Love And Service

[0:00] And after that description, you think that he'll do something really impressive, maybe, that demonstrates his power. Maybe about to take up a crown for himself, having been declared king just the following day, just the previous day.

[0:14] And maybe he's about to do some amazing miracle to demonstrate his power. But instead, what we find after the description is that he laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

[0:30] And then he begins to do the unthinkable in verse 5. He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

[0:46] You guys have to think about this, right? Because people's feet are dirty, right? Maybe some of you guys are familiar with that moment when someone who's been working out or wearing tennis shoes all day enters a room and finally removes those tennis shoes.

[1:01] And the smell just kind of percolates throughout the room. You guys know that smell. Maybe some of you guys are familiar with how wearing flip-flops in the summer. You wear the flip-flops for a few days or, you know, the bottom of your feet get really dirty.

[1:15] It looks black, right? You guys know what I'm talking about? It kicks up dirt. It gets dirty. And so imagine this. This is in the Middle East, right? This is Jerusalem.

[1:25] It's a desert climate. It's a lot hotter than it is here. And it's a lot dirtier. There's a lot of dust, dry dust on the ground. And people walk around in sandals, even more shoddily constructed than today's flip-flops.

[1:38] And they're wearing it all day. Imagine their feet. It's both sweatier and dirtier than the feet that we're accustomed to smelling and seeing. And so because of that, it was customary for hosts, when they have guests over to their houses, to arrange for someone, a servant, to wash their feet because you didn't want that kind of feet in the house.

[1:59] But this task was reserved for the lowliest of the menial servants. In fact, some of the Jews insisted that even Jewish slaves should not do such menial tasks.

[2:13] Even the slaves shouldn't do it if you're a Jew, they said. This should be reserved for the Gentile Jews. Some Jews taught that. And so that task, well, you can imagine the scenario. So Jesus has come with his disciples to this place.

[2:26] The guest meal has been prepared. And Jesus sits as the host. Everybody knows what needs to happen. Somebody needs to wash their feet. But not a single one of the disciples is willing to swallow their pride and say, well, I guess I'll do it.

[2:43] Because perhaps they'd be willing to wash Jesus' feet. Yeah, I mean, he's the son of God. He's the Messiah. I'll wash his feet. Oh, but Judas' feet? Peter's feet?

[2:55] No, there's no way I'm washing their feet. That's the scenario. And so you could imagine as there's this kind of tension in the room, the disciples are looking around themselves at how mortified they would be when they find Jesus laying aside his outer garments, pushing himself up from this mat.

[3:14] And he wraps a towel around his waist, which is the attire of the menial servants during that time, and proceeds to wash their dirty, stinky feet.

[3:25] This is a stunning demonstration of Christ's humility and love. And lest we miss it, John already reminded us in verse 2 that Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, is among the number of the twelve.

[3:40] He's there. And Jesus knows he's about to betray him. And he washes his feet, his enemy, his betrayer. And others are just shocked and uncomfortable.

[3:56] So there's this uncomfortable silence in the room, and they don't say anything out of embarrassment. But Peter predictably objects. In verse 6, he says to Jesus, Lord, do you wash my feet?

[4:08] In the Greek, the sentence is constructed to emphasize Peter's indignation. It reads like, Lord, you will my feet wash? That's, Lord, you will my feet wash?

[4:19] That's unthinkable. And then so Jesus answers in verse 7, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. When Peter refuses stubbornly, he says, You shall never wash my feet.

[4:36] He's well-meaning, but Jesus responds to him in verse 8, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. See, Jesus is insistent that he's going to wash his feet, you know, not because of some false humility, saying, No, you are going to let me be humble and wash your feet.

[4:51] That's not what's going on at all. Jesus is insistent because of the symbolic value of what he is doing, because this act of humility and self-sacrifice, it points to his death on the cross that is coming.

[5:04] Someone who is deserving of honor and glory, the perfect one, laying down his life, humbly serving the people, the people who ought to be serving him.

[5:16] And so that's why he tells me, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. That's the inheritance language. It's only those whose sins have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb who will have a share in Christ's heavenly inheritance.

[5:31] So Peter, of the famous all-or-nothing personality, responds in verse 9, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and head.

