I'm glad you have a high and lofty pulpit, because this is the only way I can get my wife to look up to me. I tried to get her to sit right down there, but she wouldn't do it. One of the difficulties from my perspective in coming as it were, a stranger into your midst to unfold for you something of the Word of God, is what to say, what text to pick. It helps a little bit that we are coming into Easter week. It's not Palm Sunday, but the penultimate Sunday before Palm Sunday. And so that helps a little bit narrowing down the text that is appropriate at least for the church calendar. Another thing that is helpful is I like the Gospel of John. I like John because in large measure he's out of sync with all the other Gospels. 90% of everything that's written in the Gospel of John is unique to his gospel. Only 10% is found in what we call the synoptic gospels, or Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Another thing about John that's a standout is what he doesn't say. For example, in the Gospel of John, no record of Jesus' baptism, temptation in the wilderness. Surprisingly, when we come to that great notable sacrament which we observe on a regular basis, what we call the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper, it seems at first reading that John just simply overlooks it. We come into the upper room in chapter 13, and we find a foot washing, something that we have not embraced as a ordinance or a sacrament, although there are a few groups that have done just exactly that, like the Seventh-day Adventists or the Plymouth Brethren, I should say. They observe that as an ordinance from the Lord. A number of reasons why we don't, but John uses this as a segue into what's referred to as the Farewell Discourse, chapters 14, 15, and 16 of the Gospel. The book itself is unique in that there are no events in his life that John describes as miracles. He refers to them rather as signs. So sometimes the book of John or the Gospel of John is referred to as the book of signs and the book of discourses. You have these seven signs and then followed on with a discourse, an explanation. What does this sign, in fact, point to? How does it point to who Jesus is and what is he about and what's his business? I like John because he's very clear and very articulate from the beginning to the end. He builds his case that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is, in fact, the only Savior of the world. He is our gracious Lord. And at the very end, in John chapter 20, or just before the epilogue in 21, he tells you why he's written all these things. I've written these things. Might have written a great deal more, but I've written these things so that you might believe, that you might know that Jesus is the Christ, and knowing that, that you might believe in him and that you might have a life in his name. And this is the point that Jesus makes in John's Gospel all the way through, over and over and over and over again, he beats the drum of who he is. The most famous verse, most well-known verse in all of scripture For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John is this apostle of love. He's the one who is unnamed, but we deduce from the text that he is the beloved, the one that Jesus for whom he had special affection. He uses the word love more than any other of the New Testament writers, some 90 times making reference to it. And yet in the same context, he's one who is absolutely captivated by the sovereignty of God and that there is this great division between the world in which we inhabit, and those who are his own, those whom he loves, those whom he has set apart from the foundation of the world itself to the very end of time, those who belong to him and who are objects of his special love. And so you see this war. that begins at the very beginning of the gospel. And the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And he goes on and he says that this Word has been incarnate. It's light. It has come into the world, and the world cannot overpower it. He is greater than that. He is a light, and light dispels the darkness. But this motif of light and darkness, this good and evil, permeates. It's one of those threads that runs through the whole of the gospel. I love John for his simplicity. I remember as a young Christian, the man who confronted me with the gospel in a way that I needed to be confronted because I am something of a troublemaker. And I was in a college career group, and I was listening to all this pablum, this prattle that was coming out of people's mouths, things that they had just heard and were repeating by rote. And every time one of these little sayings would come out, I would goad the person, undermine their faith. And Bill Kord was there, sharp fellow, knew scripture inside and out. And he said, Gary, if you are a Christian, why do you take such perverse pleasure in undermining everybody's faith? And it was the goad. that pricked my heart. And I went back to my barracks. I was in the Air Force at the time. 50 men in the room. I got down on my knees by my bed, my rack, and I said, Lord, I'm actually not sure, but I want to be sure. So from that point on, July the 12th, 1964, to this day, it has been Christ and Christ alone. I told Bill Korr the next day, and he said, fine, let's meet every day after class in chapel, and I'll mentor you. And one of those things that early Christians or young Christians have is they say, read the Gospel of John. It's so simple. And so I thought it was until I started reading the Gospel of John and had read it 20 or 30 times, started to probe into it, look into it, study it in seminary, and find that there are nuances here and threads that run throughout the whole of the Gospel that tie it together in an absolutely divinely authored sort of way. And so when we come to this text, and you're wondering if I'm ever going to read Scripture, this is all just introductions. There is no clock in here, so I'm not constrained by time. And if there were a clock, you know what it means when a minister looks at his watch? