Episode 4: John 13:1-30: Glorious Love
Humility, servanthood, shock and betrayal: these are just some of the themes fuelling our discussion as we open up John 13 together.
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How do we see the cross front and centre in this picture?
What most strikes you about it?
Take this spiritual health check for yourself: Before whom did I last inwardly kneel and say, I am your servant for Jesus’ sake?
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This episode is sponsored by 10ofthose.com.
10ofthose.com is a Christian book ministry that sells carefully selected resources that point to Jesus and are trustworthy and biblically faithful, they sell them at discounted prices to be accessible and affordable for everyone. They also host our Two Sisters bookstore at 10ofthose.com/twosisters where you can always find our top recommendations for each season.
So bookmark 10ofthose.com/twosisters and shop for you and others. Plus tell your friends about 10ofthose.com as the place to go for resources that point to Jesus at great prices!
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Sarah: You're listening to the Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea podcast, the Bible Study podcast for everyday life. We're here for a 20 minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English style biscuit as we make our way through a Bible book over the course of the season and drive it to our hearts. And this season we're revisiting John's gospel as we get stuck into chapters 12 through 17 together. Whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we're so pleased you're here.
Felicity: This season, we're really grateful to be partnering with 10ofthose.com. Now, as we've spent time in John's Gospel over the course of this season and previous seasons, we're always looking for ways to help others access this treasure trove of a gospel, not least kids. This book, I Am by Laura Cerbus, is a brilliant means of bridging the gap between a kid's Bible and the adult version. Laura tells the story, hanging it off the I Am statements. And there are some fantastic low-key illustrations by Lee Dixon scattered throughout. I would say that this is perfect for the eight to 10 year olds in your life. It's been a gift in our household. Do grab your copy at 10ofthose.com.
Sarah: Welcome to Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea. My name is Sarah, I live in the UK. As ever, I'm here with my sister Felicity in the US and today we're jumping into chapter 13 of John's Gospel, verses 1 to 30, possibly one of the most famous passages in the Bible, so no pressure there, Felicity. Before we get there though, another little fifth birthday reflection for us on drinking tea over the last five years. What have you got to say about that one?
Felicity: Well, let me hold my tea while I consider. I have actually come to like tea more and more, which did slightly surprise me because I did think I was fairly sold out on tea. But what has happened is, and everyone would be glad to hear this because it would have been very boring if we'd only talked about Yorkshire tea and Earl Grey for the course of five years. I feel like we've both broadened our taste in it. I'm all the more persuaded that asking someone over for a cup of tea is just the win and sitting down with a drink in that way is. But I have, you know, I wouldn't say that I'm into fruity tea like you are. I definitely still choose the black tea with a dash of milk, but I'm open to it.
Sarah: You’re open to it. I think that's okay though also. we've been, people have just given us tea left right and centre which has been so kind, people have been so generous and thoughtful. But today I've got a tea that no one's given me because I just really like my lemon and ginger tea and I'm gonna stick with that and that's okay. Just recognising it's okay to enjoy the gifts and also just to enjoy what I really like too. So yeah.
Felicity: It's okay, it's okay. Lemon and ginger, know, mate, but I feel like every time you mention it, someone else might just give it a go. So you're almost advocating for it in that.
Sarah: Okay, before we get into this most famous of passages, Jesus washing the disciples feet, what does it look like to apply these kind of passages that we are so familiar with in context in the way that we're doing today?
Felicity: Well, that is the key, isn't it? In context. And I think that is, I don't know, I've heard a numerous sermon on the passage that we're looking at. We're talking about the foot washing, by the way, Jesus washing the disciples feet. And I've heard lots of sermons on that and lots of bits of those sermons kind of float around in my head. And actually, as we've been reading this in context, as in what comes before, what comes after, the scope of, in fact, all of salvation history in that then that just shifts my understanding of it. And so it's been a real lesson to me just to ground any passage that we're reading into that wider context. But it is challenging, isn't it? Because as I saying, you have just bits of information, bits of understanding about these more familiar passages. What's been your experience of that?
Sarah: I think with this it's been a case of really trying hard to block out actually what people have told me about it and just slowly read it for myself over and over and just circle and underline and kind of just bring out the things that are really striking me in it. And then okay we have read around and we have kind of sort of to understand more of what's going on from other people's views on it but just not going there too quickly and just letting myself sit in this just as it is within the context of the bigger narrative has just been really helpful and it's been fresh actually. I've been surprised at how fresh it's felt to do that so I'm looking forward to to get going. Shall I read for us? So we're going to be John chapter 13 starting at verse 1.
It was just before the Passover festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power and that had come from God and was returning to God. So He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that He poured water into a basin and 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 are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, you do not realise now what I am doing but later you will understand.No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, unless I wash you, you have no part with me. Then Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well. Jesus answered, those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet. Their whole body is clean, and you are clean, though not every one of you. For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.When he'd finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I have 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 teacher, have washed your feet, so you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.I am not referring to all of you. I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfil this passage of scripture, He who shared my bread has turned against me. I telling you now, before it happens, that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me. After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.His disciples stared at one another at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to the disciple and said, ask him which one he means. Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, it is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it into the dish. Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of a Simon Iscariot. As soon as Jesus took the bread, Satan entered into him.So Jesus told him, what you're about to do, do quickly. But no one at the meal understood why Jesus had said this to him. Since Judas had charged the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what he needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out, and it was night.