[5:43] But Jesus restrains him in verse 10, The 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.

[5:56] So this explanation teaches a really important, but an impractical distinction between the initial once and for all washing of the Christian and the ongoing continual washing that must take place for the Christian.

[6:10] Because the follower of Jesus, once you place your trust in Jesus, repent and believe in him, you are cleansed once and for all. You're saved once and for all. You're justified once and for all.

[6:21] And that is not a repeatable event. That's once and for all. However, the Bible still commands us to confess our sins to him so that we might be forgiven.

[6:34] 1 John, for example, it says, Apostle John is writing clearly to believers. He says in chapter 5, 13, that he's writing to those who believe in the name of the Son of God and have eternal life.

[6:45] So he's writing to people who have eternal life, yet he tells them in chapter 1, verse 9, 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[7:00] So this tension that we see here is like so many other tensions, other truths of Christianity is because of God's eternal and omniscient perspective, the contrast between that and our finite and limited perspective.

[7:12] Because from God's perspective, he's timeless and eternal, he sees our past, present, and future all in one picture in the same way. So for him, that once and for all justification deals with all of our sins.

[7:24] So from his perspective, we might rightly say that, yes, our future past sins also are forgiven. But from a human limited perspective, it's been appropriate to say that God forgives you of your sins before you confess them, your future sins before you commit them.

[7:40] Rather, the Bible calls us to confess those as we go, and that's the continual washing, the feet washing that must keep taking place. But that's not the same as that once and for all, the bath that takes place when we first believe in him, repent in him.

[7:56] And the ground for that continual forgiveness is not our own confession, but it's what Jesus has already done for us, his sacrifice on the cross. So the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

[8:13] And you are clean, but not every one of you. So by washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus simultaneously gives us a symbol of saving cleansing that he will affect on the cross.

[8:25] And at the same time, he displays his great love for us. This is the love demonstrated. And having demonstrated his love for us, Jesus calls us to emulate it.

[8:37] He commands this same love. In verses 12 to 17, read it with me. Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

[8:51] If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also are to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.

[9:05] 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. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

[9:18] Jesus has given us an example so that we might do them, right? Now some people understand these words to mean that we should continue to wash one another's feet in a literal way.

[9:29] There are denominations that practice foot washing as a ritual. But I don't think that's Jesus' intention for a couple different reasons. And first is that nowhere else in the New Testament is foot washing mentioned as a ritual to be practiced.

[9:45] And that may be why in the book of Acts you see the picture of the early church. They don't, you don't see them in the description of the early church, them washing feet, right? And secondly, foot washing is not something that Jesus started, right?

[9:58] It's something that everyone in that culture practiced. What Jesus is doing is instead there's something that you would normally think is beneath yourself. This do for one another. Love and serve one another.

[10:11] And so Jesus, I don't think, is instituting something that we need to practice in a ritualized sense, but rather he's saying that we have to serve one another in humility even to the point of washing one another's feet.

[10:22] So no doubt, I'm sure, as Christians in the early church, they did wash one another's feet. And we have to think in our context, what does it look like for us to wash one another's feet, to love and serve one another?

[10:36] The fact that Jesus' point is far broader than just foot washing we can see later in verses 33 and 35 because he expands the command. And this new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

[10:53] That's the command that Jesus is saying, emulate me, the command to love. And if our Lord and teacher deign to wash our feet, then should we not also wash one another's feet?

[11:05] If we are just servants of God, right? But then if our master washes his disciples' feet, then should we not also wash one another's feet? If Jesus was willing to wash his disciples' feet, then there shouldn't be anything too demeaning for us, too anything beneath us, if it means loving and serving one another.

[11:29] Who should be willing to do? I don't know if you've ever been a part of a volunteer organization. I guess you are in the church, but other volunteer organizations.

[11:40] If you have been, like I have, then you know it's really, really hard to get people to do anything. Because there's no incentive, there's no leverage, you don't have anything.

[11:50] You just have people's goodwill. And so if you're in a volunteer organization like that, it's really hard to get people to just come and sit and do nothing. Like it's, let alone take on real responsibilities. But not so in the church.

