John 13:18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’ 19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” 21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, 28 but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.

There are times it’s helpful to rewind and replay something to see the most pertinent scenes again.  Like when watching a favorite movie or some sort of thriller in which there are crucial scenes on which the entire plot turns.  This is one of those scenes With Christ in the Upper Room.

Suddenly Jesus says he’s not referring to all of them and turns to the idea of betrayal.  So let’s back up to the last mention of that:  John 13:10 Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

Judas was one of the selected Twelve.  He was a companion–walking along, following Jesus, listening to His teachings as one included in close fellowship, and participating in the sending out of the Twelve (Luke 9).

But there was something missing.  Judas had the heart of a betrayer.

Judas’ individual sins would never be repented and Jesus knew it.  Jesus had given him one last chance knowing full well that it would not result in Judas’ change of heart.  It was only for Scripture to be fulfilled.

Jesus didn’t single out Judas to plead with him to change his mind.  He didn’t engage him in a theological discussion of why Judas was heading down a bad path.  He did not do it to shame him in front of the other disciples.  Instead, He told these disciples beforehand–not so they would grieve for Him–but rather so they’d know later on that Jesus had known exactly what He was getting into.  There wasn’t even a warning at the table for the other disciples about what Judas was about to do and the consequences of such an action so that Judas might have second thoughts.

Judas was already too far gone.  Who knows when Judas crossed the line of no return?

Jesus was troubled in spirit.  He felt what we often feel. 

Pain of betrayal.  A wounded heart.  Grave distress.

But He set an example for us in these final preparations before He’d leave.  Jesus looked betrayal in the face and accepted that sometimes God’s will requires the ugliest aspects of humanity to do quickly what betrayal will do.  Sometimes, in order for God’s greater will to be done in other places, even to bring about the goodness we all need.  God’s salvation for us coming through suffering is a reality of a broken world–a world filled with sinners in need of redemption.  The gift of salvation, amazing and beautiful, could hardly have been predicted through something so difficult and ugly as the Cross.  Crucifixion was as ugly as it gets.  But this should serve to drive home how ugly sin is and how–in a sense–we’re all God’s enemies and betray Him all the time.  What should be our response?  It should give us great gratitude for God’s example to us on handling betrayal and it ought to make us even more thankful for salvation knowing the heavy cost to Jesus: His very life.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Any bad path you may be on.

Put it On for Lent: Forgiveness of our enemies.

For further thought, read the following Scriptures and pray about sin and enemies and forgiveness.

• Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• Hebrews 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
• Colossians 1: 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation– 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
• Pray with thanksgiving that God didn’t require us to clean up our act first since none of us could be saved.  Pray also that we would be preserved from taking for granted God’s forgiveness. Finally pray about what it means to be presented as holy in God’s sight, free from any of the ugliness we bring to the table by our sin.  Thank God for the incredibly high price He paid for this to happen: the shed blood of Christ.

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13:12 When [Jesus] had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Judas is still here by the way, With Christ in the Upper Room.  Just thought I’d mention that since it’s easy to forget that Judas, the betrayer, was there during much of the Last Supper and Jesus knew it.  It can be reasonably inferred that Judas was sitting next to Jesus in a place of honor at the table of fellowship during Jesus’ final Passover feast with His disciples.

Jesus, there He was giving final preparations to all His disciples knowing the Crucifixion was around the corner and around the calendar.  And the very one who would set these horrific events in motion–happily from Satan’s perspective—was being served at the table of fellowship by Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God, whom Judas would willingly betray in only an hour or so.

And yet, what do we see here?  Jesus was setting an example by continuing to give last chances for Judas and opportunities for the rest of the disciples to learn what it means to serve others.  To love the brethren, yes, but also what it means to love our enemies.

Just as the contrast of Peter’s you…my feet in the Greek of verse 6 is no accident of grammar to emphasize how offensive this idea was to Peter, neither is the reversal of Teacher and Lord in verse 13 with what we see in verse 14.

How often do we put the emphasis on Teacher when we should put the emphasis on Lord?

If the Lord could stoop to serve as an example to us, teaching us (i.e. sinners) by His divine authority, is it really that hard for us to stoop to a lesser degree to serve our virtual equals in life compared to what Jesus did?

