Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - April 5, 2020

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on John 12:12-14 and John 13:1-11.

Prayer

The anointing has taken place.  Probably, Jesus went back with Martha, Mary and Lazarus to their home in Bethany to spend the night.  The next day, Sunday, Jerusalem was packed with Jews from all over the world.  The pilgrims to Jerusalem had over whelmed the housings in the city, so they had spilled over into the neighboring villages like Bethany and that is where we pick up our story.

John 12:12: The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord - the king of Israel!”  14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: “ Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

Before Jesus even entered the city gate, what were people shouting?  “Hosanna.  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”  We sing hymns about “Hosanna,” but what does “Hosanna” really mean?  A lot of time we think that hosanna was a spirited shout of praise that was yelled all of the time back then.  Actually, hosanna is used only six times in the Bible and all in the New Testament and all connected with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.  You see, hosanna actually means “Save now”.  The people weren’t really praising Jesus, but were asking him to save them right now.  Save them from what? “We have been promised by our prophets that a king will arise who will save us from Rome.  Don’t wait another minute.  Get off that donkey and get on a white horse and lead the charge to victory over the Roman soldiers.”  You see, everything seemed to be coming together for all of those shouting people.  There was a new prophet on the scene who was healing people and now he has out done himself by raising Lazarus from the dead.  He seems to fit the bill for the new kind as well as the Messiah. With tears running down their cheeks and their hands raised and waving, they were actually pleading for Jesus to lead an uprising against Rome.  They had no idea of what this king was really sent to do.

Jesus chose to enter Jerusalem on Sunday, four days before the Passover Feast.  Why Sunday?  Why not Wednesday which was closer to the time of the feast?  What was the main thing that happened during the Passover Feast?  A lamb was slain.  It represented the slain lamb whose blood was applied to the door post so that the Angel of Death would not stop at that house.  So, the blood of the lamb saved people from death.  Do you know when the people selected this Passover lamb and prepared it for sacrifice?  Four days before Passover.  By entering Jerusalem four days before the Passover Feast, Jesus is telling everybody that he is the Passover lamb sacrificed to save them and the whole world.

The road leading from Bethany down the Mount of olives into the city gate was packed with people.  Most of the people had heard about Lazarus being raised from the dead.  Can’t you imagine as they passed the home of Lazarus, they poised and strained to see this man who had been raised from the dead.  As a bonus, they were told that Jesus was also there. What did the people do?  They laid branches of palm trees.  This account is in all four gospels, but did you know that John’s gospel is the only one that identifies the branches as coming from palm trees?  Other gospels tell us that men also laid down their robes which was a big sacrifice since the robe served not only as a garment, but a bed.  The robes must have been in pretty bad shape after a donkey has walked on them.

Speaking about the donkey, where did it come from?  John just says Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. The way John described it, it was like a donkey was just wandering around the streets of Bethany and Jesus just hopped on.  Matthew tells us that Jesus told two of his disciples to go to the village ahead of them. Who were the two disciples?  We don’t know, but some scholars believe they might have been John and Peter.  What village? We don’t know which village this was but it was probably Bathphage which was about half way between Bethany and Jerusalem.  They were told that when they enter the village, they will find a donkey tied to a post and a colt with her.  They were to untie both the donkey and her colt and bring them to Jesus.  Good plan, but what if someone confronts them when they take the donkey and her colt?  What will they say?  “Oops, sorry.  My mistake.”  Jesus tells them to say to the owner, “The Lord needs them and he will send them back as soon as he can.” It appears that Jesus knew the owner of the donkey and had arranged for the owner to give the donkey to the men who gave the right password - “the Lord needs them”.

Why a donkey?  Why not a magnificent prancing white stallion?  In those days, if a king entered a town and wanted the people to know that he was there to start a war, he rode in on a horse.  However, if he wanted to let the people know that he came in peace, he rode a donkey.  Also, the prophet Zechariah had said that the promised king, who would restore Israel’s glory, would enter Jerusalem humbly riding on a donkey.  So, Christ will enter Jerusalem letting the people know that he isn’t the kind of  king who is going to raise up an army to chase Rome out of the land, but, is the king prophesied by Zechariah - a king of peace.  The fact that he will be riding a donkey into Jerusalem through the gate leading to the Mount of Olives fulfills another of Zechariah’s prophesies - that the Messiah would appear on the Mount of Olives.  In this one act, Jesus is revealing to the people in Jerusalem that he is both the expected Messiah and the promised king described by Zechariah.

