The Washing of Peter

We interrupt this program to bring you a short character study of Peter in the Gospel of John…

Basic Idea: If Peter the dedicated follower of Jesus is going to continue to follow, it will only be through continually returning to Jesus for washing.

A couple of sketches of Peter and the events John recounts to us about him: He is dedicated to Jesus and would even die for (11:16 presumably; 13:36–37) this one who has the words of life (6:68).  Peter is willing to go to great lengths, even dying for him (18:10), to save him Jesus descending from his high estate (13:6-8–the master serving!?”).  Peter is instructed by Jesus that he must return to Jesus to have his feet cleansed (13:9).  Peter denies that he is a follower of Jesus when it means following him to the cross (18:15-18, 25-27).  NOTE: he does not deny the Lordship of Jesus, only that he is a follower.  He sees the empty tomb (20:2-9)

When Peter originally declares his willingness to die for Jesus, Jesus does not deny that Peter will also be crucified.  He does however tell him that he is not yet ready (13:36 “…you cannot follow me now, but you will later.”).  At the end of the story, following Jesus washing of Peter, he again reaffirms his invitation to Peter to follow him to the cross (21:18-22) which he had previously escaped through denial (ch. 18).

And so, if Peter the dedicated follower of Jesus is going to continue to follow, it will only be through continually returning to Jesus for washing.  The remaining question for me is, Who will wash Peter’s feet?  What are Jesus’ instructions on the matter?

So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example – you should do just as I have done for you.  I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17)

Yes, the foot washing is an example of service, but Jesus (in his discussion with Peter) has also invested it with a profound spiritual reality.  So, as followers of the Servant King, we bring his presence not by bringing forgiveness (“a messenger is not great than the one who sent him”), but by washing each other with and bringing each other back to the Gospel we so regularly fail to believe.

How do we as believers carry out this washing?  As others New Testament authors have put it,

Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man has great effectiveness. (James 5:16)

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:25-27)

And again, with Peter,

But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong…But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal. 2:11, 14)

Peter’s life declares his disbelief in the Gospel and Paul confronts him on it, washing him and drawing him back to Jesus, the Servant King, at whose Table all find provision!

This Old Man: He wrote four

John 3:22-36 (NIV)

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. ²⁴(This was before John was put in prison.) ²⁵An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰He must become greater; I must become less.

³¹“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. ³³The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

Here again we have a text that is not often misquoted, but often misused. When it is used, it is so often not really understood what it means. Jesus must become greater, I must become less. First of all, He is greater. He does not have to become greater, He is greater. Now I understand that when this is used, people, (including myself) are talking about a pride thing we have. When I am seated on the throne of my life, I put myself in a position that I should not be in. And in that context, there may be a reason to use this. However, I believe that there are much better Scriptures to use, ones that speak of humbling yourself in the sight of the Lord.

Now why do I say that. Simply because there is something greater going on here. First of all, what we read in this passage is not about John being prideful, lifting himself up, seating himself on the throne. John is actually testifying to the greatness of this One who comes after him. He is testifying of the greatness of the Son of God. This is the one who had been prophesied, promised. He is the bridegroom come to claim His bride. John has been sent ahead to prepare the way for Jesus. Now that Jesus has come, John is filled with JOY, not because he was the center of attention, but because the bridegroom has come. John is full of JOY because Jesus is successful.

John was willing to go all the way to death in the light of this joy. We read in other gospels, that just before his death, he had some doubts and sent to find out if this joy was was misplaced or was still valid. Jesus sends back the word that all that had been promised, was in fact, being fulfilled. John could die with joy.

It is just at this point we need to realize what this text is talking about. Not just simply humbling yourself, stepping off the throne but still remaining in the throne room. No, it is about getting out of the way and letting Jesus get to work. It is about dying. Dying to self, dying of self, DYING!!! It is about letting the plan, promise and purpose of God be fulfilled. It is about taking up crosses, it is about a radical way of life, that says not only, “take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee,” but says, “Take my life!” If that is what is needed for your plan, promise and purpose to be fulfilled, then so be it! That is what John is saying here. Whatever it takes Lord, I will do.

Becoming Blind and Gaining Sight…at the same time

Here are some brief notes from last night’s study in John 9 at the youth Bible study.

At the end of a fairly long chapter of dialogue and debate this short interchange between Jesus and some Pharisees takes place:

[Jesus] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may become blind.”  Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains.” (John 9:39-41)

Working backwards from this (not surprisingly) masterful ending to John 9, through the lens of characterization here’s what I find:

The Disciples -

In this chapter long snapshot the disciples make a brief appearance, affording them just enough time to stick their collective foot in their mouth. “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind this man or his parents?” (John 9:2).  Essentially, the disciples are flat (one-dimensional), static (unchanging) characters within the pericope.  With no input in the developing story, the disciples provide only a split-second example of the blindness Jesus will close the chapter commenting on.  However, don’t let size of their role fool you on the importance of their statement!

The Blind Man’s Parents

I haven’t quite figured these people out yet, but they seem to be yet more flat, static characters exhibiting blindness, though they seem also to be a foil character for the blind man and his response to Jesus.

The Blind Man

While I think the blind man is still a flat character, having only to do with things relating to blindness and sight.  At the same time, however, the blind man does introduce the first dynamic character in the chapter, as he journeys from physical blindness to spiritual sight.  On top of the blind man’s descriptions of his healing (9:11, 15), here are the blind man’s descriptions of Jesus:

“I don’t know” [where Jesus is] John 9:12

“He is a prophet” John 9:17

“I do not know whether he is a sinner.  I do know one thing – that although I was blind, now I can see.” John 9:25

Jesus is “from God” John 9:30-33,

“Lord, I believe” 35-38

Besides this obvious journey from blindness to sight, the blind man also asks a somewhat ambiguous and overtly sarcastic question of the Pharisees which may be seen as a confession: ”You people don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?” (John 9:27).  Which leaves me asking, “Is the blind man not already Jesus’ disciple?”

The Pharisees

Making the opposite journey from sight to spiritual blindness, are the Pharisees.  It could be debated whether or not these characters are flat or round (I lean toward the latter), though they seem to be pretty one-dimensional in this chapter.  Moving through the chapter we see the Pharisees choosing to see less and less, even as their reactions to people become more and more violent (John 9:15, 18, 22, 24, 28, 34)

“the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight” John 9:15

“there was a division among them [about Jesus]” John 9:16

“again they asked  the man, ‘What do you say about him since he caused you to see?’” John 9:17

“Now the Jewish religious leaders refused to believe that he had really been born blind? John 9:18

“The Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.” s a John 9:22

“We know that this man is a sinner” John 9:24

“They heaped insults on him saying…” John 9:28

“They replied, ‘You were born completely in sinfulness, and yet you presume to teach us?’  So they threw him out” John 9:34 (finally demonstrating their complete blindness through recapitulating the disciples’ initial blind statement in 9:2)

Finally they end with the statement of blindness which incites Jesus’ concluding statement which makes sense of the rest of the chapter: “We are not blind too, are we?”