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Seeing others as better or as inferior, especially if they have hurt us

Put it On for Lent: Love of our enemies

For further thought:

• Is there a real difference for you between Jesus being just a teacher or the Teacher?  What about His being a Lord and your Lord?
• Remembering His lordship, what difference might it make in how you respond to His teachings?
• Do you think Judas was seeing Jesus as both Lord and Teacher?  Why or why not?
• Read Luke 6: 27 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”  What does this tell us about enemies and God’s example for us?
• Read  1 Corinthians 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  Read also Luke 23: 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals– one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  How would Jesus continue to teach us?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13: 9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10 Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

Peter. Peter. Peter!  Open mouth.  Insert foot.  Didn’t you get it from the verse before this?

Oh dear.  Slow learner.  All heart, no head.  All zeal, no comprehension.  All passion, no perception.

Take a breath, Peter, and know the folk wisdom of God giving us two eyes and two ears so we will be quick to see and hear, two feet for walking well…but only one mouth since if we had two mouths, we’d be down for the count with both feet in mouth instead of walking with Him.

Yup, it’s true.  God wants us to learn before speaking.

The disciples have been made clean—as a whole and as a group–because of their having learned from Jesus about the ways of God.  They’ve seen the Father in Him.  (That’s kind of the picture of those who bathed at home before coming to the table, only their feet would be dusty from the road.)

Individually, however, they would need to have their feet washed as a picture of their individual sins being washed clean.  Jesus says,

Not every one of you is clean. 

Why did He say that? Well, Judas, though he had been part of the group, had lots of passion, but no willingness to serve Jesus by learning from Him.  Judas had no understanding of the future because he didn’t listen long enough before acting.  If he did and if he had a true and loving heart instead of just passion, he wouldn’t have agreed to betray Christ.

Judas’ individual sins would never be washed clean because he would never repent them.  He would go on to betray Christ, then he’d confess to the wrong people, and then he’d kill himself.  The dust was still all over his feet in a figurative sense.  He was not clean.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Speaking and acting without knowledge.

Put it on for Lent: Being made clean by confessing your sins to God and finding forgiveness in Christ

For further thought:

• Read Matthew 27:1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2 They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. 3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” 5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
• How is this different than repentance?
• How does confessing sins to religious leaders never substitute for being washed by Christ?
• Read 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Why can God forgive in ways people–even religious people, priests, pastors, rabbis–can’t?
• Why must confession be to God first and foremost?  Who defines what sin is?  Who are all sins ultimately against?

 * * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13:6 [Jesus] came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

Even With Christ in the Upper Room, Peter was a rather stubborn guy.  I can appreciate that.  I guess I’m stubborn too, in my own way.

Stubbornness and serving are incompatible.

It sort of reminds me of two people getting ready to go through a doorway and one says, “You first.”  The other says, “No, you first.” And the cycle continues as the stubbornness of each entrenches them to the exact opposite of serving and the die-hard assertions of “You first” instead of selfless generosity and concern, could really be translated, “I want my own way.”

“I want my own way.”  Yikes, that isn’t serving at all!

Instead of Jesus’ deciding to do Peter one better at being stubborn, Jesus teaches about humility and the selfless heart.  He offers two explanations as to why He is, in fact, going to wash Peter’s feet.  Both have to do with Jesus’ final preparations regarding the concept of serving.

• Jesus says that Peter doesn’t understand the full picture.  Serving God well requires letting Him call the shots.  He knows the full picture.  We don’t.  Since God knows the plan, humility before God is our best attitude.
• Then Jesus doesn’t argue with Peter.  He simply says, here’s the deal: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Peter truly does love Jesus and wants to be part of what Jesus is doing.  Jesus appeals to the heart desiring to be selfless and states the simple truth:  Sinners must be made clean by Christ or they simply cannot serve.

The sin of self-will is at the heart of pride and is the opposite of serving others.  Only when we let go of ourselves–and getting our own way–will we see that Jesus offers a better way:  Serving God by serving others.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Stubbornness

Put it on for Lent: Serving God by serving others.

For further thought:

• Have you ever been embarrassed by someone serving you?  In the Greek language, there is a contrast in verse 6 (atop this page) of you…my feet with the words you and my side by side to emphasize how much Peter felt this was inappropriate for whatever reason.  What kinds of feelings do you think Peter must have felt by having the Lord stoop to doing slave’s work for him?
• Read about the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3:13-17– 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  How did John’s initial reaction look like Peter’s?  How did it differ?
• Now read John 3:25-36, especially verses 27-30:   27 To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”  What did John the Baptist (who came to “prepare the way”) know about Jesus that Peter needed to see as the future beyond the moment of foot washing?
• How does a future view help us to serve God with a whole heart?
• Finally, read Romans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs– heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”  Taking part, sharing in what Christ suffered means what?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13:2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

With Christ in the Upper Room, Jesus offers us the last word on humility. 