Felicity: Well, thank you, Sarah. I mean, as we were saying, there is a lot going on in here and it's so helpful just to walk slowly through it. Before we even get into the action, let's just notice chapter 13, verse one, it was just before the Passover festival. And so this is very deliberately, that's John very deliberately telling us the timing of them, the significance of that. what is being then, what we would call, I've been calling it a kind of enacted picture that we have here as Jesus washes the disciples feet, that is then put into the context of the Passover and Exodus and all of those things that we mentioned in a previous episode.
Sarah: Yeah, yeah, it's so clearly that, it? And pass over all the kind of connotations of washing and cleansing from sin. It's then kind of loaded into this picture. I'm just really struck, even just reading that again just now, the verse three, Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and he'd come from God and was returning to God. So, and you could have like, just that kind of, just that phrase. Everything was under Jesus's power. Like, he had complete control of the situation, but what does he decide to do in that moment? In his very god-ness, he decides to serve, and he decides to stoop to the lowest of the low, really, here. I'm really struck, as I've reading this through, realising this is an intimate gathering. There's no servant here to wash their feet. It wouldn't even have been the job of a Jewish servant or slave. It's that low the Lord of Glory, this is what he chooses to do in this moment that he has complete control over. Whoa.
Felicity: Yeah, and I love that as you see that, the intimacy of this, there's no one else there. This is literally Jesus and the disciples. There's no servant, there's no one else. There's the intimacy of Jesus inviting them into this, but also then there's a tenderness to that. There's just a wow to not just the well, maybe it's compounded humility because there's no audience or anything. It's just this is who it is, Jesus and his disciples. And I just love that. And I love in the midst of it all, Peter, he's just brilliant, isn't he? Just brilliant. Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Because that's right. We've just seen the King Jesus in the previous chapter, the glory, the Hosanna, all of those things. And Peter rightly is like, what? This isn't how it should be. I know that you are the Messiah and you're gonna wash my feet.
Sarah: And there's almost a kind of fumbling, gosh, but I've not even washed yours. Like what, what? Like what's going on here? And Jesus kind of just, he's just really clear, isn't he? Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. Like you need to be cleansed. And just that's, that's the cross isn't it? That's the gospel. You cannot have a part with Jesus unless you accept that this is the way, this is what needs to happen.
Felicity: Yeah, and that word cleansing and washing, mean the connotations of all the sacrifices, everything that the blood previously in the Old Testament was seeking to achieve, that's our necessity, isn't it, to be cleansed before the Lord.
Sarah: Yeah, it's really striking. I then got really kind of just kind of stopped with the do you understand what I've done for you? Like it's a kind of, he really wants them to understand this picture, doesn't he? He really wanted, and that's in verse 12, isn't it? Because the understanding of it then enables them to follow in his footsteps, not in paying for the sin, but in terms of then living a life that is shaped by the cross, living a life of humble service. But I was really struck by the kind of, need to be able to understand this, to let it kind of seep into your very heart, your core, your being, so that it would flow out in service towards others. And as you do that, you'll be blessed, he says. As you do these things, that's where blessing flows.
Felicity: And I think that that is something that really felt quite fresh and new to me as I was in it this time round is just do I understand really the picture that is being given here? Like am I resting in this picture that is a picture of the cross? I think when I'm talking about how we've heard this passage before, I think more often than not, it's moved quite quickly into therefore do as I do and wash people's feet, serve people. But here, through this picture that Jesus gives us, the clarity of this is what is happening at the cross. And as you say, we are unable to do anything without the cross. We need Jesus to wash us. We need the glory of the grain of wheat falling. We need God's way. We need this for anything. I don't know. It's one of those ones where I know it, but do I know it? Because it's really profoundly hit me that just this is it, this is exactly what I need.
Sarah: And this is the heart of God. I loved Sinclair Ferguson when I was reading his work on this. said, here in the foot washing he reveals both Jesus' person and his work, both his identity and the purpose of his ministry, everything, the very core of God is wrapped up in this moment as it displays the cross. And actually understanding that means that we need to acknowledge that often we're going to be more like Peter than we are anyone else accepting it off and we'll rally against that, we? But it's so shocking, the shock of him washing Judas's feet. You know, we then go on to this kind of we get a glimpse into the turmoil that Jesus feels, doesn't he? As one of his closest is about to betray him. Again, we get this phrase, he was troubled in spirit in verse 21. One of you is going to betray me and the kind of just the gravity of the situation at hand. But this is all, you know, Jesus had power to stop that. He had the power to stop the devil at any moment, but he did not do that because he knew this was the only way.
