of wine and you’re like, Ooh, I didn’t bring anything.

Anyone see gift giving? It’s kind of anxiety inducing. Why is that? What is it about being human that we feel like we have to do this quid pro quo dynamic in everything we do? It’s because we don’t encounter unconditional love in our human experience. If love always had conditions from when you were tiny little child all the way till today, receiving unconditional love feels wrong, doesn’t it?

Which means the gospel itself feels wrong because it’s unconditional. You can’t earn this thing, which is why I come back to this. We have to let Jesus wash our feet or lose him entirely. The gospel begins with receiving what you can’t earn and don’t deserve. This is a system. This is a message.

This is a good news that we don’t have categories for as humans, and we kind of short circuit, don’t we? When we encounter that kind of love, it’s mind-boggling. It’s confusing. We try and earn it. We try and pray hard to read our Bible harder, whatever it may be, and Jesus says, let me wash your feet. So what are the implications of this kind of love?

John goes on in this text to give us the implications of this love. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I’ve done for you? He asked them, you call me teacher and Lord and rightly so for that is what I am now that I your Lord.

And your teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. Ah, there’s the way to earn it, right? Wait. Let try and suppress that inclination in yourself. You also should wash one another’s feet. I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you, and then later on he says it even more completely like this in verse 30, for a new command I give you love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another, when you know that you are loved by Jesus, you are free to love like Jesus. This is how it works. When you know deep down in your core that your identity is secure in the heart and the love of the living God who demonstrated that love for you in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for you.

When you deeply have that in yourself, that is the only time when you’re actually able to learn to love without any strings attached and express unconditional love. Another way of saying it is this loved people. But you have to believe it and you have to feel that love. Otherwise, it doesn’t ever happen.

So how are we supposed to learn to love like that Luke passage? It’s to be loved. Now some of you’re like, yeah, I get it. I know he loves me, but do you

does it well up inside of you?

Does it overwhelm you anymore?

I wanna point out that this is true even for Jesus. Even Jesus needed love in order to love like he does in this text. Look at it with me. Verse one. He says it this way. Oops. Did I skip ahead? Come on now. Verse one. He said it. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to his father.

We know the love, he has the love relationship with his father. It. Now, theologians have talked about that this is one of the reasons why the Trinity is so important in theology because the God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are a community of perfect loving relationship. And it’s from that grounding where they understand the deep, unconditional love community that they share within the Trinity that he turns to take to wash his disciples feet.

Says it again. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. So that’s the well that he draws from when he turns to love and wash his disciples feet. That’s the well that he draws from when he goes and he walks to the cross and dies for us.

Even Jesus needed this kind of unconditional love. The love of Jesus is grounded in the love of his father. Are. And so when you know that you are loved by Jesus, you are free to love like Jesus. Love people even for Jesus.

So you might be sitting there, the sermon’s come getting towards the end, right? And you’re like, there’s a lot more text to go. Let’s fly through the last little bit of it because I think it’s maybe the most powerful part of this entire passage. And the part that infuriated me most when I was doing this study, because this is what we see in the rest of the text, Jesus loves with eyes wide open.

I was reading and studying this passage. I’m like, okay, I see it. There’s the central idea of the text ex energetically, and you have the love of God and the therefore we’re supposed to love each other. There’s the command of the text, and then I’m like, and then I read the rest of the story about Judas and Peter, and I’m like, why would Jesus, like he knows they’re gonna fail.

Why would he command such a high bar of love like me? Love to the point of death, love serving and washing each other’s feet, like he knows that the people in that room will fail. He predicts it. Look at it. I am. I’m not referring to all of you. I know those I have chosen, but this is to fulfill the passage of scripture.

He who shared my bread has turned against me. He quotes this from an Old Testament passage and look at the literal translation, what it could be. He’s turned against me, is what we have in the NIV. It’s more literally he lifted up against me, his heel, which is a Jewish idiom. It was super, super rude to lift your heel towards someone.

It’s so much so that when you showed the bottom of these dirty feet to people, it was like. Flipping them off, or it eventually came to mean betrayal, which is why the navi translates it as betrayal. But think about his feet. Think about Judas feet. They’ve been freshly washed by Jesus. These feet of Judas, who are freshly washed by Jesus because he loves enemies.

Jesus answers when they asked him who, who’s gonna betray, he answered it is the one who I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it into the dish. Yet another nugget that John gives us to eat with someone was to fellowship with them, to eat with someone, was to say the same sustenance, the same calories that are gonna give me life in a Jewish tradition.

Are gonna give my guest or the person that I’m sitting across the table with life. We are in one way, in this interesting sort of mystical way. We are sharing life when we eat together. So how does Jesus point out his betrayer by saying, you know what? I choose to eat with this betrayer, this freshly washed, thoroughly loved.

Betray, but the betrayal continues. Read with me down at th verse 33,

my children. I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you where I’m going. You cannot come. A new commandment I give you love one another, right? And then jump down to verse 36. Simon Peter asked, Lord, where are you going? Jesus replied, where I’m going, you cannot follow, but you will follow.

