Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Sunday, March 16, 2014 Read John 13:1-20 We now rejoin the Passion Narrative for a meal in which Jesus and his disciples are the participants. Before we proceed it is important that we make a few observations. We have already noted that the story follows the Passion Narrative we read in the synoptic gospels in a general sense but that there are also distinct differences. The first observation we need to make is that John tells us this meal took place before the Passover. Mark makes it clear that this meal is to be the Passover meal. That is a huge difference and we will need to attempt to understand it. Missing from John’s story is the story in Mark of Jesus sending out two disciples to prepare the “upper room” for them to eat the Passover together. Missing is also any mention of Jesus instituting Holy Communion. The meal is not a Passover meal in John’s gospel so there is no way for Jesus to transform the meal from Passover to Lord’s Supper. Other elements of the story are strikingly similar – the question of who will be the betrayer and Jesus’ identification of the one who will betray him, the protest of the disciples that they will not abandon Jesus, even the intense emotion involved in the supper. The second observation we need to make is that John’s story is much longer than Mark’s. Mark tells the story of the Passover in less than a chapter – 12 verses in all (Matthew also uses 12 verses and Luke is bit longer using 22 verses). John will take five chapters to tell the story using 155 verses! That’s about 13 times as long! A third observation is related only to John’s gospel. The story is not without challenges and likely reflects a composite of more than one version. For example the story seems to end at the close of chapter 14 only to begin again. There are also times when something is said that is contradictory to what has been said earlier. All of that makes for a challenging time for readers of John’s gospel. We will take up each of these issues in turn. A fourth observation is that John provides a great deal of material that is not in Mark, Matthew, or Luke. This provides us with an opportunity to expand our understanding of the whole event. Once again we can be thankful for what John has provided us. As we turn to our reading for today the first thing to notice is that the focus is not on the eating as it is in the synoptic gospels. Only John tells us about Jesus taking off his outer clothing and clothing himself with a servant’s towel and washing his disciples’ feet. This action of Jesus is grounded in his deep love for them – a love that John tells us Jesus maintained to the end. The action is also couched in the tragedy that a betrayer is in their midst. At the very beginning John tells us that Satan had put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. Readers of John’s gospel are not surprised to hear this since we have been told from the beginning that Judas would be the betrayer. Readers of Mark’s gospel are also not surprised at that identity of Judas as the betrayer since they too were told when Jesus selected the Twelve that Judas would betray him. In John’s story this contrast between the love of Jesus and the betrayal by Judas is at the heart of the story. There may have been a tradition behind the foot-washing but modern readers and students of the gospels have not been able to identify it. So, like Peter, we are left wonder what the meaning that lies behind the foot-washing might be. The point seems to be both to demonstrate Jesus’ deep love and also to point out that not all are clean – even though Jesus washed all their feet. Jesus’ followers are to follow his example and love one another by being servants to one another. We will hear more of the importance of love on the part of those who follow Jesus as the meal proceeds. As we have mentioned, the other side of this story is the identification of the betrayer as an event that happens through the washing. It is a tragedy that Judas becomes the betrayer – somewhat of an inevitable outcome since John tells us Satan put it into Judas’ heart. John also tells us that the betrayal is also a matter of fulfilling the scripture and points to Psalm 41:9 – “Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.” Could Judas have resisted? That is the mystery of belief and unbelief. John provides us no relief in our attempt to understand the wonder of humanity. The whole scene ends on a powerful note – a statement readers of John’s gospel must not miss. We have heard Jesus use the words, “I am,” several times to describe who he is. Often the words are coupled with a predicate such as I am the living water or I am the light of the world. But at other times the words have stood alone – “I am!” Unfortunately in most of those cases our English translators have added the pronoun “he” to facilitate our reading. The Greek language of the NT does not include the “he” and uses only the words “I am.” As we have observed before this is a direct connection with the OT use of “I am” to speak of God – most clearly in the story of the burning bush. In this passage Jesus says, “I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am.” What Jesus is speaking of is his betrayal and death. And when he tells his disciples that he is “I am” he in once again making a divine claim. This is an important claim in John’s gospel and differs from the way in which Jesus is portrayed in the synoptic gospels – though at the crucial moment of his trial Jesus will speak of himself as “I am” in Mark’s gospel too. John wants his readers to understand Jesus is God the Son throughout the story. That Jesus is God the Son is the crux of believing for John.