LIFE-STUDY OF JOHN

MESSAGE TWENTY-SEVEN

LIFE’S WASHING IN LOVE
TO MAINTAIN FELLOWSHIP

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In this message we come to John 13, a very interesting and meaningful chapter. Probably all Christians know that such a chapter about the Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet exists in the Gospels. It seems easy for anyone to understand this chapter, but actually it is not at all easy to realize its true meaning. Usually Christians merely believe that to wash the feet of others is to show love to them. Some believers even insist on the washing of feet every time they come to the Lord’s table. At the Lord’s table they wash one another’s feet to express their love for one another. This is not wrong unless it is made legalistic. If it is not made legalistic, then these occasions of showing love to one another by washing one another’s feet are all right. Several times in the past I have washed the feet of others, and others have washed my feet. At times, we must allow the Lord to lead and guide us to do this to one another. But this matter of foot-washing signifies something more important. As we have seen, everything mentioned in this Gospel is a sign that indicates something deeper and spiritual. Therefore, foot-washing is also a sign signifying something deeper and spiritual. But it is rather difficult to discover the spiritual significance of this sign. What is its deeper, spiritual significance?

Before answering this question, we must first realize the position of this chapter in the Gospel of John as a whole. It is positioned as a turning point in the Gospel. The Gospel of John is divided mainly into two sections. The first section, composed of chapters one through thirteen, tells how the Lord as the eternal Word, which is God Himself, and as the Son of God came through His incarnation to bring God into man to be man’s life to produce the church. The second section, composed of chapters fourteen through twenty-one, unveils how the Lord as the Son of Man went through His death and resurrection to bring man into God, that man and God, God and man, may be built together as a mutual abode. Chapter thirteen, at the end of the first section, is a dividing line and a turning point. It turns the record from one direction to another.

What is the central thought of the first part of the Gospel of John? It is the Lord as the eternal Word, who is the expression of God, coming to be our life, meeting all of our needs, and making us the members of His Body. Chapter one reveals the Lord as the eternal Word, that is, as the expression of God. Then we see the Lord coming to be our life, coming that we might take Him in as our life to meet all our needs. The nine cases selected show that the Lord as life can meet all of our needs. Then chapter twelve reveals that the Lord, as a grain of wheat, has to pass through death and resurrection to produce us, the many grains, who are being blended together as one loaf, which is His Body, the church.

The central point of the second part is that the Lord who was incarnated, crucified, and resurrected was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit. He was transfigured from the expression of God in the flesh into the Spirit so that He could come into us as life. Please notice that I use the word transfigured. The Lord was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit so that He might be able to come into our spirit, be our life in our spirit, and be one with us in our spirit. As the Spirit, He is in us and we are in Him. Now He and we, we and He, can be mingled together as one.

In the first part of John’s Gospel the Lord comes to bring God into us, and in the last part the Lord goes to bring us into God. In the first twelve chapters the Lord comes by incarnation to bring God into man; in the last eight chapters the Lord goes by death and resurrection to bring man into God. The first section shows how He comes, and the last section shows how He goes. He comes by incarnation that He may bring God into us. He goes by death and resurrection that He may bring us into God.

Between these two sections chapter thirteen stands as the turning point. Verse 3 says, “Jesus, knowing...that He had come forth from God, and was going to God.” He had come from God and was going to God. For this reason I say that chapter thirteen is the turning point in the Gospel.

For quite a long time I was deeply bothered by this chapter. I wondered why foot-washing was not recorded before chapter eleven or after chapter fourteen. I wondered why it was there in chapter thirteen. I was troubled by the position of this chapter because I had come to realize that from chapter one through twelve the Lord as the Word had come to impart Himself as life to many people and that eventually the church came out. The church is there in chapter twelve. The Lord was the Lamb of God taking away sin, He was lifted up in the form of a serpent to deal with the serpentine nature, and He was also the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died to bring forth many grains. In a sense, by the time of chapter twelve everything is completed. It seemed to me that there was no need for chapter thirteen. So I was troubled, thinking that chapter fourteen should immediately follow chapter twelve and that there was no need for chapter thirteen at all. I spent much time with the Lord to find out why chapter thirteen was necessary. Eventually, the Lord told me why we need to have chapter thirteen after chapter twelve. It is very significant that foot-washing is found in chapter thirteen. In chapter thirteen, the very turning point of the Gospel of John, the Lord washed His disciples’ feet. The significance of this is deeply meaningful.

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