Mark tells us that there was something unique about this colt.  It had never been ridden.  That tells us two things.  It probably was a young colt and it hadn’t been used to tote stuff.  Wouldn’t it seem dangerous to ride a colt that hadn’t been broken in - hadn’t been ridden before?  We’ve seen all those Gene Autry  movies where Smiley Burnett is on a bucking horse that has never been ridden. Even if the donkey was calm when Jesus got on, the cheering crowd and men laying palm branches and coats in front of the colt might have spooked him. Why is it important that the colt should never have been ridden or used to carry baskets of produce?  In those days, if a donkey is going to be used for a sacred purpose, it could not have been used for any other purpose.

The temple was on high ground in Jerusalem.  From the east portico, the road Jesus was taking along the Mount of Olives could be easily seen by the priests and religious leaders. So they probably monitored the crowd’s reaction to Jesus as he approached the gate. From what they saw, Jesus was attracting too much attention from the people which made him too dangerous to let live.

In the days following Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the temple was cleansed by driving out the money lenders and freeing the sacrificial birds. Scripture tells us that every day Jesus was teaching the people in the temple.  At the same time, a shadowy figure slipped into the temple.  His robe was pulled up to hide his face. He met secretly with the chief priests and officers of the temple and agreed to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  Then Judas left rubbing the silver coins together. All he had to do was act normally for a few more days and no one would be the wiser.  But, who was the wiser? Jesus.

Judas joined the other disciples in the upper room to celebrate Passover and they all got a surprise and here was the surprise.

John 13: 1: Now before the festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.  2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.  And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe and tied a towel around himself.  5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that he had tied around him.  6 He cam to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.  8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.  9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but my hands and my head!”  10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.  11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean. 

Matthew, Mark and Luke also gives us accounts of what happened at the Last Supper, but none include the washing of the disciple’s feet.  Other things that happened in John’s account of this meal are in accord generally with the other gospel accounts. In the sequence of events at the supper, this happened shortly after everyone was seated and just before the breaking of the bread.

In those days the roads were for the most part dirt paths.  In the hot dry summer season these roads would be covered with several inches of dust and in the rainy season the roads would be turned into soupy mud bogs.  Shoes then were no more than pieces of leather or wood with straps to hold them to your feet.  They all came in one size so it wasn't necessary for the women of that day to buy sandals two sizes small or have a closet full of designer flip flops.  Anyway, if you were walking along this road going to visit a friend or relative, you would arrive with your feet either caked with dust or mud.  Have you ever gotten dirt in your shoe?  One of the most annoying things is to get dirt in your shoe or worst in your socks.  Every movement sends the dirt sifting between different toes.  Then you can feel the grit as your toes rub together.  How about when you have a hole in your shoe and water gets in?  A lot of times that is when I find out that there is a hole in my shoe, dear Lizza, dear Lizza.  Then every step is accompanied by a squishing sound as the water is pumped from the bottom of your foot to the top only to run back down to the bottom.  When you were young and came home with dirty or muddy shoes, how many times did your mom tell you to clean those shoes before you come into the house?

In 30 AD in well-to-do homes a slave or servant would be assigned the job of standing by the door to clean the feet of the visitors.  Today, the only person you could hire to do that would be an illegal alien or a resident of Pungo. Can you imagine kneeling down and taking the feet of people - and these must have been some pretty ugly feet - brushing off the dust or scraping off the mud, washing the feet, and then drying them?  And I would guess that the sandals had to be cleaned too.  Not a job that you bragged about at “Show and Tell.”  “What does your father do for a living, Little Tommy?”  “He washes feet.  His boss said that next week he was moving him up to hands.  No telling how high he may go.  Right to the head if he’s good at it.”

If you didn't have a servant and you wanted to be hospitable and hospitality was a big thing back then, you, as the host, would wash the feet of the visitor.  Perhaps on this night of the Last Supper, the disciples were distracted by the on rushing events.  They were so buoyed by the reception that Jesus had received when he entered Jerusalem four days ago that they were excited about what the future held for their leader.  Maybe they thought that Jesus’ rousing reception also made them more important, so, they had too much pride to wash anybody’s feet. Later in the night they would even argue over who would be the greatest.  Prestige and position even then worked to separate Christians.  Whether it was competitiveness, pride or neglect, no one lowered himself to wash the feet of the other disciples.

