What Jesus Has Done

John 13:1-20

Immanuel – Maundy Thursday – 4/17/25

As we’ve been traversing Matthew’s Gospel on Sundays, we’ve heard Jesus deliver five distinct discourses. Well, in John’s Gospel, chapter 13:1 touches off Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse;” sometimes called “The Upper Room Discourse.” I point it out because as the cross increasingly casts its shadow over Jesus, it’s less than 24 hours away. He knows how distressing and confusing it will be for his disciples. You can just sense the gravity, the solemnity, the love thick in that upper room. And set within these mixing emotions, Jesus lays bare his heart.

He speaks of his love for the Father, and the Father’s love for him. He speaks of his love for the disciples, and how the disciples are to love one another. Love and humility, like burning mountains in the night, illumine the whole of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse.

But even before Jesus begins to speak these things, his heart erupts in a scandalous display of love and humility as the King of the universe washes the disciples’ feet.

Jesus intends to hold a Passover Feast with his disciples. Tomorrow, Friday, is the night the feast is usually held. But Jesus knows this is the only opportunity, the last time to feast with his disciples. It was fitting for such an occasion, weighty though it was, that everyone was presentable – like when you gather with friends and family for Easter dinner.

In a sandal wearing culture, when feet were covered in street grime, sweat, and stink, it was proper for feet to be cleaned. The job of cleaning feet was reserved only for the lowliest of servants; but Jesus and the disciples traveled with no servants – evidently, that’s what the disciples thought.

In my mind I see Jesus looking around the room, watching as the disciples get settled in. All of them with dirty feet, no one washing. Simultaneously, he is washed with emotionally charged, joyful and heavy, thoughts.

Listed in verses 1-3 are seven thoughts weighing on Jesus’ heart.

1.      Jesus knew his hour had come.

2.      He knew he would depart this world.

3.      He knew his love for the disciples.

4.      He knew Satan had filled the heart of Judas.

5.      He knew Judas was about to betray him.

6.      He knew the Father had given all things into his hands.

7.      He knew he had come from the Father and was returning to the Father.

These seven thoughts cause Jesus’ heart to overflow with love and humility. Then something remarkable happened, something scandalous: He took the posture of a servant and washed the disciples’ feet. But it was more than that. It was the King of kings, the Glory of Heaven, placing himself beneath the dusty disciples.

Jesus stood and took off his robe. Around his waist he tied a towel – like a servant would. And then he knelt, took the filthy feet of his friends into his holy hands, and washed the uncleanness from them.

One by one he washed them. And when he came to Judas, Jesus felt no bitterness, no resentment, just a heart brimming with love. Despite that in a matter of hours his friend would betray him, still he washed his feet.

And then, in verse 6, he comes to Peter. “Lord, do you wash my feet?” “Jesus, what are you doing?”

“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

Peter protests. It seems he is the only disciple to protest. “You shall never wash my feet.” Wouldn’t any of us respond like Peter? Jesus was no servant; he was too good to be washing feet. Besides, Peter was perfectly fine with the dirt on his feet. He’s effectively saying, “Jesus, I’m ok, don’t wash my feet!”

The problem was that Peter thought he was ok, that he didn’t need Jesus to wash him. He did not understand his uncleanness, and how it jeopardized everything.

Read vs 8b-12

          Jesus’ question is rhetorical. He already told us the answer: “Afterward you will understand.” His hour was near. Soon his robe would be taken, and the soldiers would cast lots for it. Instead of a towel he would wear thorns, Adam’s curse worn like a crown. And then he would stoop even lower – lower than a servant – he would become like a criminal: The Glory of Heaven, despised, ridiculed, condemned. His holy hands bearing the punishment for our filthy hearts. In torment, forsaken by the Father, he became sin who knew no sin, and his heart stopped.

          We deserved that death. With our sins we earned it, like a gambling addict earns a terrible debt. Jesus paid that debt with his life to serve us. He told his disciples,

          “Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”                                                         -Matthew 20:28

          Our ransom price was paid on that cross. But even while he hung lifeless on the tree of curse, still, the Father had given all things into his hands – even the nails. Death did not, could not, defeat the Glory of Heaven. On the third day he would rise. And because he came not to be served, but to serve, just as he took our death, so he would give his undefeatable life.

          Before the cross, before the feasting began, he asked, “Do you understand what I have done to you?” His holy hands washing the filth of the disciples was a foreshadowing of the cross. Because if we come to Jesus with our unclean hearts, if we believe that he really paid our ransom, then he forgives us. He washes us. He cleanses us from all our sins. He became sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).

          “Do you understand what I have done to you,” he said. Barely! Hardly! I believe, help my unbelief! Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head! Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and clean me from all my sins! Give me clean hands and a pure heart that I might not lift up my soul to another!

          “Do you understand what I have done to you?” If we do understand, then there is a way to know that we are washed. It’s what Jesus says after his rhetorical question.

          Read vs 12b-17

          If you understand what Jesus has done for you, then we will want to wash each other’s feet. Jesus did literally wash the disciples’ feet, and what a humble act of love it was. So too can we. But washing feet symbolized something more.

          Consider what Jesus says later in his farewell discourse.

“Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”                                                -John 15:3-4

          If Jesus is our Lord and Teacher, and he washes us with his word, then we ought to wash one another with his word also. Jesus has cleansed our hearts, and through faith we are forgiven, justified, and righteous. What a wonder! If we abide in him, he abides in us!

And yet, it is so difficult to walk through this life without picking up some of its filth, without feeling like you are dirty, or broken, or unworthy. We all know it. We all feel it. It becomes so easy to feel like we have broken from the vine.

          It is in these moments that we follow Jesus’ example. Let us take off our pretenses of religion, wrap ourselves in humility, and get into the dirt of life where we lovingly wash each other in Christ’s words. Take each other to the promises of God. Wash each other in the Father’s sovereign goodness in the face of suffering. Remind one another to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.

And if today you are doing the washing, tomorrow you will to be washed. None of us are without need. None of us are exempt from picking up some dirt from this world.

          But remember this night, and how brilliantly Jesus’ glory is revealed in his love and humility. This world does not need more influencers. It needs humble intimacy where no one’s gonna see it. It needs self-sacrificial servants. It needs more Christians who are willing to lower themselves for the good of those around them, even if you later find yourself betrayed.

          “Do you understand what I have done to you?”