[12:03] Why? Because Christ has given us this example. Because Christ as a commander says, wash one another's feet. So we're eager to serve one another. We've been saved to serve one another. So we're eager to take on tasks that others will consider to demeaning beneath our dignity.

[12:19] Because that's the humility, the hallmark of Christians. And note that this command applies specifically to one another.

[12:30] Right? It's in verse. And that's why Jesus calls his disciples little children in verse 33. He's referring to that circle of believers. The Greek word behind the translation of that little children is a diminutive form that conveys special affection.

[12:47] It's an endearing term. You could translate it as my dear little children almost. Right? And it's beloved children. So Jesus is actually, and the Passover was traditionally, the way Jews celebrated, a family meal.

[13:01] Right? So the head of the household presided over the Passover meal. And so Jesus is radically breaking from tradition when he gathers his disciples and sits as head of the household over the Passover meal.

[13:12] Because he's drawing them away from their families and constituting the new family of God as he does this. That's why in Matthew 12, 50, he says, For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, he, that person is my brother, and that person my sister and mother.

[13:27] Right? So Jesus is forming that new community. And so he calls them, his disciples, his little children. And so this applies particularly to the way we treat one another and serve one another as believers.

[13:40] But what about the people who are not part of the family of God? And do we not love them? Well, of course, that's not it at all because Jesus calls us to love even our enemies in Matthew chapter 5.

[13:51] Of course, we're called to love everyone. Of course, we're called to love our neighbor as ourselves. But just as people reserve a special place of affection for an intimacy for their family members, we do the same for the family of God.

[14:09] Doesn't mean we love other people less. We just, at the risk of saying something that seems paradoxical, we don't love them less. We love each other more. Right?

[14:20] And so that's why Apostle Paul exhorts us in Galatians 6, 10, So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

[14:33] This command to love one another is so simple that the youngest member of the church can grasp it and appreciate it. But at the same time, it's so profound that even the most mature among us can't exhaust it or fully practice it.

[14:51] So what does that mean? What does it look like to love one another? The command to love one another apprehends all the commands in Scripture of the one another commands in Scripture. It means we greet one another.

[15:04] We rejoice with one another in times of joy. And we cry with one another in times of sadness. It means we confess our gravest and slightest sins to one another in humility.

[15:16] And we accept one another in God's grace. And then we pray for one another so we might be healed. It means that we serve one another and carry one another's burdens by meeting each other's needs, caring for the sick among us, providing for the poor among us, assisting the heavy laden among us.

[15:37] It means we're to be hospitable to one another. We are to be eating in each other's homes. It means we encourage and edify one another, exhort one another to be faithful and spur one another on toward good deeds.

[15:52] It means we bear with one another, forgive one another, forgive one another, cover up one another's faults and idiosyncrasies. It means we teach and admonish one another and speak the hard truth in love to one another.

[16:11] It means we look out for one another's interests and not just to our own. That's what it looks like to love one another as Christ has loved us. That's the church.

[16:23] That's the kind of community that Jesus set out to build. Nothing less than that. And loving one another this way is actually also the best way we can love our non-believing friends because it says in verse 35, by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

[16:45] Our love for others flows from our love for one another because if we love one another well, people around us will see that and that's how they will come to recognize Jesus in our lives and His saving grace in our lives.

[16:57] That's how we reveal Jesus to those people around us. We love one another. So that's really the most loving thing we can do for our unbelieving friends and neighbors as well. We share the gospel with them and we show them the gospel in the way we love one another.

[17:13] And this has been documented throughout church history of how people come to know the Lord, how people come to Christ because by watching how people love one another, how Christians love one another.

[17:24] In a book entitled The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark, a sociologist, writes about the meteoric rise of Christianity from being this minority religion that was persecuted to becoming the majority religion in the Roman Empire within a mere few centuries.

[17:40] That's a remarkable historical phenomenon. And he writes that during the two epidemics in year 165 AD and 251 AD, each of those epidemics killed up to a third of the entire Roman Empire, most people in the empire deserted their friends and relations in order to save themselves because the disease was contagious.

