John 13:1-17, 34-35<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>[English Standard Version, \u00a9 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.]<\/em><\/p>\n Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon\u2019s son, to betray him, 3\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>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, 4\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples\u2019 feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, \u201cLord, do you wash my feet?\u201d 7\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Jesus answered him, \u201cWhat I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.\u201d 8\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Peter said to him, \u201cYou shall never wash my feet.\u201d Jesus answered him, \u201cIf I do not wash you, you have no share with me.\u201d 9\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Simon Peter said to him, \u201cLord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!\u201d 10\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Jesus said to him, \u201cThe 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.\u201d 11\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, \u201cNot all of you are clean.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n 12\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, \u201cDo you understand what I have done to you? 13\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another\u2019s feet. 15\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>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. 17\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.<\/em><\/p>\n 34\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>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. 35\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n ———————————————————<\/p>\n Why is this night different from all other nights?\u00a0 This is a question from the Passover service that perhaps even in Jesus\u2019 day and certainly still today is asked at the Passover Seder dinners all around the world when Jews hear again the Good News of God\u2019s mighty action in His rescue of them from slavery in Egypt.\u00a0 By the time of Jesus, they had been celebrating Passover for well over a thousand years. But this last Passover that Jesus celebrated with them must have been a very strange one indeed!\u00a0 Right in the middle of supper, or after supper according to the King James, Jesus strips down to probably his tunic, and starts washing the feet of some of the disciples.\u00a0 That\u2019s not in any Passover Service.\u00a0 What a Passover Seder indeed!\u00a0 A servant might have washed the feet of the guests before the supper, as they entered but not after or during the meal and the head of the household was certainly not the one who was supposed to be washing feet!\u00a0 We can probably assume that Jesus had celebrated Passover with his disciples before, perhaps even twice although the Evangelists don\u2019t record it.\u00a0 Because they don\u2019t we could probably argue that those Passover Seders were much like what was expected in the area, probably much the same as what Joseph had done as the head of the household as Jesus had experienced growing up.<\/p>\n I have been trying for some time to come up with a modern-day equivalent to the shock that must have been in the minds of the disciples that night.\u00a0 And that shock came in the midst of the chaotic setting of the supper that week.\u00a0 When they had been up north, Jesus had announced it was time to go to Jerusalem and he mentioned something about the Son of Man being betrayed and handed over into the hands of sinful men and crucified.\u00a0 By last Sunday things were looking quite interesting.\u00a0 Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead and the crowd had welcomed him into Jerusalem, welcomed him like a king shouting hosannas to him and praising him as the Son of David.\u00a0 But by Thursday night the mood in town had definitely changed; things were quite a bit more tentative because Jesus had been stirring up trouble all week.\u00a0 He had cleared the temple of the moneychangers with a whip no less and calling it his Father\u2019s house!\u00a0 Some of the disciples must have known that the religious leadership was not happy at all about them being in town, especially at Passover.\u00a0 He had been teaching in direct and open opposition to the chief priests, the scribes and elders all week, even at one point pronouncing seven woes on them. (Mt 23)\u00a0 By the time we get to Passover supper on Thursday night, Jesus announces to the disciples that one of them would betray him.\u00a0 We know there was a great deal of jockeying for rank among them, as Matthew tells it, even to the point of Mrs. Zebedee, James and John\u2019s mother coming to Jesus to grant that her sons would have positions of prominence when Jesus came into his kingdom.\u00a0 I say all of this to try to better fix in our minds the context of the Lord\u2019s Supper because otherwise I think we\u2019re left with a rather tame impression that this was just Jesus\u2019 Last Supper, which is certainly not the case.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know the exact chronology of the events of the supper that night and we don\u2019t know exactly when Jesus instituted the Lord\u2019s Supper by reading John\u2019s Gospel because he doesn\u2019t record it, but we have a pretty good idea of how a Passover Seder occurs.\u00a0 The unleavened bread goes around the table several times with blessings and the retelling of the story of the first Passover and the flight of Israel out of Egypt.\u00a0 Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us that at some point when the unleavened bread went around Jesus said, \u201cTake and eat.\u00a0 This is my body.\u201d\u00a0 On top of the foot washing\u2014this was mind blowing\u2014nothing could have prepared them for what happened shortly after that.\u00a0 We also know the Kiddush cup, a common cup of blessing, not entirely unlike the common cup we use in holy communion, goes around the table a few times but this one time Jesus takes the cup and says something that if they weren\u2019t stunned before, when he says it, you should have been able to knock them over with a feather.\u00a0 He says, \u201cDrink of it all of you.\u00a0 This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.\u201d\u00a0 Those of you who have invested something of yourselves in the study of the Old Testament, particularly the prohibitions against consuming blood in Leviticus, will find your study pays off tonight. Here was the Rabbi saying at Passover, \u201cDrink my blood.