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. So we come to the text, John 13, the upper room, no Eucharist, but yet the very events that happen here are events that John has already laid the foundation for that point to Jesus as our Messiah, our Savior, our Redeemer. In chapter 2, you recall the wedding at Canaan. He changes water into wine. And his mother had come to him and provoked him. He said, there's no more wine. And Jesus responds to him. He says, woman, what does that have to do with me? My time, my hour has not yet come. And so he repeats this phrase periodically throughout these few chapters leading up to chapter 13. And this is how it opens. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. And then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that he had wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? And Jesus answered him, what I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. And Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him. And that was why he said, not all of you are clean. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should also do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate My bread and has lifted his heel against Me, I am telling you this now before it takes place. And when it does take place, you may believe that I am He. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the One I sent receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the one who sent me." After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.' The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at the table at Jesus' side. So Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, Lord, who is it? And Jesus answered, it is he whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. And so when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And when he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. And Jesus said to him, what you are going to do, do quickly. Now, no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. It was night. That's how we started the Gospel, light and darkness. And there is in the midst of all that we do and all that we experience in life and all that we find in the Gospels, this conflict between light and darkness, between good and evil. It's what the prophet Isaiah has prophesied in the introduction to his great prophetic book that we will call evil good and good evil. It's what Apostle Paul talks about when he says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. There's a conflict that is going on. It rages in and out. We are a people who are bombarded by a society in its politic, in its entertainment, in its education that has confused right and wrong. The simplest things. We do not even know how to identify gender, which you were referring to for a woman's conference coming up this morning. We are gender confused, something that should seem plain and simple. Jesus faced a conflict because he came and he declared who it was that he is. And it said in chapter 8, unless you believe that I am the one who I claim to be, you'll die. It's not what you want to believe about him, but what does he say about himself? That's what you're required to believe. That's what you're required to accept. And that's what Judas couldn't come to grips with. Judas remained in the darkness. He was chosen precisely because he was not chosen. He was set apart to stay in the condition in which he was found. That's why John earlier in chapter 3 verse 36 and chapter 5 verse 24 and 25, he says, if you don't believe, then the wrath of God remains on you. You are born into this dilemma, and it stays. The love and the mercy and the grace of God is evidenced because he loves us while we are sinners. While we are his enemies, he lays down his life for us. John, like Paul, understands this great divide that separates us. And Jesus has been instructing his disciples. He's been preaching and teaching the masses. But now as we come to the end of his life, the focus narrows. And he's dealing with the 11. in the upper room, those who are objects of his peculiar and special affection and love, those whom he has set apart and entrusted to them the good news, the gospel, and so wants to instruct them. And understand what has happened just prior to this. In fact, coming back again, this is part of the difficulty of coming in for one Sunday, because any text has to have a context. So we're only looking at here, but trying to give you the broader context. It is only in the Gospel of John that we see that his ministry is three years, is three references to Passovers, different Passovers. In the synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, You could read that and easily see Jesus' ministry was one year long. There's no way to identify a period of time. It's only in John that we see that it's three or three and a half years in length. And all of this is compressed into just a very few chapters in which these signs are pointing to who Jesus is. And so you come to chapter 10, and Jesus in chapter 10 is what? I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. These are part of the I am sayings. I am the door. I am the gate. In chapter 11 we see really the end. Here 50% everything else that follows is leading up to the passion of Christ whose death is resurrection. You'll be celebrating or observing on Maundy Thursday service and that great Black Friday and the seven words of the cross. is burdened by this. He's marked by this. He's perhaps the youngest of the disciples. And as a young man, his life is unalterably changed because of his association with Jesus. And he's the one that tells us so much of what happened and what was said on the event leading up to that night, which he unfolds for us. In this upper room, Jesus now, with this image of the suffering servant of Isaiah, has now become our suffering servant, who ministers to us and who cleanses us. And don't miss the reading, because John is is replete with this double entendre. He's constantly given double meanings and triple meanings to words and to images. And so when he talks about cleansing, it's not just the outward cleansing. It's the inward cleansing. It's the Spirit of God who comes upon us and washes us and changes us and transforms us and gives us a new mind and a new heart. This is the cleansing that he's talking about. And he has in mind this image of Jesus, the Messiah, I love the passage, and I say I'm going to read it. You know it, but I'm going to read it anyway. Chapter 52, beginning with verse 13. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted, as many were astonished at you. His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and from his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told them, they see. And that which they have not heard, they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, is one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. With his wounds, we are healed. Oh, we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb, he was led to the slaughter, like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with a wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many. And he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. And yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors." This is the image that John has in his mind and in his heart. He has read the songs of the servant that lead up to this passage in Isaiah. And this is Jesus. And Jesus has this in his mind as he takes off his outer garment and washes the feet of his disciples. Disciples for whom Peter is a spokesman who says, you can't do this. This is not proper protocol. This is not what Jews do for one another. We have sermons for this. right for you to mean yourself in such a way. How is it that you come down from position as rabbi, honored, respected? Here's the one who has confessed him as the Christ, not fully understanding all that this means, but now Jesus is embodying for him. What does it mean to be the suffering servant? And so he tells them, if I don't wash you, you have none of me. He'd been rebuked earlier. Get thee behind me, Satan. You do not understand what I'm about. And once again, he, along with the other disciples, are being taught who Jesus really is. The servant, the incarnate of God, as John clearly, articulately tells us in John 1.14. who has tabernacled among us, that is, sent his tent over us, and we have beheld his shekinah, his glory. And so Peter immediately, as his heart has always been tender, responds to the rebuke and says, well then, wash all of me. And Jesus here assures him, actually, Peter, I have washed you. I am going to wash you with my blood. But the reality is you will continue to sin. You are, to put it in Pauline language, you are justified. You are declared righteous because my blood imputes to you a righteousness, a goodness that is not your own. It's mine. So you're okay in God's sight. He looks at me. He doesn't look at you. But there needs to be course correction along the way. You need to wash your feet. You need to repent of sin. You need to continue in, again, Pauline language, this sanctification process, this being set apart to holiness, this righteous living, doing that which is pleasing and honoring to God. I need to wash your feet, Peter. And of course, Peter gives himself to that. He goes on and now declares, there is in the midst of this holy place, this upper room, this sanctified gathering, a darkness that's here. So not all of you are a part of me. Jesus knew from the beginning. Remember how when Nathanael came, the end of John chapter 1, he says, behold, a man in whom there is no dissimulation or no guile, no deception, is a true Israelite. And he says, well, how is it that you know me? He says, are you marveling that I say before I saw you sitting under the fig tree I knew you? Just like when he says to the Pharisees in chapter 8, Before Abraham was, I am. He takes this divine name, this ego, a me, upon himself. He is the tetragrammaton. He is the unpronounceable name of God incarnate. So here he declares, this is who I am. And John has been setting this forth, beating it like a hammer throughout this whole gospel. And so he says, if you receive me, you receive the one who sent me. Powerful, powerful statement of the Trinity, God incarnate. And a dividing line between light and darkness, good and evil, right and wrong. How often is it that when we come to these moments where we struggle, we come to this place of an encounter with God in some extraordinary way. And we know that we have been met by the living God. And our life in some way has been utterly transformed. And immediately thereafter, there is a conflict, there is a trouble, there is a grabbing, there is a turning away, a temptation. Come away with me. Come away with me. There's some naysayer in the group, like I was a naysayer in this college career group, troubling people in their spirit, bringing doubt. Is this really the living God? Is this really the Christ? who redeems and sanctifies and makes holy. Or is there another way? And Judas Iscariot is in the room. And Jesus says he is troubled. And so how does he deal with it? He confronts it. He says, this is what has been ordained by God. This is Isaiah chapter 53. It is God who was pleased. Terrifying word. It was God who was pleased to put him to death because of his great love for his own beauty and his own holiness and his own righteousness, that he might redeem for his people those who are eager to know him and to do what is right and do what is good. So. God has ordained this. You are the vehicle for that, Judas. Whatever it is you are to do, do it now and do it quickly. And he goes out. And John ends this scene in the room with these words. And it was night. You're going to come. It's a good Friday. And in a typical service, it starts well lit, but it ends in darkness, for it is night. And we await the resurrection, the glory, the light of the living Christ, who's come to bring you to Himself, a people who are His very own, eager to do that which is good, Jesus. Our Living Lord, Suffering Servant, who sets for you a model, an example, like He told His own disciples, what you have seen Me do, it's an example of what you are to do. You lay down your life because the Gospel is being entrusted to you. What are you doing with it? You are a servant. You will be rejected, you will be ridiculed, you will be despised, but you will be loved by God. The great servant leaders of the ages are not so concerned about how well they are received by the people to whom they minister as they are concerned about how they are received by the one they serve. Who is it that we serve? And is he pleased with us? Let's pray. Gracious Father, you are the living God, the author and the perfecter of our salvation. Keep us, Father, for we cannot keep ourselves, a people who are set apart to honor you, to serve you, to glorify you in this time and for all eternity. And we thank you in Christ's holy name. Amen.