[18:03] But Christians stayed behind and cared for their own. And because of their care for their own, the rate of survival was way higher among the Christians. And because of that tight in the community that Christians exemplified, the people outside looking in saw that and was attracted, drawn to it, said, I want to be a part of that kind of community.

[18:23] I want to be a community, being a community of love. And so people came to Christ and led to a great revival of Christianity in the Roman Empire. There's no silver bullet for church growth.

[18:36] We currently have about six households in our church who live in East Cambridge proper within a quarter mile radius of each other.

[18:58] And we have a lot more people who are also really close right outside of that. And if we love one another in this way as God's calling us to, as Jesus is commanding us to, and showing us to, if we do this, I guarantee you, people will take notice and we will grow and people will come to know Jesus Christ and this community of love will grow and grow and grow until it overwhelms.

[19:21] And people can't help but go to a grocery store without seeing a Christian loving one another. That's the vision for our church plan. It's not, it's not some gimmick trying to pull some stunts to attract people.

[19:35] Our plan for growth is to love one another and to serve Jesus and serve one another. And so, we are recipients of an incredible commission and promise.

[19:50] Because Jesus says whoever receives the one he sends receives him. And whoever receives him receives the one who sent him. He's saying the way you love one another, the body of Christ, what you do for them, you do for Jesus himself.

[20:10] That's why in that parable of the sheep and the goats, you guys know in the final judgment, Jesus divides the sheep and the goats and what does he say to the sheep? When I was in prison, you came and visited me.

[20:21] When I was hungry, you came and fed me. He refers to these little ones. He's referring to the believers. What you do for the body of Christ, you do for Jesus. And so, this is the love commanded by Christ.

[20:37] But though Christ has demonstrated his love for us and he commands us to love one another as he has loved us, we often fail to do so. And this brings us to our final point, love betrayed.

[20:51] Christ demonstrates his love for his disciples, but he will soon be betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter, the foremost among his disciples. Jesus says in verses 17 to 18, If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

[21:06] I'm not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. Now, I don't think Jesus is saying here that he knows whom he has chosen, meaning I chose you, 11, but not Judas.

[21:21] I don't think that's what he's saying because he says in John 6, early in chapter 6, 70, Jesus says, Did I not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil? So what Jesus is saying here is that he chose the 12.

[21:33] He knows whom he chose. He knew exactly what he was doing when he chose Judas to be among the 12. That's what he's saying. And then he cites Psalm 41, 9, where David laments, Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

[21:56] And this Psalm, which David wrote, is applied to Jesus because David was a type or a pattern or a model that's pointed to Jesus and Jesus fulfills David's life and what he represented as a king of Israel.

[22:09] And so that verse is now applied to Jesus. David's suffering applied to Jesus and he says that he who ate his bread has lifted his heel against me. Now, eating once, sharing your bread is a big deal even in our culture, right?

[22:23] You don't eat together with strangers, right? You generally eat together with your friends. And when you invite someone over to your home that breaks another barrier. You're saying, I'm trusting you and inviting you into the intimate quarters of my life.

[22:36] That's what that represents. In the Near Eastern culture that Jesus is in, this is an even bigger deal than it is in our culture because you only eat with the people that you really are intimate with, you love.

[22:47] Here, you don't associate with enemies and sharing the bread with someone and then to turn around and betray them was considered particularly heinous and evil.

[23:01] And Jesus said, that's what's happening to him. The one whom he has trusted, he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. Judas, one of Jesus' most intimate companions.

[23:12] Judas, whose feet Jesus washed, Judas, who oversaw the money for the twelve, will betray him.

[23:26] Jesus speaks even more plainly in verse 21, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. Now, the disciples are confused by the starting revelation, but Jesus doesn't immediately follow that with exactly who's going to betray him.

[23:40] And it's because of that, so Peter just kind of motions to John. He says, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved was reclining at table at Jesus' side. So Peter motions to this disciple and the disciple whom Jesus loved is John, the apostle John.

[23:55] And this is the conventional way of preserving authorial kind of humility. They don't, authors try not to put themselves in the book, in the book themselves.

[24:05] Apostle Paul does a similar thing when he talks about the man who ascended to the third heavens. He's talking about himself, most commentaries agree, but he doesn't refer to himself by name. And so, and John, and this is, don't think of it as a boast because I don't think John's saying, oh, I, the disciple whom Jesus loved, you know, more than all the others.

