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August 29, 2021

8/29/2021

The Beginning of the "Farewell Discourses"

        When he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified; if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, "Where I am going you cannot come.' " John 13:31-33, RSV.

    The departure of Judas tells Jesus that His end rapidly approaches, that the tsunami of events will soon overtake Him. With the betrayer gone we find a turning point in the gospel story. Jesus is now free to say things that He hadn't been able to when Judas was there. He could not only teach more freely, but He must do so. He had been with His disciples for nearly three years, and they hadn't learned enough. They were not prepared for His departure. And Jesus has just a couple short hours left to teach them.

    Here is where the "farewell discourses" begin. From John 13:31 through the end of chapter 16 Jesus explains to them the fact that He is going away but that they can't follow Him yet. In those chapters He provides what He believed was the most precious and important instruction that He could leave with His followers as He was facing death. These men, though not ready, would soon be forced into assuming the leadership role that He Himself had provided up to then. The great prayer of John 17 follows the farewell discourses. All of this material appears only in the fourth Gospel. How thankful we should be that God saw fit to inspire John's Gospel as the last of the four to be added to the New Testament's presentation of the life and teachings of Jesus the Christ.

    One thing to note about the instruction in the farewell discourses is that Jesus begins to talk about Himself in new ways. An example of that phenomenon is His statement in John 13:31 that He will soon be glorified. Previously His focus had been on the glory of God. But with Judas on the fast track to betrayal and with Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven to sit on the right hand of the Father now looming, the time to openly speak of His own glorification has arrived. Verses 31 and 32 use the word "glory" five times as Jesus frankly tells His disciples that His hour has come in which He must leave them.

    His final words, recorded in John 13:31 through the end of chapter 17, must have provided food for thought as the bereft disciples pondered their new mission without an earthly Jesus to lead them. With that reality we are in the same place as them. So listen carefully as Jesus provides essential material for each of us followers.

August 28, 2021

8/28/2021

Tension Turns to Shock

    When it was evening, he reclined with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, "Is it I, Lord?" He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me."...Judas, who would betray him, answered, "Is it I, Rabbi?" He said to him, "You have said so." Matt. 26:20-25, ESV.

    If Jesus had startled His followers by taking the towel and washing their feet, His announcement that one of them would betray Him was shock on steroids.

    Prior to that Thursday evening He had indicated that He would die. But never has He tied one of the disciples to that event. For the first time He now states that a member of His own inner circle will play the part of betrayer. The effect on the twelve is traumatic. Matthew 26:22 tells us that they were "exceeding sorrowful" (KJV), "in great distress" (NEB), or "deeply grieved" (NASB). No matter how one translates the Greek, it reflects violent emotion and shock.

    The revelation shakes up the disciples even to the point of self-doubt. Each in turn inquires, "Is it I, Lord?" And each expects a negative reply, as indicated by the New International Version's rendering: "Surely you don't mean me, Lord?" (verse 22).

    It is of interest to note that Judas must have covered his tracks quite carefully. After all, no one asks, "Is it Judas?" Yet Judas knows. Caught off guard, he does not immediately join with the other disciples in inquiring if it is him. But he soon comes to his senses, realizing that if he fails to participate in the query it will identify him as the culprit. Thus he also says, "Is it I, Rabbi?" Note that Judas does not refer to Jesus as "Lord," as do the other disciples, but rather as "Rabbi"--a term of address appropriate for any Jewish teacher and one not used at all by the other disciples in the first Gospel.

    Jesus does not respond to the question of the other disciples, but He indicates to Judas His awareness that He will indeed be the betrayer. At that point Judas realizes that he has been found out. He also knows that he will have to act quickly if he is to successfully carry out his plan. It is about this time, John tells us, that "Satan entered into" Judas. Jesus told him that what he had to do should be done "quickly," and Judas "went immediately out" to put his plan into action (John 13:27-30).

    We find a lesson even in this sad story. The church has never been pure. It has never existed with all of its members born-again Christians. We need to keep courage when even leaders fall by the way or turn against the faith.

August 27, 2021

8/27/2021

A Neglected Blessing

        So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. John 13:12-17.

    One of the more curious aspects of the history of the church is that most religious bodies and Christians have placed a huge emphasis on that aspect of the Last Supper that deals with the bread and the wine but have almost totally neglected foot washing. Yet Christ commands both.

    There are probably good reasons for that. After all, the death of Christ and His shed blood are central to what Christianity is all about. As a result, the broken bread representing Christ's body and the wine symbolizing His shed blood deserve an important place in Christianity.

