Something new for us John 13:34,35

I think most of us like getting new things.  In John 13, Jesus gave us something new.  I think a lot of us don’t really understand the full impact of what He gave us.

The chapter begins in a very unusual way.  Before Jesus does anything here, John describes the setting.  He names 6 things, depending on how you count them, that had taken place, which all seemed to play a part in Jesus doing what He did at this time. 

You can read them yourself, but then Jesus gets up from dinner, takes off his outer garment, like we would take off our shirt, wraps a towel around him, pours water into a small bowl, and then starts washing the disciples’ feet.  They’re all leaning on couches around a low table with their feet behind them. 

When He finished, he put His shirt back on and joined them at the table again.

Then He said to them, “Do you know what I just did to you? ¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right,  I am. ¹⁴ If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ For I gave you an example that you also should do just like I did to you.”

This reminds me of Philippians 2, where Paul says: Philippians 2:3–7 (NASB95)

³ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. ⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, . .

 . .

In verse 4, where Paul says not to merely look out for your own interests, the word ‘merely’ is in italics.  That means that the translators added the word.  It is not found in the original Greek.   Paul wrote literally, do not look out for your own interests. 

Most translators thought he could not have meant that, so they added the word merely.  A lot or most of the modern translations do not bother to add the italics, so you don’t know that the translators added the word.  That’s why I prefer to use the New American Standard translation.   I think translators need to tell the readers that.

But that’s not our focus here now. 

In this passage Paul also talks about Jesus humbling Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.  But that isn’t our focus here either.

Our focus is on verse 5, where Paul said that we should have this attitude in us which Jesus also had, that although He existed in the form of God, He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave. 

Jesus’ death on the cross had nothing to do with taking the form of a slave.  The only time I see where Jesus did that is here in John where He washed the disciples’ feet.

And what was this new thing that Jesus gave us?  It was a new commandment: yippee, right?  John 13:34–35 (NASB95)

³⁴ “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

So Jesus humbled Himself to take the form of a slave in caring for each other.  And He wants us to love each other like He loved us.

But there’s more here that we must not leave out.

In Philippians, where Jesus is said to have humbled Himself to the point of death, Paul says that THEREFORE, FOR THIS REASON God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven above and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Five times in the Bible, it says in various forms, that everyone who humbles Himself will be exalted.  Matthew 23:12, Luke 14:11, Luke 18:14, James 4:10, I Peter 5:6.  They also say that if you exalt yourself, you will be humbled.  But God is well pleased to exalt the humble and promised to do so.

Maybe people have a problem with the word ‘commandment.’  It sounds like a person giving orders because they are in charge and they don’t want you to forget it.  Well, that’s true, but He’s not commanding anything that He didn’t do Himself.  And still does. 

When the Bible talks about Christ’s love for us, we tend to put it in a box and label it, Jesus died on the cross for our sins to bring us salvation.  But Jesus washing their feet had nothing to do with salvation. 

Washing their feet was such a small thing in a way.  Their feet were going to get dirty again as soon as they walked back outside.  But His love extends far beyond just some future salvation but to our lives here and now.  The small things as well as the large.  He’s not asking, or telling, us to do anything that He didn’t first do Himself. 

The good thing about commandments is the clarity.  If He had worded them like proverbs, some people wouldn’t take them as seriously, saying that that is only how things usually work.

 

The hard part for a lot of people is seeing God’s commandments as our creator telling us that this is how life works.  They are not arbitrary rules or even just good advice.  They are part of God’s instruction manual telling you how to get the best use of the product, which is us.