Sermon26-10 John13 Guide

John 13:1-17 theme verse John 13:14

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this fifth Sunday of the year 2026, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Until last week, we looked at that when God created heavens and earth, He created us in His image to have fellowship with us, as walking together with them and empowered us to have dominion over all His creation. Yet, this week, through John 13, we would like to see what the love is, which is the rule of dominion in His kingdom together.

1)    First, to look at the content of today’s text, John chapter 13,

it is said that our Lord, knowing that His time had come, loved His disciples to the very end, even on the night before He was arrested, to have the last Passover meal with His disciples.

Then, although not included in today’s text, He instituted the Lord's Supper and He rose, took off His outer garment, wrapped a towel around His waist, and washed the feet of His disciples.

After that, He prophesied that Judas Iscariot would betray Him and that Peter would deny Him three times and He gave them a new commandment to love one another.

Following this, as you all know, after He delivered His final farewell sermon and offered His high priestly prayer which we can see in the following chapters 14-17, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed, "May Your will be done," and then was arrested by the soldiers Judas Iscariot brought.

2)    Especially in today’s text, we would like to examine the meaning of washing of His disciples' feet. Yet, as opening today’s text, John said that “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.”

Here according to the today’s text, we can know that first, the meaning of loving them to the very end is that Jesus loved them even to the point of having the Passover meal with His disciples even at that night. In other words, despite knowing that He would suffer immense hardship in the next day and die a vicarious death on the cross, Jesus still had fellowship with His disciples, having the last supper with them, to comfort them, and to teach them.

Secondly, it means that He loved them to the point of washing their feet. In order to understand the context of this a little more, even though it was not mentioned in today's passage, Luke said in Lk 22:24-30 that a dispute happened among the disciples about who was the greatest, before Jesus foretold Peter's three denials and recorded Jesus told that "The greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves."

However, John omits the story of the disciples' dispute and instead recorded the event of washing feet in which during the meal, Jesus washed the disciples' feet, saying, "If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet."

Therefore, it's unclear to me whether the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest even after the Lord told them to "wash one another's feet," or whether John, through a symbolic act of washing the feet, and Luke, through direct writing of His teaching, were trying to explain the lesson Jesus gave to the disciples who were disputing.

Nevertheless, through today's passage, we can see that the Lord loved his disciples so much that He even washed their feet.

And thirdly, we can see that our Lord loved even the disciples who would betray Him to the end as John recorded in verse 2 that "the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,” and the thought of betraying Jesus," and in verse 10 & 11, that the Lord said, "You are clean, but not all of you," for He knew who was to betray Him. And also He loved Peter to the end who initially insisted that Jesus could not wash his feet and also who would later deny Him three times.

3)    Secondly, I think we need to look more closely at Peter's impulsive reaction and Jesus' words. I mean,

When Jesus was washing the disciples' feet one by one, and it was Peter's turn, Peter asked, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus replied, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." And then despite this, Peter stubbornly refused, saying, "You shall never wash my feet!"

So Jesus said, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me."  This time, Peter changed his mind and said, "Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head!" But our Lord who is patient explained, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean."  And then, Jesus could wash Peter's feet.

In this instance, we can know that Peter, instead of seeking to understand the meaning of Jesus washing his feet, was caught up in his own thoughts and failed to grasp Jesus' intention, even stubbornly refused.  Of course, his intention stemmed from a desire to honor Jesus so that Jesus shouldn't have to wash his dirty feet. However, this example shows us that we should seek seek God's will first rather than relying on our own understanding, even when we could not understand God’s direction.

4)    Furthermore, there are a few points we need to clarify regarding Peter's conversation with the Lord too. I mean,

first, I think we need to understand the meaning of "bathing" and "washing of feet." So, based on His saying in verse 7 that "You do not understand now what I am doing, but later you will understand," we can connect both with future event, specifically the atonement ministry of the cross.