    But there is something else of importance in Jesus' teaching and example. That is the need for His followers to be spiritually ready to partake of the Communion symbols. Just as Jesus' first disciples needed to humble up and examine their hearts before eating the Communion meal, so likewise modern disciples must prepare their hearts and minds for the experience.

    However, most of us moderns don’t like the idea of washing someone else's feet any more than Peter did. I still remember the first time I attended a church that practiced foot washing. My whole mind and being rebelled against it. Yet I have discovered it to be a real blessing. I have found it to be not only an occasion of service to another person, but also an opportunity to confess my wrongs and shortcomings to both God and other people.

    We all as humans have pride and we all have offended others in our families and in the church. The foot-washing experience is a time to humble up and to follow the example of our Lord. It is a time of spiritual renewal, a time to find others whom we have wronged, a time to make peace with them and our Lord. In short, it is a season of spiritual renewal, symbolized by a mini-baptism. Most important, it prepares us to sit at the Lord's table both in heart and mind as a healed community of sinners who have messed up our feet in the journey of life.

August 26, 2021

8/26/2021

Peter Gets a Lesson

        He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash me feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter." Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head." Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you." John 13:6-10, NASB.

    Peter was uncomfortable enough having been shut out of the two most prestigious table positions. And now he watched in horror as the foot-washing Jesus served one disciple after another. But the crisis hit Peter as Jesus approached his own feet. Flustered and not knowing what to say or do, he blurted out that he would never allow Jesus to wash his feet. But, to put it mildly, Jesus asserted that what He was doing was essential, that if Peter would not allow Him to serve him, then he could have no place as His follower. At that point the ever-verbal disciple, not knowing what else to say, declared that Jesus should wash not only his feet but all of him.

    Jesus responded that Peter didn't need a complete bath, but only a cleansing of his dirty feet. Here Christ probably alluded to the custom of bathing before attending a feast. When guests arrived they needed only their feet cleansed.

    We fail to see the importance and full significance of Christ's words if we view them only in terms of physical bathing. They also contain a level of spiritual meaning. Verse 10 reflects, by analogy, two kinds of spiritual cleansing. The first is represented by baptism at the beginning of a Christian's life. At that point a convert is forgiven of all sin and justified in the eyes of God. Having been submerged in the watery grave of baptism, the new Christian is clean all over.

    But as new believers move through life in their daily business, they make sinful contact with the world and its contaminants. Worse yet, they make mistakes and commit sin. Such individuals have not apostatized or left Christ. Thus they have no need of another full baptism. However, so to speak, they have messed up their spiritual feet in their journey and need a partial cleansing from time to time.

    We should regard the foot-washing service in part as a mini-baptism. It is a time in which individuals are cleansed and rededicate their lives to Jesus as the Lord of their lives. They renew their vows of servanthood to the world around them and to fellow church members.

August 25, 2021

8/25/2021

Tension in the Room

        Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. John 13:3-5, NASB.

    Tension filled the room.

    The disciples, Luke tells us, had been arguing about which of them was the greatest as they journeyed toward their Passover meal (Luke 22:24). Thus by the time they entered the room they were already agitated. More than a bit of pushing and jostling occurred as they seated themselves. Judas and John managed to score a victory over the equally aggressive Peter, with Judas gaining the place to Jesus' left and John to His right. They all wanted the most important positions.

    The tension didn't dissipate after they took their seats. After all, there was something missing. It wasn't the water pitcher or the basin. They were in place. But there was no servant to wash their feet. On the dirt paths and roads of the day, a traveler's feet would be dusty upon arrival in the dry season and muddy during the wet. Animal waste fouled every street and path. As a result, on festal occasions a servant washed the participants' feet.

    But there was no servant. As the disciples looked around the table, each determined that he would not assume that humiliating role. You could feel tension in the air as they made no move to serve one another. Jesus, well aware of the dynamics, merely waited and watched to see what they would do.

    In that explosive context He finally arose, girded on the towel, poured the water into the basin, and began to wash each disciple's feet.

    What a demonstration! Here He was, "knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands" and that He would soon be sitting at His right hand in heaven, yet playing the part of the servant.

    Jesus, sorrowful at the attitude of His followers, demonstrates the lesson that they need most. His whole life had been one of unselfish service. And now He had one last opportunity to demonstrate that principle in a way they would never forget.

    Lord, there is tension in my heart also. I struggle between the principles of Jesus and those of the disciples. Help me.

August 24, 2021

8/24/2021

The Final Passover

        On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain one, and say to him, "The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples.' " And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover. Matt. 26:17-19, RSV.