Later, Peter asked, now, Peter, come on. You’re still not able to absorb this love and if I feel so much for Peter, but Peter says, Lord, why can’t I follow you? I will lay down my life for you. Then Jesus answered and said. Very truly, I tell you. Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. These are the people that Jesus commands to love one another like Jesus loves.

And the reason that was a struggle for me in this passage is it feels like a lost cause. Jesus, all of your teachings that you’re just scattering out across humanity like we are horrible at this stuff. Why would you choose to continue to love us? Why would you keep on sharing this exceptional, never ending reckless to your own wellbeing?

Love

the love of God isn’t blind. It sees you at your worst and loves anyway. It doesn’t make much sense the love of God. It’s not blind. That moment when you’re at your worst, when he sees in advance that you will screw up. Interestingly, he doesn’t lower the bar. He says Love like me. But then I love that the command of this passage right in the middle is this little section where he talks about loving each other, but the bulk of the text is given to his love for them first.

And, oh, I know you’re gonna be bad at this, at the end. And then right in the middle, he says, I still want you to try and figure out how to absorb my love in such a way that you can love unconditionally like I’ve demonstrated to you. Love isn’t blind. It sees you at worse and loves you anyway. God’s love doesn’t depend on your performance, and so if you forget everything else, I want you to remember this line, love like Jesus because you’re loved by Jesus.

This is how it works. And until we feel that deep down in our bones, we can’t experience the love of God the way it was designed. I’ll skip over this. Oops. Love like Jesus because you’re loved by Jesus. This week we have this Ash Wednesday service. And I wanna encourage you to come.

We already heard from Theresa why you would come contemplate your mortality. The brokenness of Peter and the brokenness of Judas in this text is why we need Ash Wednesday.

We are finite creatures. We’ve always been finite creatures. And when and what’s interesting about our finitude is what theologians would call it. What’s interesting about our inadequacies, our weaknesses is they call out to an infinite God. We are finite and he’s infinite. And so we go to an Ash Wednesday service to remind ourselves that we will die, that we can’t get this right.

And even in our brokenness itself is a calling out of our souls. I need, and I need some more and I need some more. God, help me please. This is why we go to Nash Wednesday surveys. It’s mission critical for us to know that we need our feet washed.

I’m gonna read, if I can make through it a journal entry I made, I think it was about four years ago now. I was at Sacred Heart, which is a silent retreat center, and I was just wrestling with some stuff and I wrote this entry. I’ll just read some selections for you. Do I think God’s upset with me? I don’t think, I think that.

I think instead that I’m upset with myself, I’m deeply disappointed with myself of late. I am numbing. Oh wow. Tears come with that last line I don’t like, like where I am right now. I like who I used to be more tears. Why can’t I go back to being that man? Why did I start this journey? It seems to have led me down a path to sin and anger and bitterness and everything that I detest.

Is this just who I have always been and I didn’t know it has stress or strain caused me to snap? Jesus, help me out of this pit. I can’t do it alone. I need intervention. I need hope again. I need to stop numbing. Eating, letting myself go.

I cried for about six hours before this next line.

I’ve come to hate the man that I am. Why Jesus? Do I believe that you love me? Yes, I think I do.

I believe that you love me and that you made me, and that you know me better than I know myself. Therefore, I guess I believe you love me. That’s what folks tell me to think about, and I’m in denial and I’m, and I am in denial about it. I just disagree with that love. I think you’re foolish for loving me.

You are unwise for loving me, and I’m not sure I can get past that.

This is, this was the journal entry where I started to short circuit on the great love of God. I had no way of absorbing that love, and I woke up the next day. I was on a seven day silent retreat and I was like, it was like I could just picture God and he goes. Wanna try again because I’m not stopping this love.

So either you can learn to deal with it and receive it, or you can kick, keep kicking against the goats. I’m gonna invite the worship team up. I’m gonna close with this song and actually at the same time, I’m gonna invite the prayer team up. I love this line from this song. I’m not afraid. This is verse two, to show you my weakness, my failures and flaws.

Lord, you’ve seen them all and you still call me friend. ’cause the God of the mountains is the God of the valley. And there’s not a place your mercy and grace won’t find me again. So as we stand and. Sing this song. Feel free to stand now. If you’d I invite the prayer team up. If you’ve never experienced that kind of love, I’m telling you your soul’s calling out for it.

There’s this theory in psychology about attachment theory where every child is born and they open their eyes looking for someone to love them like this. And it never goes away. All of the brokenness in our relationships are disordered because we can’t deal with unconditional love like this.

And so if you need prayer for that, if you want to experience that love, if you’ve never experienced that love and you want to encounter Jesus for the first time, coming up and be prayed for. But we’re just gonna soak in that love for a minute and beg him to open our hearts up to soften the hard places so that we can absorb it.

’cause if we don’t, one, we won’t experience what we were made for. And two, we won’t learn to love like he does.