Yet, considering John 15:3, saying, "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you," and verse 10, where the Lord distinguished “already bathed" and “washing of the feet”, and  also considering the cultural context of that time, I mean, when guests invited to a feast would bathe beforehand, yet when their feet would get dirty walking on muddy roads, a servant at the feast would typically wash their feet, we can understand "already bathed" as referring to those who have been cleansed and made holy by the washing of water through the word, based on the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross as Eph 5:26 says, and “washing feet” as that those who sin again due to the weakness of the flesh after this cleansing must then come to the Lord to be forgiven and cleansed their daily sins, as 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

And also, in this case, as some scholars interpreted, we can understand the phrase that "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me" in verse 8 to mean that we will not have fellowship with the Lord, I mean, not sharing the benefit of the kingdom of God, rather than ”we will lose our salvation," as others interpreted.

In summary, we can know that Peter "had already bathed," yet, if he did not continue to wash his feet, his daily sins, he could not enjoy fellowship with the Lord.

5)    Anyhow, after all these twists and turns, our Lord, who washed the feet of his disciples, even including Judas Iscariot, said to them, "If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet," as He set an example of service for them.

However, here we encounter another dilemma. I mean, even though we can wash each other's feet, yet we cannot wash away sins of others as the Lord did. So I think we need to understand what the Lord's command to "wash one another's feet” means.

First, we can understand it as a message to serve each other humbly. I mean, on the night of the Last Supper, to the disciples who were still disputing about who was the greatest, the Lord wanted to give instruction that ​​”the greatest among you should be your servant” as Luke 22:26 says.

Yet I think we need to find some more meaning of washing each others' dirty feet. I mean, even though we cannot wash away the sins of others as the Lord did, yet if we found someone has sinned, we can forgive them, as taught in the Lord's Prayer. Or if we expand on the meaning of it a little further, when we know that the feet of His disciples have become dirty, we can practice the love to accept him and cover each other’s shortcoming or weaknesses, even correcting their sin in love, as Peter who made lots of mistakes and even sins said in 1 Peter 4:8, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

In summary, our Lord commandment to love one another means to wash each other’s feet to be a servant to each other.

6)    That’s why Robert Greenleaf in his book “Servant Leadership” said that

“the great leader is seen as servant first, and that simple fact is the key to his greatness” after quoting the story of Leo from Hermann Hesse’s ‘Journey to the East’ who accompanies the party as the servant who does their menial chores, but who also sustains them with his spirit and his song, yet after Leo disappears, the group falls into disarray and they journey is abandoned. But after some years of wandering, when they met again Leo they found Leo was in fact the titular head of the Order, its guiding spirit, a great and noble leader.

In that perspective, we, Christians, have to check whether we have love, even when we deliver up our body to be burned and also whether our love is expressed as the humble serving,

while always asking the question “Are you known as a servant to those whom you serve?”

7)    Therefore, in verses 16 and 17, the Lord said, “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.”

The Greek word translated as "blessed" here, μακάριος (makarios), means blessed, happy, or privileged.

Just as the Master and Sender humbly said, "I am among you as one who serves," rather than expecting to be served, He was saying that those who humbly serve will ultimately experience the happiness and joy of service.

8)    So as Paul said, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, saying “It is more blessed to give than to receive” in Acts 20:25, helped the weak, by working hard, I pray that in this new year, as our Lord taught us new commandment to love one another is to wash one another’s feet, we may serve each other humbly, embrace, accept and forgive each other’s weakness to fulfill the law of love of Christ.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that to love one another which our Lord gave us as new commandment can be to have fellowship with each other, while having a dining fellowship, and to wash each other’s feet. So, after reflecting our life and thinking about whether we live in that love, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And also, we became to know that to wash each other’s feet means not only to serve each other humbly, but also to accept and cover each other’s weakness and imperfectness. So after reflecting your life and meditating how that kind of life can impact to our daily life, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.