Quote from Forum Archives on August 4, 2004, 1:35 pm

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

SERIES: POWER UP VBS #3/3
A SPECIAL ‘FEAT’
August 1, 2004

Text: John 13:1-17

For the past two Sundays, I have used Scripture and topics that will be
used this week during the Power Up! Vacation Bible School. On the 18th
(July), I preached from the Good Samaritan parable in Luke 10 about
loving one another. On the 25th (July), the message was about forgiveness
from the parable of the unforgiving servant.

One of the other lessons that will be taught during this week of VBS is
that of service. I think that this is a good lesson to use to tie the
other two together. Since Jesus teaches to love and to forgive one
another, we know that is what we are supposed to do as Christians. But
knowing and doing can be two very different things sometimes.

As a Navy Chaplain and a pastor, I have listened to the woes of many a
married couple. Some are notable because the husband or the wife or both
will talk about how devastated they would be if their marriage broke up.
To hear them talk, you would think that no one in the world has more love
for each other than this couple. But their talk doesn’t spill over into
their day-to-day life. They mistreat each other; they cheat on each
other; they leave one another without enough money to get by. Their talk
of love doesn’t have much, if any, impact on their real life.

Similarly, I have been in real-life situations with Christians who talk a
lot about forgiveness in Bible study groups, Sunday school classes, and
worship services. Then they turn around and talk about grudges they still
bear with other Christians. Although it has been several years ago now, I
still remember how puzzled I was when I had one church member in a
leadership position tell me that she hoped God could forgive a certain
person she had a grudge with because she couldn’t. That doesn’t square at
all with Matthew 18:35, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each
of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” Nor does it
square with the Lord’s Prayer.

OK, we all acknowledge that we’re not perfect and that we have our faults
and moments of failure and that we even sin. But does that mean that we
don’t even try? Shouldn’t it be our Christian duty to be working to make
the words we speak the words we live by? As I have asked the last two
Sundays, don’t we think it’s a good idea for us adults to practice the
lessons that we hope and expect our children to learn?

Jesus expected all of us to learn his lessons. He thought that the
actions he took during the Last Supper were good lessons to learn. This
is why I also think that this lesson about service ties the lessons about
love and forgiveness together. “Having loved his own who were in the
world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” Simply put, Jesus
actually expects that belief in him and in his teachings will lead to
changed behavior.

They may have been slow, but Jesus’ disciples did catch on to this. Turn
to James 2:14-18. “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have
faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or
sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go,
I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his
physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it
is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have
faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show
you my faith by what I do.” Likewise, let us look at 1 Peter 3:8-9.
“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic,
love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with
evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were
called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

Jesus chose to demonstrate his lessons on love and forgiveness by washing
the feet of his disciples. “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 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.” In the context of the Passover meal, Jesus was
illustrating two things. First, the washing was an act with a ceremonial,
or symbolic, meaning. In the discourse between Peter and Jesus, there is
an implied spiritual meaning. Clean and unclean refers to holy and
sinful. When Peter protested Jesus’ action, Jesus replied, “Unless I wash
you, you have no part with me.” There is the thought that the foot
washing symbolized the spiritual cleansing of sins that only Jesus
brings. If we refuse to allow Jesus to wash us clean, how can we expect
Jesus to fill us with his power so that we may gladly do his will?

Peter then exclaims, “Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my
head as well!” In light of what Peter thought Jesus was getting at, this
seems a reasonable request. Interestingly, Jesus replies with a “no.” “A
person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is
clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” Jesus knew what
the condition of each of his disciples was; he knew that Peter was saved.
Peter did not need the bath cleansing of salvation; only the foot
cleansing of the accumulation of day-to-day sins, whether intended or
not. In fact, in just a few hours, Peter would lie about his knowledge of
Jesus. Still, Peter only needed that “foot washing” cleansing of sin.
Only one disciple did not have his heart right with Christ, and that, of
course, was Judas Iscariot. But he did not ask for a bath.

Second, the foot washing act has a literal meaning and application. Just
as written, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. It was an act of
servanthood by the Master to those who were his servants. This makes the
act a special feat. In those days, when weary traveler’s were welcomed
into another’s home containing household servants, the guests’ feet would
be washed in order to remove the grime from travel and to provide some
moments of relaxation. Being a very menial, even demeaning, task, one
would never expect the master of the household to stoop to such a job.

This is what Peter protested when he exclaimed, “No, you shall never wash
my feet.” Peter caught on that Jesus was doing what the servants should
have done. Then he caught on that since there were no servants to wash
their feet, one of the disciples should have washed their Master’s feet.
But Jesus had a lesson in mind for his disciples. “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, you also should wash one another's feet. I have
set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you
the truth, 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.” Jesus taught - and teaches - that his
followers are to serve one another. (Wilbert F. Howard, “The Gospel
According to St. John: Introduction and Exegesis,” The Interpreter’s
Bible, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1980, pp. 682-687)

Does this mean that we are to practice foot washing? Some believers do as
part of their worship service, and it is still practiced in parts of the
world it is considered a part of proper hospitality. I do not think that
it is necessary to practice foot washing in the literal sense. It was,
after all, a practical practice because of the typical mode of footwear
and travel. In our day, hospitality is afforded when our host allows us
to hop in the tub for a bath or shower. Jesus’ point is that we are to
serve one another, and no matter how high up the cultural “totem pole”
our position might be, no task of servanthood is too lowly for us when we
desire to follow our Master’s example and instruction.

This is why I have observed that this account of Jesus’ instruction is a
good one to tie together his lessons on love and forgiveness. We can say
all we want about love and forgiveness - from the pulpit, in Bible
studies and devotions, in our fellowships - but unless we demonstrate
them through service, what good are they? In his last evening with his
disciples before the betrayal and trial, Jesus tied together three years
of teaching. He spoke about the bread and the cup in order to give
meaning to his upcoming sacrifice of body and blood; he spoke of the
resurrection to come; he demonstrated service. All of these, and more,
were taught and demonstrated by Jesus throughout his ministry. He drove
the lessons home in the upper room by the action of this special feat.

Football legend Vince Lombardi was once asked what it took to make a
winning team. He said that there were three things. The first two alone,
however, fundamentals and discipline, are not enough to win the game. The
third element had to be present as well: “If you're going to play
together as a team, you've got to care for one another. You've got to
love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and
saying to himself: If I don't block that man, Paul is going to get his
legs broken. I have to do my job well in order that he can do his. The
difference between mediocrity and greatness is the feeling these guys
have for each other.” (“What Not to Wear,” www.homileticsonline.com,
April 8, 2004)

Malia and I have been watching the video series of the HBO production
Band of Brothers. It is primarily about one platoon of an airborne unit
fighting in the European theater during World War II. I do not know to
what extent the stories are factual and to what extent they are fiction,
but I do know that they express the sentiments of many who have had to
endure combat. In spite of national ideals and security, the most common
reason given for any soldier doing his job in spite of fear and terror is
because the guy next to him depends upon him. As one of the real life
paratroopers said, “I wasn’t a hero, but I fought alongside a lot of guys
who were.” (note: author’s recollection of the quote)

Jesus teaches us to love. Jesus teaches us to forgive. Jesus teaches us
to serve. That is quite a feat. If we don’t get these, it doesn’t do us a
whole lot of good to try to understand other stories and meanings of the
Bible. Jesus is, after all, our confessed Master. At any rate, that is
what Christians had better believe. Jesus wants us to learn what he
taught and do what he demonstrated. “I tell you the truth, 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.”

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

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