Now we are getting into what many Bible scholars believe is the most precious and intimate portion of John’s Gospel.  For the next five chapters, we will cover a period of time of only 24 to 36 hours!  And what we will see is a transition for Jesus from ministry to ransom.

What do I mean by that…Jesus said in Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister (which He has done now for the last 12 chapters) and to give His life a ransom for many (which He is about to do).

So He came to minister to us.  The lost, the weary, the afraid…He came to show us the Father’s heart for us…that while we were yet altogether busted…evil and hopeless, God desires that we should be healed.  God’s love and grace and mercy for us, His lost children as it were, is so absolutely ferocious, that He would send His only Son right down into the mess to take all the sin and the death and the hurt and the fear and perish with it so that we may be rescued.

And therefore He came as our ransom.  He came to pay the price that we could not pay.  The price of salvation that has a tag that says “sinless, perfect and holy” on it.  The price tag that noone would ever be able to afford and therefore, altogether, man by himself was and is hopeless.  Doomed to separation from the Father, the Creator, the Ancient of Days, the One who has no end and no beginning and in Him is no darkness at all…yet we began with Him.  And so He looked upon us…and heartbroken He paid His all.

Isaiah 53 says that “He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow.  He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.  The chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed.” 

And so His ministry enters into its landing pattern as He approaches the cross where He will rescue His children.  And that is where we encounter Him now and will remain with Him for several chapters as we peer very closely into the eyes of the Lion of the tribe of Judah!

Chapter 13 Verse 1

• Now this is immediately before the Feast of Passover because it will be the next day that He is crucified. 
• Notice John says “this world” not “the world.”  Why?  Because reality is, truth is…hot tip is…this world and all that is in it is passing away and therefore this one is indeed not our final destination…there is one to come.  And look if we set our minds on the everlasting world to come, then Colossians 3 tells us that we will be filled with the characteristics of heaven.  Tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forgiveness, love, peace and thankfulness.  We’ll be filled with HOPE!  But when we don’t, we leave a ditch in the sand…you know that poem footprints?  Well sometimes God has to drag us along because we are so depressed and so we cut a ditch! 
• And so John says, “having loved His own, He loved them to the end.”  To the end of what?  His life?  I don’t think so.  All the way…to the end of Himself, to the end of life, to the end of time, until the redemption of man is complete…still today His love continues and will continue.  The word in the Greek there is “Telos” which actually means…to the uttermost.  There is no distance that God won’t go to save, to heal…He goes to the uttermost.
• For who Matt?  For you, for me…AND for them.  Here his ministry has been marked with those that rejected Him or just wanted a meal ticket or just wanted salvation from the Roman oppression or just wanted this or that…very few have resolved that Jesus is Lord…even one of His disciples, His close friend had hate in His heart for Jesus…but it is even him, Judas Iscariot that Jesus speaks of when He says “they are My own.” 
• But you may say, “Judas was not His…Judas was of his father the devil…” and look I won’t disagree with you.  But who’s was he first?  In who’s image was he made?  And so no matter the current condition of Judas, Jesus still looks upon him as a father would his son…and longs for him.  And calls him his own.  What do you think you’re better than Judas?  Are not we all marred with sin and covered in the filth of death…yup…yet He calls us His own.  Why?  Because the value of the possession is not in the possession itself, but in the simple consciousness that’s it’s mine.
• Like your first car that was just a rust bucket and your girlfriend wouldn’t even get in it!!!  But it was YOURS you see and in that, value is present. You see, without God we aren’t precious and valuable…we’re just animals…we are not really anything but busted on our own, but because He calls us His own…we have eternal worth and the love of Jesus, and when allowed in, He fills us with a sense of worth, purpose and belonging.  So cool.  And so He loved His own…to the uttermost.  Beautiful.

Chapter 13 Verse 2

• So here we see the idea, the thought, the desire to betray the Lord has been initiated in the heart of Judas…later we will see Satan himself enter Judas.  We may feel that our thought life is a place where sin doesn’t occur…we’re wrong.  Jesus said that if you’ve looked at a woman or a man with lust in your heart then you have sinned with her already in your heart.  And that is why Paul admonished us in 2 Cor 10:4-5 that the battle is even in our thoughts…a spiritual battle!  (Read 2 Cor 10:4-5).  So the spiritual battle for our minds, if not perceived and understood and addressed…well turn over to James and look at Chapter 1 verses 14-15. 
• Judas this was your chance!  The desire had entered.  The thought had entered.  Yet he allowed that thought to find a home and later we will see Satan himself slide right on in…right on into the fully furnished apartment of Judas’ mind…

Chapter 13 Verses 3 – 5

• To lay aside His garments and gird Himself with a towel signified that He was taking the position, the employment of a servant to His disciples.  And you might say, “Matt, this is God Himself, I mean John just told us that He is from everlasting to everlasting.  Has He forgotten that?  I mean here He is serving those that are so far beneath Him.  He must have forgotten who He is.”  But understand it was not in forgetfulness of His divinity that He does this, but rather in full consciousness of it!  And let me tell you now, you who lead…if you are not serving then you are not a leader.

