John 13:18-38 A NEW COMMAND There was no question as to Christ's love for His own. He loved them not just to the end of His earthly ministry, or even to the time of His ascension - His love is infinite, forever. Such a demonstration of that included His example of humility and service for His own disciples, and goes on to the cross where "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me." The act of Jesus washing the disciples' feet gave evidence of the reality of His love for His own. This should be true of us. Not just words of love are needed to show the love of God's people for each other, but acts of compassion that meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The significance of the act demonstrates how we can assist and strengthen each other when we see how the word of God applies to the needs another person has. There isn't the need of a complete body wash, because that speaks of salvation when the cleansing power of the blood is applied. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." The washing of the feet of the disciples speaks to us of the need of cleansing from the pollution of the world in our daily walk. We are contaminated by what goes on around us even though we do not participate in what we know is wrong. There are defiling influences in what we hear, what we see and what we do that cannot be avoided. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to constantly support each other in humility and unselfishness. Not only is it beneficial to those to whom we minister, but it is a blessing to us when we know the actions of our lives are useful. That gives us joy in our service for the Lord.
True Christian love means one is willing to take the lowest place rather than being exalted by others or by one's self. True Christian love is a sacrificial love. In order to pour out the water of the word of God into a "basin" to be used for the benefit of others, we have to have taken the water of the word into ourselves so we can draw from what we have personally experienced. Unfelt truth is often not accepted as sincere. The explanation of Jesus regarding the act of feet washing was not lost on Peter. He refers to the need and reality of humility in years that followed when he taught others in his epistles what he had learned himself.
The betrayal of Judas was not unexpected as far as the Lord Jesus Christ was concerned. Yet, whenever such an act takes place, we are affected by it even as Jesus was. The Lord revealed Judas' betrayal in advance, but now it was about to take place. The "heel" of insult and rejection had already been taken by Judas when he sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The attitude of the betrayer was already known to the Lord Jesus and he was ready to strike out against the Savior. John was near enough to Jesus to respond to Peter's nod and quietly asked who the betrayer would be. Perhaps Jesus answered with a low voice when He spoke of the bread dipped into the juice that He would pass to Judas. Judas had already opened himself to Satan's power. This "son of perdition" left the room and went into the darkness of the night and on into eternal darkness, the "outer darkness" which he will never leave.
Jesus was troubled in His spirit as He thought ahead to what "the hour" was about to bring upon Him. His troubled spirit was not only because of the betrayal of Judas, which in His deity He had known about from ages past, nor from the denial of Peter. There was much more ahead of Him that only He could know. Rejection by those He blessed, deception that would take Israel near extinction, the suffering for sin, the loud call to God when He was on the cross - all of this, and more, would have troubled His spirit. When Judas had finally gone, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him." A page had been turned and He could look beyond and see the lasting results of all that He must go through.
For the first and only recorded time, Jesus used the term, "little children" - an expression of endearment that John never forgot in years to come when he wrote his epistles. This opened the way for the Lord Jesus to give His new commandment. This goes way beyond the law that said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." This went to loving like God, "God so loved the world..." This went to loving our enemies. This went to loving God's people sacrificially as a proof of being a disciple. This evidence of love is still the strongest test of reality the world can see in those who profess to be Christians.
Disciples are not recognized by doctrinal statements or the dogmas they follow. They are not recognized by apparent miracles they perform or even their love for lost souls. The love believers have for one another is how recognition of true Christianity is seen by those who are unbelievers. This new commandment still carries a tremendous impact on those who are bound by other religious practices. As one said, "What I have in my religion is fear, uncertainly and hatred. What Christians have is love, peace and assurance." May this always be apparent wherever God's people are found.
Four of Jesus' disciples had questions to ask Him during the time of His upper room ministry. Peter's question was "Where." He wanted to know where Jesus was going. Thomas had a question that was concerned with "How." "How can we know the way?" These questions were pertinent to the events that were to follow that night. Philip's question was "Show." He had missed the point of Jesus' teaching that when one saw the Lord Jesus Christ, they saw the Father. The Father and Son are One. Jude wanted to know "What." Questions are not unreasonable comments when we are unsure of what is happening. But it is not right for us to ignore what has already been shown to us because it doesn't fit in with our frame of reference or our preconceived ideas. We do well to take heed to what the Lord has already said and done before we go back to Him with questions that have already been answered.