vs 1
John is setting up the scene here, but instead of setting it up with its situation, he is setting it up with its meaning. Quite a difference to how we do things. We like things to be suspenseful, they like things to be clear? That's probably too simplistic.
vs 2
Had Judas actually done the deed and gone and spoken to the Pharisees and agreed yet? I don't think he had. Of course, there is some hindsight going on here, because the book is written after the fact, and obviously Jesus would have known, being Jesus, but was it obvious, even in hindsight, to the others?
vs 3
Jesus knew more than just what Judas was thinking - he had the big picture in mind.
vs 4
So he's basically in his undies. It is probably a very servant-looking sight.
vs 5
And here Jesus actually does the act that the last 4 verses have been pointing ahead to. So we can see this is done out of love for the disciples, because he knew about Judas, and because he knew God had given him all things. His response is a servant one. Not typical, is it?
vs 6
Seems a dumb question, if he'd already done other people's. Well done Peter, you always come out on top in the brains department.
vs 7
Jesus simply tells him the truth. And you would think, upon Jesus' statement, that Peter would accept it, shut up, and let him do it.
vs 8
So the first thing Peter does is rebuff him. And Jesus says, fairly, that if you can't accept what he's doing, you can't accept him.
vs 9
So then, instead, Peter vascillates the other way, and misreads what Jesus is doing, and wants a whole bath, thinking this is some sort of cleansing.
vs 10
Well, that's quite a statement. This is not for cleansing. It is for love, fellowship and because he is God. It is a physical picture of what Jesus is all about. The "not all of you" reference is obviously about Judas. So because he is not clean, it lets us know what Jesus means by the rest of them being clean.
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4 comments:
Don't forget that part of the symbolism of what is going on is that the washing of the feet in that culture was an act of hospitality. When you went to someone's house, one of the ways they would greet and make you welcome is by having your feet washed (unless you were a rude Pharisee like Simon in Luke 7:36-50). Christ is symbolically welcoming them into his "home" - I don't think it's a stretch to take that spiritually and say that's the kindgom. And he chose the one act of hospitality assigned to literally the lowest of the low; the foot-washing slave was the absolute bottom class of human in that culture: the foot was the filthiest part of the body and washing it was the rankest, most disgusting job anyone could do. Period. Full extent of his love indeed! I guess he means it when he says to put others above ourselves!
waxlahcx.
Madam, you go to far!
Seriously, I actually thought I had mentioned the humility thing, but reading it again I think I just assumed everyone knew it. How odd of me.
But I think you go too far with the "welcoming into the kingdom" guff.While I would not argue with footwashing being a sign of hospitality per se, your application of it to this situation is flawed.
See, it was also common for a master or teacher to have his feet washed by his students, and that was seen as an honour and deference thing, not a hospitality thing. The logical conclusion of my statement is that Jesus is deferring to the disciples, showing his role as a servant, but also showing his love for them. The conclusion of your statement is that Jesus is welcoming them into the kingdom, including Judas Iscariot. I know which one I'll follow.
Well, I don't think you can take it as a stand-alone symbol - I just think it can have that conotation. I think it certainly needs to be taken in context of being "clean", "although not every one of you".
xgyrjqjq - these just keep getting better and better.
Ahh yes, but Jesus says that they are already clean. The washing of feet is not a ceremonial cleansing, as Peter thought it was - Jesus says he was already clean. So their cleanness (or not, in the case of Judas) is not the issue.
You say that you don't think it's a stretch to say he's welcoming them home to the kingdom. I say it is a stretch. We'll have to agree to disagree - you on the one side, me and Don Carson on the other :)
I've got it on good authority that he says "gjluwgo"!
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