[24:26] That's not what's going on. That shows profound gratitude and sense of indebtedness to what Jesus has done for him. I, the one whom Jesus loved, the son of God loved.

[24:37] He says, so he was sitting there and he was reclining next to Jesus, apparently, on Jesus' left side or right side, it seemed. And, and you have to kind of, in order to picture this, you need to know the customs of this era because when they're reclining, that means they're actually literally reclining, usually leaning on their left arm like this and they're kind of lying down on, on a mat and they're sitting at a low table and they would sit around kind of in a staggered kind of way so that the person on your left would have their head close to your chest if you're, I mean, or, you guys kind of know what I'm talking about so it's, they're kind of diagonal and so they're dining, reclining in that way and their feet are all radiating outward so it's kind of around the table this way and so John was on, on an honor, in an honored place right next to Jesus on the right hand and so Peter tells him, hey, ask Jesus, who is this person who's going to betray him and then Jesus replies in verse 26, it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it and then he dips the morsel and gives it to Judas

[25:43] Iscariot. Now, the fact that Jesus is able to give the morsel of bread that he's dipped to Judas might suggest and most biblical commentators guess this that Judas was probably sitting on Jesus' left hand so John was on the right hand and Judas was sitting on the left hand so Jesus was able to pass it to him so it's, and dipping the morsel of bread during the Passover feast and giving it and the host would do that traditionally that was also considered an honor and so Jesus gives to Judas a great honor bestows on him a great honor when he dips that morsel of bread and gives it to him it's almost seems to me like the last gesture of his love a plea even an overture and and if you are Judas of course by this point you would have to really dull to not know that Jesus knew what you were about to do I mean Jesus knows and so Judas has really two stark options first is to you know rush out and immediately do what he was planning to do to betray Jesus and the second is to just break down in front of Jesus and repent unfortunately he opts for the former because he says in verse 27 then after he had taken the morsel

[27:00] Satan entered into him his sinful heart gives way to Satan's possession and Jesus knowing this says to him what are you going what you are going to do do quickly now apparently Jesus' answer to John's question who is it that's going to betray you wasn't really audible to everyone because it leads to great confusion now verses 28 and 29 it says now no one at the table knew why he said this to him some thought that because Judas had the money back Jesus was telling him buy what we need for the feast or that he should give something to the poor so it's very possible that only John and Judas were able to hear what Jesus was saying maybe the ones that were right next to him because they're still confused when Jesus says go whatever you're going to do do quickly they think that Judas is going out to buy more supplies for the feast of unleavened bread which continues the Passover feast or to go out and give alms to the poor which was also conventional traditional practice during the

[28:01] Passover feast and so John even though he knows what's going on he's shell shocked probably a nerd by Jesus' incredible declaration and confused probably why Jesus is so calm and collected and in control when he's announcing that someone's about to betray him so he doesn't say anything and then the rest of the disciples assumed just that he went to do something that he was going to do with the money bag and then so it says in verse 30 after receiving the morsel of bread he immediately went out and it was night so if you've been with us throughout the series in the gospel of John you know how John uses day and night to refer to light and darkness so this now it is night when Judas leaves it is the night the hour of darkness has come the hour of Jesus departure his death has come the series of events that would lead to his trial and execution has now been triggered and ironically the hour of darkness is also the hour of Jesus glorification as we've been talking about so it says in verses 31 and 32 now is the son of man glorified and

[29:13] God is glorified in him if God is glorified in him God would also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once but when Jesus talks in verse 33 about him departing even though he had been preparing the disciples up to this point everything that just transpired including his exchange with Judas and his abrupt departure is quickly forgotten and they just kind of grab onto that piece of information what you're about to leave what are you doing Jesus so Peter tells him Lord where are you going verse 36 asks him Jesus says where I'm going you cannot follow me now but you will follow afterward so Peter then asks Lord why can I not follow you now I will lay down my life for you and then Jesus makes a stunning prediction verse 38 will you lay down your life for me truly truly I say to you the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times you could just imagine you could hear his ego deflating

