John 13:1-38 LOVE ONE ANOTHER

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

In the last chapter, Mary doused Jesus’ feet with sweet perfume. Jesus regarded this great act of sacrifice as an anointing for his imminent suffering and death for the sins the world. It was one of the most blessed acts of love anyone had ever done for Jesus. It is usually Jesus who is the One sacrificing on the behalf of others. But Mary made history and sacrificed for Jesus. And it was not small sacrifice. She poured her all on him, with a heart full of gratitude for the One who would give his life for the forgiveness of her sins. She was a beautiful and unique woman who taught the whole world what pouring out one’s life for God means. In her act of sacrifice, the whole world witnessed the meaning of total self-sacrifice on Jesus’ behalf. In the presence of a room-full of proud men, and lacking any form of self consciousness or pride, Mary became a lowly servant kneeling before the Worthy One Jesus pouring perfume and drying it with her own hair. This act stuns us because we are unwilling to surrender our pride for anyone, sometimes not even for God himself. But she did, and in her act she taught us how to love God with our all. We can talk about this woman’s sacrifice forever and still have more to say. But it was a glorious intermission between two periods of Jesus’ life. It was the act that ended Jesus’ earthly ministry and the act that began Jesus’ suffering unto death. So Jesus accepted her act as part of the suffering he was about to undergo. He accepted it as an act of love. Love for God.

After this event, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. It was in fulfillment of prophecy. The prophesy said that the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Savior King would enter his capital city riding on a donkey. It was an act of supreme humility. But it confirmed to the world that Jesus had come to be our spiritual King. Jesus showed us what kind of King he would be. He would be the King of our hearts and of our lives. He would rule us according to the will of God, and he would lead us to his kingdom, somewhere far from this corrupt and sin-ridden world. After this, Jesus taught some Greeks as well as his own disciples the principle of life. Life begins at the moment of death. Life begins when a man surrenders his life as a single seed and decides to live no longer in selfishness but in self surrender, in self sacrifice, in humility of heart and in servantship to God and to all men. Only in death is there true life. And this became the principle by which God our Father wanted all his children to live by. The way of the Christian. The life which gives up its needs, wants, desires, hopes and dreams and all in order to make room for God’s will. And God’s will is that we all put aside life for self in order to live a life for God and for his glory. The teachings of chapter 12 are divine. They spell out the kind of life God wants us to live. When we examine the teachings again and again, we conclude that God loves us so much and that he wants us to love him so much as well. When we look at the last part of chapter 12 we see that the only people who would not believe Jesus nor learn from him the way of loving God and the way of sacrifice were the religious leaders. They had made something for themselves in this life, and they were unwilling to give up anything in order to fulfill the will of God. They claimed to love God but it seems that they only loved themselves. When Jesus saw their attitude, he wanted to make sure that his own disciples live the life which glorifies God. In chapter 13, Jesus teaches them and us how we can live a life that glorifies God.

What was on Jesus’ heart the night before his death? Love! To love is the most beautiful thing of all, because love is God’s character. In fact, God is love. And because of that, love is the power that conquers hearts. Love is ultimately the companion of the Christian in the life of faith and holy mission. Jesus had love on his heart even though he was about to be betrayed and forsaken by the very ones he had loved. How could he still love them? How could he still hope for them? How could he still teach them? It was the power of love working in his heart forever. In this passage, Jesus demonstrated his love for his disciples of all time, in a most beautiful way.

Look at verse 1a. Jesus knew that soon his suffering would begin, and he would have to offer his life for the sin of the world. But Jesus was not afraid of what he had to suffer. Jesus did not abandon his mission just because it was hard to do. Instead of fear, Jesus had faith in his heart. And he also had love in his heart—love for all people—love so strong that he was preparing to lay down his life for them. Jesus also loved his disciples with a special kind of love— love beyond human expression and beyond measure. John described this love in a unique way. Look at verse 1b. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” In his pain, Jesus was thinking about his disciples. He was not thinking about himself. He was thinking about how he can love them some more. These disciples were not so lovable. They were selfish and inconsiderate. But Jesus’ love for them did not change. Jesus continued to love them. His love for them had no conditions and no bounds. It was a beautiful kind of love!