What happened gives us an insight into the character of Jesus.  Jesus knows that the end is near.  He also knew that all things had been given into His hands.  There would be those hours of humiliation, pain, betrayal and separation.  But there would also be His moment of glory and triumph.  He had raised others from the dead.  Now he would be raised from the dead.  It is difficult to put ourselves in the Jesus’ shoes, but, don’t you think that you might have been sticking your chest out just a little bit knowing that you had the power to raise yourself from the dead and was about ready to prove it?  Pride could have put Jesus above thinking about the condition of the disciples, but, Jesus at a time of supreme pride assumed the mantle of supreme humility.

When we assume a servant’s role and do those things which are unpleasant or humiliating, such as cleaning bed pans, washing soiled linens and bed clothes, feeding or changing dressings without being paid to do it, what is our motivation?   Why do we do these things without pay? Love.  Loves prompts us to cook food for a sick friend or relative.  To clean their house.  To take out their garbage.  And what do we call somebody we are willing to do so much for?  A loved one.  Love is always like that.  And that is what the love of Jesus is all about.  Even though he is Lord of all, he loved the disciples and loves us enough to become a servant to their and our needs.

Jesus knew one thing for sure.  That he came from God and was going back to God.  He could easily have had contempt for the things of this world.  The things that were getting between men and God.  These things pale in comparison with where he comes from or is going back to.  When we see accounts of what’s going on in Africa, the genocide, the starvation, the inhumanity, our hearts go out to the people, but, not many of us would want to change places with them.  To have our children starving, with flies feeding off of the moisture in their eyes.  But, this is exactly what Jesus did.  He left the cleanliness and purity of heaven to join us in what was and is a comparably terminally corrupt environment.  On that night, Jesus knew his time was short.  He was closer now to God than he had ever been since his human birth and yet, he humbles himself to serve his Father’s creation.  It almost seems that the nearer Jesus gets to God, the nearer he gets to us.

Jesus knew that he was about to be betrayed.  We might have been bitter.  Nothing is more demoralizing than when someone betrays you.  A trusted friend spreads rumors about you and what is your general reaction?  We write him or her off.  We might give them another chance but if betrayed again then it is kiss off time for sure.  But, what does Jesus do?  He knows that Judas is going to betray Him.  Later in the meal, Jesus will confront Judas and give him a chance to change his mind.  But, even though He knows all these things about Judas, he washes his feet.  Judas is going to hurt Jesus like no other man could ever do and yet Jesus still loves him.  My friends, if Jesus can love Judas knowing what Judas was planning, just think how much more he loves you and me.

Jesus gets up from the table, removes His robe and wraps a towel around His waist.  He takes a bowl of water and proceeds to wash the feet of the disciples.  There apparently was no objection until he came to Peter.  Most of the disciples were too busy discussing Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to even notice who was washing their feet.  Peter couldn't believe his eyes.  Jesus, the Master, washing HIS feet. Unthinkable.  Now it doesn't say that Peter had offered to wash Jesus' feet or anybody else’s feet for that matter, but now he questions Jesus lowering Himself to wash the feet of the disciples.  Jesus was patient with Peter.  He tells Peter that although he might not understand right now, it will become clear to him later why Jesus washed his feet.  Peter huffs and puffs and tells Jesus, "No way.  I'm not going to sit here and let you do this.  You might not care what people will say, but, I do and I don't want them to get the wrong idea about you."  What do you think was really going through Peter's mind?  “Those other guys might not recognize your importance but that will never be said about old Peter.  If word got out that Jesus was acting like a servant, his authority might be diminished.  And - ahem - with Jesus’ diminished authority, mine will take a hit too.