    Jesus has been moving toward the cross ever since He first told His disciples about His coming death. Events since His triumphal entry into Jerusalem have begun to accelerate. The Jewish leaders have decided that the time has come to put Him to death. And Judas has volunteered his services to aid them in their designs.

    The Passover is at hand. But Jesus and His disciples will eat it on Thursday, the evening before the regular Passover meal. In Jesus' case this is a necessity because He knows that He will be dead by Friday evening. The Passover lambs will be slain in the Temple on Friday afternoon, the very time that He will also die. That timing is significant, since, as Paul puts it, Jesus is "a Passover lamb sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:7, Phillips).

    The fact that Jesus died at the Passover was no accident. It was in God's plan from the beginning. The Passover finds its roots at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. God instituted it to commemorate the night of the Israelites' escape, when all the firstborn of the Egyptians perished. Each Jewish family was to slay and sprinkle the blood on the doorpost as a sign that their house should be passed over when sudden death invaded the homes of the Egyptians. The sprinkled blood would preserve the inhabitants of the house. And so it was that the blood of the Passover lamb spared God's people (Ex. 12). The New Testament views the Passover as symbolic of the work of Jesus.

    J. C. Ryle notes that "the intentional connection between the time of the Jewish passover and the time of Christ's death" is of great significance. "We cannot doubt for a moment that it was not by chance, but by God's providential appointment, that our Lord was crucified in the Passover week....It was meant to draw attention of the Jewish nation to Him as the true Lamb of God. It was meant to bring to their minds the true object and purpose of His death." And it was meant to be a sign of the "redemption and deliverance from the bondage of sin, which was to be brought in by our Lord Jesus Christ."

    That fateful Passover is the pivot point of redemptive history.

August 23, 2021

8/23/2021

The Mary Choice

        When Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste?"...But Jesus...said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me....In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial." Matt. 26:6-12, RSV.

    This story doesn't belong here in Jesus' very last entrance into Jerusalem. It is out of place. Matthew appears to have deliberately placed the account of the anointing between the plots of the Jewish leaders and Judas' offer to betray Jesus, even though he had to take the event out of its chronological setting to do so. John 12 situates the anointing six days before the Passover and puts the triumphal entry the "next day."

    Yet Matthew does not include the story in the first Gospel merely to help explain Judas' actions. To the contrary, Mary's anointing has a message of its own. It is one of immense devotion that symbolizes her gratitude to Jesus. In sharp contrast to the Jewish leaders' and Judas' responses to Jesus in the story's immediate context, Mary's demonstrates her love for the One who has done so much for her personally and who has brought her brother Lazarus back to life.

    Beyond that, the anointing is rich in symbolism. After all, the very meaning of Messiah or Christ is the "anointed one." Just as kings and priests received anointing in the Old Testament, so Mary anointed Jesus.

    Perhaps the most surprising part of the anointing story is Jesus' explanation that Mary's deed is to prepare Him for burial. That statement indicates, once again, that Jesus is in control of the situation. After all, customarily, bodies did not get anointed for burial until after they were dead. Anointing was traditionally performed on corpses, not on living people, except in the case of criminals. Thus Jesus' interpretation of Mary's act seems to assume (correctly) that His death will be that of a criminal whose body will be buried without proper ceremony.

  The stories of Judas and Mary bring us face-to-face with a crucial question. Where do we stand? Are we with the extravagant Mary, who selflessly gave her all to Jesus, or are we with the selfish Judas, who saw Jesus as a tool to serve his own needs? That is not an easy question to answer honestly, because a Judas lurks within the skin of each of us. Fortunately, a Mary also resides there. I make the choice as to which personality will dominate my own life.

August 22, 2021

8/22/2021

Judas "Helps" Jesus

        Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. Matt. 26:14-16, RSV.

    The Jewish leaders were ready to move against Jesus, but they faced several problems. First, they dare not risk open action because the masses are favorable to Him (Matt. 26:5). Yet they are under the pressure of time. After all, if they delay their move until after the Passover, Jesus will presumably leave the city and thus elude their grasp.

    Aid for their cause comes from a most unexpected source--one almost unbelievable: the defection of one of Jesus' 12 disciples. Judas Iscariot agrees to work as an inside man for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave (Zech. 11:12). He volunteers to arrange an opportune time for the Jewish leaders to arrest Jesus.

    The Gospels all report Judas' betrayal, but none of them provides a reason for the action. In that absence, Bible students have suggested several possible reasons. One is that Judas became disillusioned with Jesus when he discovered He was a man of peace rather than a military Messiah who could overthrow the Romans.