Every human being wants to love and to be loved in return. But this kind of selfless love is not easily found. It is hard to find because we look for it in human love. And to our dismay human love is limited. Human love cannot properly reciprocate nor satisfy. Therefore we must not look for it in others since we cannot find it in others. We can find true love only in the Savior of men, in Jesus, who came to love us with true love and to fill our hearts with that same love— until we are satisfied with no other love— and until we have learned it and have also learned how to love with it. This is why we must yearn to taste this love of Jesus so that we may know it personally and in knowing it to learn to give it as well.

Jesus then wanted to teach his disciples what real love is all about. Read verses 4 and 5. The first thing Jesus did was to help his disciples understand the nature of God’s love. Simply, the nature of love is humility. Jesus is God. But he lived as a humble servant. He humbled himself and served sinners. He served us by dedicating his life to be our teacher and friend, to teach us the way of truth and the way of life. This is how he served us, humbly. Finally, he served us with his precious blood poured out on the cross to wash away our sins. This story of love through Jesus’ humble service is so beautiful— it has been told over and over again throughout the ages. And on that night, Jesus began to demonstrate it in a most simple act of love. It was the act of feet washing— an act of servantship. Feet washing was the symbol of a beautiful thing. It symbolized the washing of the disciples’ sins with his righteous blood. In that way Jesus revealed how much he loved them even to washing their sins away. Jesus teaches us that the nature of love is humility. To love, is to be humble enough to show that love through serving someone else other than ourselves. Paul tells us that “love is not proud.” (1Cor.13) Those who cannot humble themselves to serve others cannot love.

Look at verse 6. When Jesus came to Simon Peter to wash his feet, it was Jesus’ expression of love for an unlovely person like Peter. It was Jesus’ way of saying to him: “I love you.” It was also Jesus’ way of teaching proud Peter the extent of God’s love. At the same time, Jesus wanted Peter to learn this love. But Peter was not mature, nor was he humble enough to accept Jesus’ love. (6b-8a) So Jesus helped him accept it. Look at verse 8b. “Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’” Jesus’ words sounded serious and harsh. But they were words of life. What did he mean, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me?” Jesus was talking about relationships— and specifically he was talking about the life giving relationship between God and man.

Without a relationship with God, men are dead spiritually. To have a relationship with God is the most beautiful, most fundamental, and most essential thing to a human being, simply because God is our Creator and the sustainer of our life. Our relationship with God is the gateway to everlasting life and to the kingdom of God. How can we have a relationship with God? No one is born with an established relationship with God. The relationship is broken because of sin. And because of sin no one can have a relationship with God. Sin must first be forgiven. They have to be washed away. When sins are washed away, the broken relationship is mended— and we are reconciled with God. Jesus’ blood alone can wash our sins away and mend the broken relationship. When Jesus washed Peter’s feet, it was the symbol of washing his heart from the stain of sin— in order to bring him back to God. Peter needed to see this beautiful act of love and then humbly accept this grace for an unworthy sinner like himself. This grace should compel Peter to confess his sins to precious Jesus, and to receive his forgiveness and cleansing by faith. This grace should make Peter cry. This grace is the invitation to Peter and to all of us to a new life in God— to eternal life. This grace was the bond of love between him and Jesus. Without this grace, Peter could have no part with Jesus. So, Peter needed to give Jesus his feet for the washing— in other words, he needed to give Jesus his sins for the washing. When Peter heard Jesus’ words, he broke down and humbly surrendered his feet to Jesus. It was the same as confessing his sin to Jesus, admitting that he needed cleansing and washing in Jesus’ blood.

Read verse 14. “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” Jesus began to teach his disciples of all times, how to practice love— specifically the love that serves others. “You also should wash one another’s feet” is also symbolic of washing or cleansing from sin. Jesus wanted his disciples to learn from him the love that serves other’s sin problem. It didn’t mean that they could clean each others sins. But Jesus intended them to bear with, and to carry each other’s weaknesses and to serve each other’s sin problem in the name of Jesus and in his love. As the Bible says: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Col. 3:13-14) We can best wash each other’s feet by bearing each others’ weaknesses and by carrying each others sins in love. Those who cannot carry others’ burdens cannot love.

