GLANCING at the thirteenth to the seventeenth chapters of John’s Gospel, we observe that the words of the Lord recorded in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters were spoken within the house; those given in chapters fifteen and sixteen were uttered out of doors; while as the Lord breathed out those of the seventeenth chapter, He lifted up His eyes to heaven. In the four gospels it is frequently the case that the surroundings of the Speaker are used by the Holy Spirit as a kind of frame suitable for His words.
The seclusion of the guest-chamber was the appropriate place for the Lord to unfold to His disciples His gracious manner of surrounding Himself with them, and of making them at ease in His presence. And this home scene on earth was with Him a fitting introduction to His gracious thoughts of the Father’s house above, Himself there and His people with Him, at home.
The fourteenth chapter ends with His words, “Arise, let us go hence.” Afterwards, the Lord being out of doors, He taught His disciples by the vine and its branches, the true principle of fruit-bearing. The vine grows within a cared-for enclosure, and in this enclosure within the world, the Father, who is the
Husbandman, seeks from the true disciples of Christ fruit that shall abide forever. The world at large is the place for testifying in the power of God through the Spirit for an absent Christ, and with this burden the sixteenth chapter ends.
But there is more for us still to know. We are given to overhear the words which Jesus spike as He lifted up His eyes to heaven; words which express the heart of the Father and the Son and make the love known to us on earth.
Much, very much of that which is given to us in these five chapters is separated absolutely from man’s reasonings respecting how it came to the knowledge of the writer. Even the “eyewitnesses” of whom Luke speaks could not have recorded the greater part of that which is presented in these chapters, for in them the very thoughts and feelings of the Lord’s heart are opened out. And there is a divine appropriateness in the selection of the disciple whom Jesus loved for the vessel of the communication of this revelation to the Church.
The disciples in the guest chamber, as the Paschal feast proceeded, beheld Jesus rise from supper, lay aside His garments, and gird Himself; and their souls were filled with amazement. They could only interpret His ways by their own thoughts, and as the burning love of Peter proved, the interpretation was erroneous. Ways must be interpreted by thoughts. Even this act of sublime condescension in washing His disciples’ feet, has been divorced from His intention concerning it, until kings have advertised their humility by washing the feet of mendicants.
We said no mere tradition and no observation of eyewitnesses could supply us with the knowledge of the working of the heart of the Lord. And with the burden of His heart the inspired writer opens out to us the wonder of His ways. He “knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father. . . . Knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God and went to God.”
It is by pondering over these words we enter into the true significance of His ways.
Our Lord, in His condescension, was acting towards His disciples in the full consciousness of His eternal majesty; of His Father’s love and of the universal power the Father had put into His hands as Son of Man. His supreme greatness―human and divine―introduces to us His supreme grace to His people. Further, we read, “Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” He loved them to the very uttermost. His love, even His, could go no further, for it reached to the very limit of their individual need, whatever that need might be. Thus His greatness and His love, as they filled His heart, explain to us His act of washing His disciples’ feet.
Rising from the Paschal meal, that anticipatory picture of His death, He prepared to serve His disciples in such a way as to render them fit to repose in His presence. A moral fitness is requisite to enable man, even redeemed man, to be a companion of the Lord, whose holiness and whose love are infinite; and to produce this fitness, the Lord stooped to His service of washing the feet of His disciples. Then, having rendered them clean through His Word, He once more sat down amongst them, and began to teach them the, grace of His heart. He taught them how that there is a washing, or immersion, which needs no repetition, but that also there is a laving of the feet for which the need is frequent. This was the case with the Jewish priests, at their consecration and in their daily service. Once for all, the whole person was washed, or bathed, but constantly feet and hands had to be cleansed. Once for all the people of God are set apart and consecrated for Him, but constantly they need the purifying effects of His Word upon them, and nowhere more intensely than in their most holy service.
Now, when the Lord had taken again His garments, and had sat down amongst His disciples, He enquired, “Know ye what I have done unto you?” a question which we may repeat for ourselves! and one which every believer can answer, who is aware of the restoring hand of the Lord in bringing into hallowed fellowship with Himself. The Lord Himself, by the purifying action of His Word upon the heart, renders the heart morally capable of listening to Him. Jesus could sit down amongst His disciples, He was in their midst, and by His action in cleansing them, they could be at rest before Him in such a way as to be attentive to His words.
We have to remember that this action of Christ is preparatory to the reception by His disciples of His words recorded in the remaining chapters at which we have glanced.
“Ye call Me Master” (Teacher) “and Lord,” said Jesus: “and ye say well; for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master” (Teacher), “have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” How these words of Jesus indicate His close observance of our mode of addressing Him! They called Him Teacher first, Lord next. He spoke of Himself as Lord first, Teacher next. Most of His disciples in spirit place Him first as Teacher, and next as Lord. We love the sweetness of His teaching; do we as well love the force of His commands? We are inclined to place instruction first, and obedience second; the Lord places obedience first, and instruction after it. The necessity for our obedience is immense, only let us not forget that the obedience required is to Himself, and that it is impossible to obey more than one Lord. He was the obedient Son of the Father, and true resemblance to Christ expresses itself in truly obeying Him. We live in a day which has created a double difficulty for those who would live the Christian life, or live like Christ, walking as He walked. On one side there is a laxity as to obedience. “Do as you think best,” is the cry. But the servant is called to do as his lord thinks best, and is not permitted a will of his own. On the other side it is said, “Follow holy obedience” ―but the obedience rendered in this case is not to the One Lord, but to a human lord of the selection of “the children of holy obedience.” In each case the example of Christ is rejected.
Now our Lord and our Teacher declares to us, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” And there is, perhaps, no sacred service more difficult which a disciple of Christ can render upon this earth, than that of doing to His disciples as He has done to us. If we were to wash the feet of mendicants according to the pattern of medieval religion it would be easy work indeed! But a spiritual service is presented, and to pursue it the example of Christ must be followed. True Christian humility is the outcome of true Christian greatness. He who is morally exalted in the love of the Father and the Son can afford to go down in spiritual service to the need of Christian people. Even in the world, small-minded people cannot stoop, while great people do acts of lowly service, which become resplendent by the way in which they are done. The smiles of a queen and the gracious words of an emperor, call forth the admiration of multitudes, but, the nobility which is of God, bears upon it a still more excellent stamp, and calls forth eternal admiration. Only as filled with the Spirit of God can the disciple of Christ follow the example of his Lord and Teacher. “The servant is not greater than his Lord,” and certainly no servant of Christ stooped so low as did his Lord.
The hallowed service of removing from one another the stains of this world’s defilement is only to be attained by walking as Christ walked and following His example; and since this is the case, we may find in this principle the reason why so little of this service is enacted.
What a lovely picture of practical union we have in this guest chamber. Christ in the midst, and His disciples around Him, and made fit to bear Him company. Yet the scene was but a picture of the Father’s house and the unbroken circle of the children gathered there around Jesus. The picture of heaven was painted on the canvas of the earth. There was a betrayer in the guest chamber, and he was not clean. And not until he went out into the darkness was the Lord really free in spirit to pursue His gracious teaching, unfolding to His disciples deeper and deeper things of the love of the Father, the Comforter, and the Son. But the day is at hand when in the Father’s house above all the children shall be gathered around the One Lord, and shall rejoice in His love.