[30:24] I will die for you no you will deny me three times before the rooster crows and note the irony of Jesus question in verse 38 will you lay down your life for me right Peter has got it all backwards who is going to lay who is life down for who that is the exact opposite of what is going to happen Jesus is laying down his life for him and Peter says to him no I will lay down my life for you and unfortunately for Peter his boast that he would never deny Jesus even to the point of death betrays his naivete and it betrays his ignorance of human sin and weakness in fact his his kind of haughty self denial is the very root is the seed of his eventual denial and so let me ask you if if ever you're more aware of and if ever you're more aware of and concerned about how you are loving Jesus than of how

[31:29] Jesus has loved you if ever you're more aware of and concerned about your righteousness and performance than Christ's righteousness and what he has accomplished for us on the cross if you're ever more aware of and concerned about the work that you are doing for the kingdom and for Jesus than the work that Jesus has already done for you then that same pride that was at work in Peter is now seeking to bring you down therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall 1st Corinthians 10 12 it's the person who is confident in his own strength that is in the greatest danger of sinning and denying Jesus and it's when we are aware of our sinfulness and weakness that we are most grateful for and dependent on God's grace that's when we're the strongest so in his autobiography entitled

[32:30] Confessions Augustine a 4th century pastor and theologian writes the recalling of my wicked ways is bitter in my memory but I do it so that you may be sweeter to me that's what we do when we remember our weakness when we remember our sins when we remember our indebtedness to Christ that's when we are strong that's when Christ is sweet to us that's when we are invulnerable but Peter in another sense also speaks better than he knows because he will first deny Jesus three times but after his denial and Jesus gracious reinstatement of Peter and after he has been empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost Peter will lay down his life for Jesus tradition holds that Peter was crucified upside down at his own request because he refused to be killed in the same manner as his Lord and Savior and where did the strength for Peter come from not from himself but from

[33:36] Jesus and that's why Jesus calls this command new if you guys caught that right he says love one another as he has loved us that command he says is new it's not new technically speaking right because the command to love has been around since the time of Moses so it's not new in its content but it's new in its covenantal context because Jesus has brought the people of God into a new community of love and he has formed this new family of God and has empowered them and dwelled them with the Holy Spirit and so then this command to love one another is new in the sense that it is given under the new covenant we now are empowered to obey this commandment in ways that the people of God never were previously empowered to do so God promised in Jeremiah 31 behold the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt my covenant that they broke but this time I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more that's the new covenant reality and that's why Jesus calls this command to love one another new because now we're in a new context in a new covenant community and now we have the spirit of God and we're empowered to actually obey this command so then let me remind you the power for obedience then for the Christian lies not in our own willpower or self discipline it lies in abiding in Christ it lies in remembering and living in light of his grace and glory demonstrate on the cross because if

[35:23] Jesus washing of his disciples feet is shocking and unthinkable then the notion of the eternal holy and perfect God the king the messianic promised messianic king dying the death of a criminal slave on the cross is even more unthinkable and shocking and that's what the foot washing here points to just think about it in your life every moment in our lives of petty selfishness and envy every lustful thought and a wandering glance every harsh words in an anger every instance of greed materialistic hedonism every wasted hour of unproductive twittering surfing every prideful moment in which we judged others and thought ourselves better now instead of having our name associated with it has

[36:25] Jesus' name written over it in blood Jesus the holy one of God who should never be associated with our sinful squalor so that his holiness his righteousness can be imputed to us for our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God if you are not yet a follower of Jesus I want to urge you this morning don't spurn Jesus' love as Judas did and if you already believe in Jesus and have trusted in him then I exhort you to lean not on your own strength as Peter did but look to Jesus only for it's only in so doing that we can love one another as Christ loved us let's pray

[37:31] God we are at a loss for words when we think about what you have done for us in your son Jesus Christ that he bore our sin so that we can bear his righteousness we will never understand why that is the mystery and wonder of your grace but we do ask that you make that wonder that you never let us lose that wonder of your grace and mercy so we can continually behold Christ rely on him lean into him abide in him and in so doing be transformed by your love so we can love one another as you have loved us in Jesus name we pray amen for in am what about ti one who that would be yeah

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