It’s an amazing contrast in some important ways: 

God serves man.

Holy serves sinner.

The Savior serves both the Father and sinners. 

The devil had already prompted Judas to betray Christ, yet Jesus washed His disciples’ feet in an act of humble service.   Scripture does not say Jesus washed everyone’s feet but Judas’ because Jesus knew he was a betrayer.  No, Jesus served even the one who would betray Him.  Jesus, the sinless One, served all of us who rebelled and broke the heart of God by our sins.  In a sense, we’ve all betrayed God and rejected Him and yet, Jesus came.  He loved.

He served to show the superiority of love and humility.

The Father had put all things under Jesus’ power and yet this powerful One would show the full extent of His love by serving the Father who sent Him as well as serving those whose station was beneath His own, sinful man.  Scripture says about Jesus, Philippians 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The “condescension of God” in Christ (i.e. the way He stooped down to rescue us) and the humility of Christ to come from God in order to save us is profound.  John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

* * *

Give it Up for Lent:  Pride

Put it On for Lent: Humility

For further thought:

Read John 12:42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47 “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

• How does your attitude about God get revealed in whose praise you seek?
• Whose praise did Jesus seek?
• Comparing Phil 2:9-10 above with this passage in John 12 (esp. v 48-50), ponder the idea of being a servant and obeying commands.  In what ways did Jesus model what being a servant is all about?
• Does being a servant take away from one’s identity or does it contribute positively toward it?  What makes men bristle at the idea of being a servant?
• Do you agree with this statement? “We all show humility before God now or end up being humbled later.”  What do our Scriptures say?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

“It was just before the Passover Feast.

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” (John 13:1)

In our 2015 Lenten devotional series, we’re looking at Jesus’ final words to us before He goes to the Cross.  If the words “light” and “life” characterize the early chapters of the Gospel of John, there is one word that reigns supreme With Christ in the Upper Room (John 13-17).  That word is “love.”

What does it mean that Jesus now showed His disciples the full extent of His love?

In the Greek language, it has a double meaning.  It means both that He loved them to the very end of His days as well as He loved them to the fullest extent possible, which for Jesus, the Son of God, is a lot.

He showed the full extent of His love as final preparation.

Love can be modeled.  Love can be shown.  Love can be seen.  And love can be learned by experience.  But I wonder, can a person be taught how to love? Or do we just remember?

We come into this world as lovers made in Love’s image.  For God is love.  But the assaults of sin in this world cause us to build walls of protection around our hearts to keep us from being hurt.  We are taught—by sin—to resist being vulnerable in love.  Fear of being hurt is a powerful teacher…and a mighty obstacle to knowing how to love others.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

So Jesus came and showed us the Father.  He showed us what Love looks like.  When we see Jesus, we see the Father in whom all Love is perfectly displayed.  Jesus models the beauty of dependence upon the Father, complete with all vulnerability, unafraid of being hurt by sin, and totally trusting in God’s goodness and eternal providence.

Jesus didn’t learn to love.  He is God and God is Love.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Fear of vulnerability

Put it on for Lent: Love for God and neighbor

For further thought:

• Can a person be taught how to love, or only regarding depth, to love more?  Can a person be taught to hate?
• If yes, how do these things happen?
• Why was it important (as Jesus was preparing His disciples for His death) that they would know the full extent of His love?  See John 3:16-17
• What do love and hate have to do with the manner of the Gospel’s advance against the forces of this world?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

I am at a loss for words regarding the horrific treatment of Christians and Jews around the world, among the latest being the devastating loss of 21 Coptic Christian martyrs at the hands of ISIS.  When Jesus looked down upon that scene, ISIS–the embodiment of evil in the world–vaporized in His sight, and Jesus saw godly men on their knees, 21 people of the Cross in collective prayer.  Twenty-one faithful followers of God in the Egyptian Church.  Good and faithful servants whose names glow with glorious faith in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Brave men who persevered to the end…and overcame…and whose souls cry out from under the altar of God, as in the Book of Revelation:

Revelation 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

I want to believe that as they were preparing to lay down their lives for Jesus, the heavens opened up and each was given a sweet vision of the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Majesty on High.  In a stunning vision of the Ancient of Days and in the glory all around His throne, these brave souls saw and felt nothing but joy inexpressible as the love of God in its fullest and purest form showered them with grace.  They have traded orange jumpsuits for white robes.  This world did not deserve these Coptic Christians.