Thursday in the Fourth Week of Easter, May 4, 2023

John 13, 16-20

When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

“Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.”  The Lord Jesus customarily begins his teachings with a simple statement which all can agree on, and then he builds upon it, revealing profound truths.  Here, to teach about the meaning of the sign of the foot washing, he states basic facts about slaves, masters, and messengers.  The Apostles listen intently because the foot washing was unexpected and frankly jarring and they want to know what it was all about: “I being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also” (John 13, 14-15).  This demonstration of Christian leadership differed greatly from the political and religious leadership the Apostles — and indeed, all people — had known before.  The Lord Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and so his followers must strive to serve rather than expect service, and this particularly meant those called to lead the Church.  

“If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.”  The Apostles would have struggled with this new understanding of the purpose of leadership but they accepted it through grace.  They also practiced it, laying down their lives for the sake of converting the people of the world to the Gospel so that they might be saved.  The contrary here would be: If you understand this, and you do not do it, you will not be blessed: “I am not speaking of all of you.”  Judas understands as well as any of the other Apostles, but he is out to serve himself, not the Lord.  “I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, ‘The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.’ ”  That is, he knows his Apostles, those whom he chose, from the beginning of time.  They hide nothing from him: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, O Lord, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139, 1-4). The Lord quotes from Psalm 41, 9 to show that he knows what Judas will do.  The Lord gives Judas many chances to back away from his terrible betrayal during and even after the Last Supper, but Judas persists in his design.

“From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.”  The Lord does this too in order to assure his Apostles that he knows that this is going to happen and that he allows it to happen.  He points to his divinity to show that he knows the future and that nothing happens without his doing it or his allowing it.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”  Here the Lord speaks of his divine authority.  Only a king could speak in this way.  The messenger of a king was to be treated and heard as the king himself.  This accorded the messenger a certain safety, and the king the knowledge that his words would be heard and acted upon.  We see this in the encounter of Abraham with the two angels who tell him his wife will bear a son and then speak of the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The narrative refers to them sometimes as “the men” and sometimes as “the Lord”.  We should treat with great respect, then, those who bring God’s word to us, and we should act very respectfully when it is our own task to bring his word to others, keeping in mind the majesty of him who gives it to us.