    But the only motive mentioned in the New Testament is money. It is no accident that Matthew places the story of the woman who anointed Jesus' feet between the story of the frustrated plotting of the Jewish leaders and the story of Judas' volunteering to betray Jesus.

    The fourth Gospel helps us here. It tells us that Judas was especially upset because of the cost of the perfume (almost a year's wages) and that he was stealing from the disciples' communal money bag, which he carried (John 12:4-6).

    But selfishness alone does not provide us with a sufficient interpretation for Judas' actions, especially since he still expected an earthly Messianic kingdom in which he would be a prominent leader. It seems that the best explanation is that through betrayal Judas sought to force the slow-moving Jesus into exerting His power and setting up His kingdom. Of all the possible constructions behind Judas' betrayal, this one best suits all the facts. And it also explains why Judas committed suicide when his plans went wrong.

    Thought question: Am I ever guilty of pushing things a bit to get God moving in the direction I think He should go?

August 21, 2021

8/21/2021

The Final Trip to Jerusalem

        When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of man will be delivered up to be crucified." Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and took counsel together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be a tumult among the people." Matt. 26:1-5, RSV.

    The gospel story now shifts rapidly. Ever since Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ events have been moving toward the cross as Jesus sought to help the disciples understand what it meant for Him to be the Christ. In that task He has largely failed. But He has provided them with much instruction that will enable them to put it all together when they recall His words after the Resurrection.

    In the meantime, we need to recognize that Jesus' death is not an epilogue or an appendix to His life. To the contrary, it is His death that makes His life meaningful. After all, Jesus came to earth so that He could "give His life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28, NIV). His blood was to be "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matt. 26:28, NIV), and it was through His death and resurrection that He would "save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).

    Jesus' death is the focal point of the Gospels. Thus Martin Kahler's definition of the four Gospels as "passion narratives with extended introductions" puts the emphasis in the right place.

    As Jesus makes His final journey to Jerusalem His general teaching and healing ministry has ended. We find few words from His mouth except those to His disciples, especially at the Last Supper and His prayer in Gethsemane. Rather, we watch the drama as the Jews, with the aid of their Roman adversaries, put their Messiah on the cross.

    Jesus is not facing the cross as a pawn of events beyond His control. He knows what is going to happen and He could have refused to take this one-way trip to Jerusalem. But the Bible pictures Him to be in command of what happened. "I lay down my life, that I may take it again," He tells His disciples. "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord" (John 10:17, 18, RSV).

    But even though Jesus is in charge and has knowledge of what is transpiring, that does not mean that other forces are not maneuvering to bring about their own desired end. "Official" Jerusalem has rejected Him and is working toward His death.

August 20, 2021

8/20/2021

Parable Number 5: The Core of True Religion

        Then He will also say to those on the left hand, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was...naked and you did not clothe Me..." Then they also will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?" Then He will answer them, saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me." Matt. 25:41-45, NKJV.

    In the overall context of the parable of the sheep and the goats, it is the Pharisees and their kind who are lost because they did not understand true religion. They had an outward form in doctrine, lifestyle, and religious ritual, but it hadn't entered their heart and made them more loving. Doctrine, lifestyle, and ritual are not ends in themselves, but rather a means to experiencing a transformed heart that leads to a life of loving and caring. Without the end product, those things that so-called religious, churchly people regard as important have no value. And those who focus on the wrong "religious" activities will be lost according to Jesus.

    Ellen White sums up the teaching of Jesus nicely. Commenting on the parable of the sheep and the goats, she writes that Jesus "pictured to His disciples the scene of the great judgment day. And He represented its decision as turning upon one point. When the nations are gathered before Him, there will be but two classes, and their eternal destiny will be determined by what they have done or have neglected to do for Him in the person of the poor and the suffering" (The Desire of Ages, p. 637).

    That is not salvation by works, but rather a heart response to the love of God--an internalization of that love that passes on to others His gifts to us. An important lesson of the parable is that the activities that really count are simple and uncalculating.

    It is the unconscious internalization of God's love and its expression in daily life that is the one essential qualification for the kingdom of heaven. Such people have begun to live the principle of servanthood and greatness that has come up again and again in Jesus' teaching. They are safe to save for eternity, because they have internalized the principle of love, the principle of the kingdom. As a result, they have developed through grace that "righteousness [which] surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law." Thus they are prepared to "enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:20, NIV).

    Father, help me to be one of those people.