Felicity: Yeah, I love in verse 19 when we hear, he says, I'm telling you now before it happens so that when it does happen, you will believe that I am who I am. that really, you we at the very end of John's gospel, he tells us the purpose of written this so that you might believe and have life. so therefore, as Jesus explains this and depicts it through the foot washing, actually it's only afterwards that it will become clear. So the cross is the means by which we understand what Jesus is really doing for us. Without the washing, we can't understand it. There's no possibility of actually seeing it. And so I love that. And as we sit in our position here, this side of the cross, so we look back on this and are wowed all the more, I think, as a result.
Sarah: It makes it all the more sobering what Judas does in this moment doesn't it as Satan enters him. I was really struck with this psalm in verse 18 that was quoted and he said, who shared my bread has turned against me and actually that language is language of the heel being struck and back in Genesis chapter 3 we've got the seed of the women, he will crush your head and he will strike his heel. And that just, this climactic moment essentially, what's happening here, Jesus is full aware of this moment that is about to reach its climax. And yet he's in complete control still, and he says, Judas, go and do what you need to do. Like, it's time, it's, yeah.
Felicity: It's so poignant. Yeah, it's so powerful. So where, where, it's dark, yeah.
Sarah: Yeah and it's dark and it's darkness it's night that like the last kind of phrase and it was night there's just so loaded isn't it in that
Felicity: Yeah, in John's Gospel night and day is just such a thing isn't it? Light and dark and just what potentially it could be but because this is Jesus going to the cross actually through this night doesn't last, the light will come. So where is it hit Sarah? So I think anyone who's listening to the conversation will hear for both of us that this has been profoundly impacting as we've been in these verses. But how has it been playing out in everyday life as you've been in these verses?
Sarah: Yeah, really helpful question. I'm really struck by the fact that similar to what he said last time about as the wheat falls, lose your life, save it, save your life, lose it, that kind of language here you need to follow you need to follow in the footsteps of your Saviour in the way that you serve, in the way that you pour yourself out, in the way that you love. And I think that's just really striking. That's been really kind of sitting with me. And he says that blessing will follow as you do that. I love that. I love that it's, yes, there's a real cost to following Jesus and to living this way, but actually you will be blessed as you do that. This one question from Sinclair Ferguson really hit home to me. said this is a spiritual health check in these verses. says, whom did I last inwardly kneel and say, I am your servant for Jesus' sake? Let me just say that once again. Before whom did I last inwardly kneel and say, I am your servant for Jesus' sake? for me to follow in Jesus' footsteps like this, to follow in the wake of the cross, what does it look like for me to inwardly kneel and wash others' feet and to serve for Jesus' sake in this way? That's what's been mulling around my heart and thoughts as I think about this. How about you?
Felicity: I love that, so challenging. That's like war to the heart. That's what it isn't it? I think the, just the simplicity of being allowed to sit at the foot of the cross through these verses. And I've found that it's just been in my thinking and in my praying and in my just everyday mulling in ways that I didn't really expect that this would. Even just Jesus saying, unless I wash you, you have no part with me. And the significance of just being cleansed through the blood of Jesus. And it is so simple, isn't it? But it's so profound. That's classic John, I think. You could read John's Gospel with a six-year-old, but then also as an adult, you can just plumb the depths forever. And it's been one of those. I feel like this passage, as we then go on to the remaining chapters, is just so shaping and just directs the trajectory of where we're headed. yeah. Why don't you pray for us, Sarah, as we continue to mull on these things?
Sarah: I’d love to, our Heavenly Father we just thank you so much for all that we've seen here of Christ's serving of us, of the cleansing, of the washing, of the necessity of the cross and what it looked like for him to set his face to the cross even when he knew what was at hand with the betrayal and with the devil's work at hand. Lord we just praise you that he went to that cross. We praise you that that is the heartbeat of our Christian faith right here. And we just pray, please, would we go from here, continuing to dwell on this and then continuing to live in light of it. Lord, for your glory, we pray. Amen.
Felicity: Amen. Thank you Sarah. Well, in light of these verses, why don't you be thinking, listeners, who could you encourage today with the love of Christ that we see here? Maybe you send a card, give them a call, buy them a coffee, chew through the wonders of the cross together. This is just such a gem to get open with someone else. So why not extend that love through that? And we will look forward to seeing you next week for the next instalment.
Sarah: See you next Friday.
Felicity: Bye bye. This episode is sponsored by 10ofthose.com.
Listener Testimonial: My name is Kristen and I love two sisters in a
cup of tea. It is one of my favourite podcasts, I love listening to the podcast when I work out in the morning. It encourages me to meditate on the word in an environment that I may not otherwise do that in. And for this reason, I tend to recommend it to moms who have little kids, because it just doesn't feel like there's a lot of time in this season of our lives to study the word, to meditate on it, to apply it to our lives, to talk to others about it. And yet, that's just not true, because
we can do things like clean our houses, fold the laundry, exercise while getting into the word. And so that is one of the many reasons that I love two sisters and a cup of tea.
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