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t know of a modern equivalent except maybe if instead of the Lord\u2019s Supper tonight we decided to re-institute ritual animal sacrifice on the altar.\u00a0 This was something completely different.\u00a0 Jesus was not merely evolving Old Testament theology into New Testament theology, he was completely fulfilling it and saying that he himself was the Passover and had been all along!<\/p>\n In Luther\u2019s Small Catechism<\/em>, he asks, \u201cWhat is the Sacrament of the Altar?\u00a0 The response is: \u201cIt is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.\u201d<\/p>\n What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?<\/p>\n These words, \u201cGiven and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,\u201d show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.<\/p>\n How could ordinary eating and drinking do such great things?<\/p>\n Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: \u201cGiven and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.\u201d These words, along with the bodily eating and drinking, are the main thing in the Sacrament. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: \u201cforgiveness of sins.\u201d<\/p>\n It is the definition of catechetical to ask why is this night different from all other nights?\u00a0 Because this is the night when our Lord Jesus Christ took Passover and completed it with its proper meaning, with the meaning that it was always meant to have from its beginning.\u00a0 As we receive Jesus\u2019 righteous blood, He marks us as his own and the destroying judgment of God will not destroy us.\u00a0 Jesus Christ is our Passover.<\/p>\n But what is this about foot washing that John has recorded for us?\u00a0 It seems to be a command from our Lord.\u00a0 The meaning to the foot washing is bound up inextricably with the interchange between Peter and Jesus.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think any of the disciples would have hesitated to wash Jesus\u2019 feet but I don\u2019t think Jesus could have gotten any one of the others to wash each other\u2019s feet.\u00a0 There was a great deal of bitterness among the disciples that night.\u00a0 Emotions were running high because of the week\u2019s events.\u00a0 Again, one disciple was even accused of betraying Jesus and notice how each of them reacts to this information, not \u201cIt has to be Judas, I never trusted that guy,\u201d but \u201cIs it I Lord?\u201d\u00a0 In their heart of hearts they each know they have not been faithful and instead of the more familiar, \u201cBefore the cock crows three times,\u201d we have this more easily misunderstood passage about foot washing.\u00a0 Peter sees his master humbling himself to wash the others\u2019 feet and he can\u2019t put himself on that level.\u00a0 He can\u2019t be like them; he can\u2019t let his master do that.\u00a0 But Jesus answered him, \u201cIf I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.\u201d That is, you are not in fellowship with me.<\/p>\n Simply, if we do not let Jesus serve us, we have no fellowship with him.\u00a0 Tonight is not about our observance; tonight is about our Lord serving us at his altar.\u00a0 Tonight is not about the Lord coming to our table; tonight is about us coming to his table as his guests to receive the gifts he gives, forgiveness of sins, salvation and eternal life.\u00a0 Tonight is not about observing ordinances like foot washing, making new Levitical laws where Jesus has fulfilled the entire Law; tonight is about the love that comes from being loved by God the Father and being forgiven of sins to free us from all our sinful history that we might be freed to be instruments of God\u2019s love to our neighbors.\u00a0 Tonight is not about who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven; tonight is about who is a disciple.\u00a0 \u201cA new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35<\/sup> By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.\u201d\u00a0 We love because he first loved us.\u00a0 What a tremendous reproof to the disciples who hours ago were arguing who might be the greatest among them.<\/p>\n Peter doesn\u2019t understand but he knows that he will be missing out if he doesn\u2019t let the Lord Jesus bestow this gift on him.\u00a0 Perhaps that is more truly the essence of faith, not complete metaphysical understanding of all things divine, but confessing that we are less if we want to have no part of Jesus having a part of us.<\/p>\n Tonight is also the beginning of the Triduum<\/em>, the sacred \u2018three days.\u2019\u00a0 These services, tonight, Good Friday tomorrow, and the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday form a complete whole.\u00a0 I cannot urge you enough to be here for all of them.\u00a0 Fully participating in the Holy Week services is to be served by Jesus.\u00a0 That may sound a little sappy, but isn\u2019t that what Jesus is doing tonight?\u00a0 He is connecting us with himself by his body and blood and also connecting us to one another.\u00a0 Because tonight is not just about Jesus humbling himself to wash his disciples feet; tonight is about Jesus humbling himself to bear the cross for our sins.\u00a0 Tonight points to Good Friday tomorrow.\u00a0 Good Friday is the end of all hope if it isn\u2019t for the Vigil of Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord on Sunday.<\/p>\n Why is this night different from all other nights?\u00a0 Because tonight we remember the institution of Jesus Christ\u2019s Passover by which connects us to himself by his body and blood and declares that whoever eats and drinks in his name will not die but live eternally.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The Rev. Andrew Smith<\/p>\n Heavenly Host Lutheran Church<\/p>\n Cookeville, Tennessee, USA<\/p>\n E-Mail: smithad19+prediger@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sermon for April 1, 2021, Holy Thursday | Sermon on John 13:1-17; 34-45 | by Andrew Smith | John 13:1-17, 34-35\u00a0 [English Standard Version, \u00a9 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.] Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,191,157,108,110,284,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-4778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-andrew-smith","category-beitragende","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-13-chapter-13-johannes","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4779,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions\/4779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=4778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}