Jesus’ love is glorious! But look at how far it went that night. Look at verses 18-27. To share bread with someone is a symbol of a very close relationship between loved ones. Jesus had broken bread with his disciples for more than three years. They were all intimate and love and fellowship was deep and strong among them. Judas was one of them. Jesus and him were intimate friends— at least from Jesus’ point of view. (Ps.55:12-14) Judas had studied the word of God with Jesus who loved him dearly and prayed for him in earnest. But now a strange and terrible thing was about to happen. Judas was about to betray Jesus, his Friend. Why? He no longer wanted to walk the narrow way of the Christian life. The Christian life he was called to live became unappealing.

What did Jesus do with a traitor? Jesus loved him. Jesus’ love for him was so great. Jesus loved him and was willing to eat with him in sweet fellowship. In love, Jesus offered Judas a piece of bread. Biblically speaking, bread is the symbol of Jesus’ body broken for us sinners and the symbol of the covenant of his redeeming love with us. (1Cor.11:23-25) Therefore, when Jesus gave Judas the bread, Jesus was giving himself to Judas. It was Jesus saying to him, “I love you now more than ever. I love you enough to die for you.” As Jesus’ unconditional love extends to all sinners, Jesus’ love wanted to touch Judas’ heart too. But Judas’ heart was cold and distant. It was a heart so hardened by the harsh reality of the world that it became a heart insensitive to God and indifferent to his love. At the end, Judas who rejected Jesus’ love became the picture of a man’s life without Christ— empty and meaningless.

It is a foolish thing to reject God’s love in order to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of this world. In the sight of God, such a thing is the same as betraying Jesus. We must not become hardened by the worldly realities until we become numb to the grace of God. The Bible tells us “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...” (Heb.3:7)

Let’s think of Jesus who loved Judas to the end. Was this love in vain? Or was Jesus’ love defeated by the power of evil? No. Betrayal is a most painful thing that paralyzes the strongest of loves and embitters the noblest of souls. It leaves a scar that pines away in defeat and retreat. But we need to consider the love which conquers hearts and nations— love so strong— undefeated— indestructible— a love victorious. Humanly it was impossible for Jesus to love Judas, but he loved him anyway. It was a struggle to love him. But this struggle did not end in defeat; it ended in victory. It was the victory of love. Jesus loved him. Then he continued to love him. Jesus refused to stop loving him. He loved him from first to last even in betrayal. In that way, Jesus experienced the victory of love. We must all experience this victory of love.

Jesus turned his attention to his disciples to teach them the victory of love. Read verse 34. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” First, Jesus taught them that love must be victorious all around. This means that love must conquer the inner person and the outer world as well. We must conquer the inner person with love. In other words, love must rule our hearts. In order for love to rule our heart, we must overcome our emotions and submit them all to the power of love. We must conquer our anger, our hate, the spirit of vengeance and all other dreadful evils that well up in our hearts. We must overpower them with love. The Bible says in Gal.5:22-25: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” We must learn how to Love from God. It must be the fruit of a Spirit-filled life. Love must grow in our inner being— in our hearts until all the vicious elements of evil have been removed and the power of love makes its rule in our hearts. Humanly, our love is insufficient— and lacking. We need a new heart specially designed for love. For this reason we must ask God to help us through the Holy Spirit, for the Bible says that “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Rom. 5:5b) Yes, love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in the humble and repentant hearts.

And Jesus also teaches us what to do with the love he gives to those who have been touched by his grace and love. With this love he gives us we must also conquer the hostile world around us. A Christian is one who has brought to submission all his human and spiritual faculties under the power of love. Love must then become the driving force in our life, constantly prodding us to go further in love. As a result then, with love we must fight against our indifference towards others-- towards those who are suffering in the world. We must fight against our terrible Christian selfishness-- the selfishness that wants to care for only those whom we love and ignore the rest of the world. Instead we must learn to love the souls of our friends and of our enemies alike. In love we must not ignore their destitute and condemned souls, but rather weep for them to know the love of the Savior. We must have such love for the salvation of all souls. This is God’s love. How then can we love the world with God’s love? John tells us the secret in 1 John: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows of God. Whoever does not love does now know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us -- since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1Jn.4:7-12) Again he says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.... Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1Jn.3:16,18) May we grow in the love of God until we too can love.