Chapter 13 Verses 6 – 7

• Check out what Jesus says there in Verse 7.  He says “trust me.”  What I do now you do not, you cannot understand now, but you will after this.”  Now Peter has a bit of an issue with faith here and early on…he doesn’t do too well with not understanding or seeing the whole plan…let that not be said of us.  Let us be a people that trusts God at His word and through whatever He takes us through, let us trust in His goodness and His righteousness.  It will save us a lot of heartache for sure.
• But notice, why would Jesus say, “hey, you’ll understand soon?”  Well look at the pattern here…First Jesus loved (parallel to John 3:16), then He rose from supper (parallel to Him humbling Himself to the form of man), then He laid aside His garments (parallel to Him humbling Himself to the form of a servant), then He took a towel and girded Himself (parallel to Him going to the cross), then He poured water into a basin (parallel to the cross, His resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit), and then He washes their feet (parallel to the work that even today He still performs).  But you see Peter could not have understood this yet because most of this had not yet come to pass.  No doubt though he did later and so Jesus says, look, later you’ll understand…but for now, trust me and do not argue against what I do in your life…it is because I love you son.
• You know this is a very tough truth.  To trust God…but yesterday I was watching an Olympics commercial with Lincoln and it was showing this swimmer, swimming from America to London across the Atlantic.  And all these fish and ships and storms were going on while this guy just swam.  And as I watched this I knew that it was computer generated and not real…but you know what, Link didn’t.  But you see he hasn’t lived enough, he hasn’t learned enough to spot the fake yet…and he could have concluded some very incorrect things…and its just like that with us and our Father.  We must trust in His word lest we set out to swim from America to London and end up lost…or like Jonah.
• And Peter here, he has issues with faith doesn’t he?  Look at verse 8…

Chapter 13 Verses 8 – 11

• Peter has issues with trust yes, but not with love.  He loves Jesus so much…he’s just weak in faith…for now…later the Holy Spirit will come upon Him and just like Jesus said, Peter will be filled with strength, filled with boldness, courage and resolve and He will be a mighty witness for Jesus!  That is why we should pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  We love the Lord, no doubt…but so often we just simply lack strength, we lack faith.  Most of the time that is because we are stuffing our minds with garbage and not spending time in His word…but even sometimes the disciple of Jesus finds themselves weak…pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit!
• And notice Jesus says here, “Peter, you’re already clean bro.  I don’t need to wash your hands and head…you’re already clean.  You’ve already come out of Judaism and accepted Me as the Messiah…but you see it is your feet that must be cleaned…your feet that take you wherever you go…”  You see it is by your feet that you walk…and your walk must be in accord with your calling and therefore as you walk through this polluted world, it is your feet that sometimes get dirty.  You begin to be discouraged or you begin to be spotted by this world…you need to wash them feet. 
• And the water that the Lord uses here to wash their feet…this water He poured Himself, it came from Him and therefore what would you suppose it symbolizes?  You got it!  The Word of God!  How do we stay unspotted from this world?  How do we protect our faith and cleanse our minds and spirits…and attitudes and intentions?  By the Word!  No other way!  Psalm 119 verse 9 asks, “How can a young man cleanse his way?”  And the answer is given, “By taking heed according to Your word.  Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  Blessed are you, O Lord!  Teach me your statutes.  I rejoice, I meditate, I contemplate, I delight in Your word.  I will not forget Your word.”  And then the conclusion as it were there in Psalm 119 > “You deal bountifully with me!  That I may live and keep Your word!  My soul breaks and I am a stranger in this world but you open my eyes and wondrous is what I see!”
• You see you are clean because of what He has done for you.  Completely clean…but your feet get grimy as you walk…the living among the dead…we must keep our feet clean as it were in the word of God lest they become calloused and stinky and gross.

Chapter 13 Verses 12 – 17

• The key, the essential, must-have element of faith…”blessed are you if you know…AND do!”  Truly what we say we believe has no power in our lives unless it contributes to how we live…the decisions we make.  James would say that faith without works is dead because look, if you truly believe something then it will be evident in your life!  Folks say well I believe in Jesus…I love the Lord…I accept Him as my Lord and Savior and then their life is marked with those things that break His heart…I ain’t buying it!  You will know a tree by its fruit Jesus said.
• But notice, maybe today your life is marked with difficulty, fatigue and depression…yet you know the Lord…well, are you doing those things which please Him?  Blessed are those that know and do!!  Do what?  Do as Jesus showed us!  He is the example!  Study Him and seek Him and in that you will find blessing!  And you will end up serving!  And man, serving is where its at because in that is newness of life (newness of course cause the oldness is dead! – Romans 7:6) 

Chapter 13 Verses 18 – 30

• (relevant to verse 26) – Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas which as the custom in those days as an act of toasting to them and offering friendship.  Jesus was still, even at this point, offering Judas a way out but notice…after taking the bread and rejecting Jesus’ offer > Satan was free to enter.  His full up high-end furnished apartment…you know how bad Satan wants you?  As much as he wanted Judas…cause you’ll get to God’s kids!  Here you sit today in church amongst God’s children…man he wants you too…you’re a high-end apartment…don’t be dull to his way…guard against him.  Fellowship, prayer, close proximity to the Shepherd!