BIBLE STUDY
A. BACKGROUND... The last few weeks of Jesus’ life take up 2/3 of John’s Gospel. Jesus goes to Jerusalem, finds opposition and popularity, goes away, raises Lazarus from the dead, enters Jerusalem to a raucous (Palm Sunday) welcome, endures his Holy Week “passion”, establishes Holy Communion, gets betrayed and crucified, has his Easter resurrection, meets and convinces his followers. What else?
C. SUMMARY. A. We mostly know “The Last Supper” as Jesus giving the disciples bread and wine as symbols of his soon-to-be sacrifice on the cross. “this is my body (bread) broken for you... this is my blood (wine) shed for you.” Then they go to the Garden to pray, Judas betrays him, and on to the cross. But John’s Gospel devotes Chapters 13-17 to the Last Supper. He includes some key practices (foot washing) and key teachings (the Holy Spirit).
Regarding the foot washing, Jesus shocks his disciples by taking the role of a servant. Getting on his hands and knees, he literally washes each person’s feet in an act of abject humility and servanthood. Peter objects until Jesus upbraids him: “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
D. KEY POINTS
1. “I have SET YOU AN EXAMPLE that YOU SHOULD DO as I have done” (John 13:15). Jesus’ life was a constant teaching lesson. When he made a hated Samaritan the hero of his parable, had dinner with traitorous tax collectors, helped a Roman Centurion, cursed an unproductive fig tree, saved an adulterous woman from being stoned to death – Jesus was making a point, loud and clear. Likewise with washing the Disciples’ feet. He was doing humbling work that only the least person in a family would do. Then Jesus tells them (and us) that we should do as he had done. Humility and service. Helping others without arrogance. Realizing that all work and all workers can be sacred. America is caught up in a hard debate about police. Many police departments have the answer in their motto: “To Protect and To Serve.” Their work is to be an act, like Jesus’, of servanthood. For Christian ministry, the challenge is the same –to do all that is necessary with a humble spirit of servanthood.
2. “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1). This phrase begins a long chapter of comfort. Remember, this is during the Lord’s Last Supper. Betrayal and denial are in the air. Opposition all around. Death beckons. The Disciples are confused, worried, and fearful. So, Jesus tries to reassure them with, “Let not your heart be troubled.” He then adds two facts that they could not yet grasp. One, he was going to heaven “to prepare a place” for us. Two, he would leave the Holy Spirit with us as God’s ongoing power and presence in our lives. More on that next week. For today, let’s zero in on when our “heart be troubled.” We all face such troubles: family, work, health, relationships, doubts, angers and more. We have phobias and worries and disappointments. And death hovers over all of us, an eternal “trouble.” Jesus seeks to put our minds and hearts at ease, at peace. He has our eternity assured and ready. With the outcome no longer in doubt, we can concentrate on living life fully and rightly.