How does Jesus react to Peter? "If you don't let me wash your feet then I'll have nothing to do with you." This seems pretty harsh.  Why is Jesus so insistent about washing Peter's feet?  Jesus is the supreme Lord on this earth.  If he cannot demonstrate that even the most supreme being should love enough to humble himself then there will always be that possibility that a person could feel that he is so important that he couldn’t bring himself to be humble.  It probably was most important for Peter to understand this since Jesus was about to place on Peter the responsibility of forming the foundation of the church after He was gone.  If Peter's pride was too great to allow his acknowledged Master to perform this task, then that same pride might stand in the way of his ministry when Jesus is no longer there.  I think that this is a good litmus test for religious leaders in every age.  If he or she does not demonstrate true humility, then their ministry should be suspect.  I can't see Jimmy Swaggert washing the feet of every body in this room, particularly if no offering was going to be taken.

Peter then says, "Ok.  If this is what you want to do, then don't stop at my feet, how about my hands and head as well?"  Jesus' response is difficult to understand.  In general terms he is saying that every one who is invited out to dinner takes a bath prior to leaving home so the only thing that has gotten dirty since he left home is his feet because of the condition of the roads.  But, there may be a more profound meaning here.  Possibly Jesus is referring to baptism when he says that "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." When he tells Peter he is clean He may be referring to the fact that Peter was in a right relationship with Christ.  This may have been a statement directed to all the disciples because he concludes with the statement that not all of them is clean which is a clear reference to Judas.  What Jesus may be telling all of us is that it isn't the bathing of the body that is important.  We can do that for ourselves using a wash cloth and bar of Dove soap.  It is the washing of Baptism that marks our entry into a special relationship with Jesus that is important.  The washing of the feet is just an outward demonstration that as a result of this special relationship, we are willing to humble ourselves and serve others just as Jesus has done.

We have examined how Peter felt about Jesus washing his feet.  There was someone else who must have felt mighty uncomfortable about this event.  How do you think Judas must have felt?  There he was pretending to still be a faithful follower, but, had made up his mind to betray Jesus.  He sits there, Jesus at his feet on his knees before him washing his feet.  At some point Jesus looks up and fixes on Judas' eyes.  Judas is bound to have seen in Jesus’ gaze the fact that Jesus knew that he was going to betray him.  Judas may have felt that all of the arrangements would be in total secrecy and, therefore, his betrayal would not even be known by Jesus.  But, sitting there, looking into the dark sensitive eyes of Jesus, Judas may have realized for the first time that Jesus knew what he had done.  Judas probably looked away and may have entered into a conversation with the guy sitting next to him. Anything to avoid those soul searching eyes.  Later, during the meal, Jesus would confirm to Judas that he did know that it was Judas who would betray him.  Judas would be relieved when this meal was over and he could get away from this group.  Later, when he found that Jesus would be put to death, he tried to return the thirty pieces of silver and confess that Jesus was innocent, but the chief priests told him it was too late.  The die was cast and Jesus would be crucified.  Gripped with remorse, Judas hung himself probably moments before the crucifixion.

Jesus does not reveal who the betrayer is.  This must have come as a shock to the rest of the disciples.  They probably were confused by what Jesus was saying.  They knew every one there.  They had eaten together, traveled together, shared hardships and even danger together.  Who could be a traitor to the Lord?  History has demonstrated that the most successful traitors were the ones who were in the inner circle of power and control. For the eastern mind, this betrayal was the worst kind.  To share bread with somebody was to establish a strong bond of friendship between you and the other person. It wasn't taken lightly.  Jesus quotes from Psalm 41:9 "Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me." Maybe one of the greatest sorrows that can happen to us is when a friend betrays us.  When Jesus says that he has "lifted up his heel against me", Jesus is describing somebody who takes pleasure in kicking you when you are down.  It’s a cruel brutal kind of violence.

It is important to note that this betrayal is taking place with the full knowledge of God and in some way fulfills God's purpose.  Jesus knew what the costs were and was ready to pay the costs.  It was important for the disciples to understand that Jesus was not caught up in circumstances beyond his control.  He wasn't going to be killed.  He was choosing to die.  He knew that at that moment they didn't understand, but, if they remembered what happened, then when Jesus' glory is revealed they will recall the events of this night with renewed meaning.

These verses conclude with words describing the loyalty of those who are with Him.  They will some day be sent out into the world to tell the world about Jesus.  And when they go, they will go as God's agents and will be received as God's ambassadors.  Folks, this is where we stand today.  Not hanging with Judas but with the loyal group sent out by Jesus.  As agents of Christ, the world will see Christ in us or it won't see Christ at all.