You Cant Get There From Here

Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 69 views
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

Scripture

John 13:31–35 NLT
As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 13:31-35

Introduction

Thanks for coming tonight. Personally this is always one of my favorite worship services of the year. You can’t get to the resurrection without the passion and for me Maundy Thursday is the best day of the Holy Week for encountering the passion of Christ. Now let’s turn our attention to unpacking this scripture, first by looking at background and context.

Background

It goes without saying that John is much different than the other 3 gospels. John follows a different time line, it takes Jesus 3 years to get to the cross where in the other there it takes but a year. In John Jesus is crucified on the day the Lambs are sacrificed for Passover, so on Thursday night in John there is no passover meal, no reinterpretation of passover. On Thursday night Jesus washed feet and gave us a new commandment in the Vulgate (Jerome’s translation of the Holy Scriptures into Latin) it is called mandatum novum (new commandment). Mandatum is where we get Maunday from. So this is the Thursday of the new commandment, which is acted out by Jesus in the washing of feet.
Since there is no passover meal there is no Lord’s Supper in John. Allusions to The Eucharist are seen way back in chapter 6. Also the other three have Jesus cleansing the temple on Sunday or Monday of Holy week where in John it is done at the very beginning of his ministry in chapter 2 after the wedding at Cana.
These are just a few of the differences in John. Clement of Alexandria, a second century church Father said that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were the earthy gospels while John was the spiritual gospel. As I say, it is not good to try to harmonize the gospels together. We must let each on stand on its own. So tonight let’s delve into John and not try to harmonize the other three with it or into it. So let’s unpack this text from John

Exegesis

John’s audience were most likely the churches located in and around Ephesus that were undergoing persecution from the local synagogues. John wrote his gospel after 70AD. In 70AD the Romans put down a Jewish revolt that resulted in the dispersion of the Jewish people, the destruction of the Temple, and the disappearance of the other Jewish cults of the Essenes, and the Sadducees. The Judaism we have today is Rabbinical and heavily influenced by the Pharisees, their school won the day and grew in the synagogues.
The Rabbis were searching for a theological reason for the destruction of the temple and the dispersion of the Jewish people out of God’s promised land. Many people don’t realize this, but Rome’s victory over the Jewish rebels was so complete that Jerusalem became a Roman town. Rome actually renamed Jerusalem: Aelia Capitolina The name refers to Hadrian's family, and to the temple of Jupiter built on the remains of the Temple.This lead to another revolt about 60 years later that was even more devastating.
Bottom line is, the theological reason for the destruction was the heretical Jewish Christians. The Jewish believers were blamed for bringing this on the Jewish people. The rabbis believed it was God’s punishment for having these heretics in the synagogue. Up until this time the majority of believers were Jewish! So John’s gospel was written to bring hope to these people who have been ostracized by their Jewish brothers and sisters, sometime their literal families.
This lead to another revolt about 60 years later that was even more devastation.
This is important to know as so to be able to properly understand the context John was writing in. It helps shed light on the long farewell discourse by Jesus before his arrest and crucifixion and the long prayer for the church. This is exactly what John’s audience needed to hear from Jesus.
So at this meal we have Jesus get up from the table and wash the disciples feet. I know everyone has heard before that only the lowest of slaves performed this kind of service. Of course Peter protests and Jesus alludes to his betrayal. They return to the table where Jesus indicates that Judas is his betrayer by the exchange of the sop. Judas leaves, and now we will look closely at the mandatum novum, the new commandment.
What we have in these verses is the motivation of the washing of feet.Jesus alludes to his glorification in what is about to happen and God’s glorification through Jesus. Jesus words about mutual glorification indicate that this process is underway now. The exit of Judas has now inaugurated the hour Jesus speaks of in
John 4:23 NRSV
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
John
John 14:31 NRSV
but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way.
John 5:24 NRSV
Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 14:31
What Jesus is doing here with the foot washing and the new commandment is inviting us into the same kind of love that he shares with God. Who we are, who Jesus is and who God is is about to be reveled in the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
He tells them that they cannot go where he is going, this is not just to ascend to the Father, but he is also alluding to his passion. Starting at verse 34, he now gives his final will and testament to the church today and especially to those under persecution in his community. What he gives us is a message of hope!
He starts with a commandment, not an option, not a suggestion, but a commandment:
John 13:34 NRSV
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
John
Here begins the grand central station of John’s gospel
John 3:16 NRSV
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
;
We are to love like Jesus loves, we are to wash feet. And this washing of feet means everybody, even those we don’t like, or disagree with, or have a different lifestyle than we do. Remember Jesus washed the feet of the man that betrayed him. Here we see echoes of loving our enemies.
Theologians say that the trinity is a dance of love, father, son, and holy spirit. Through Jesus we are invited to this dance! Actually we can get there from here! And if we do, if we show this kind of Kingdom love to each other, the world will know us by our love.
John 13:35 NRSV
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This message would have been a great message of hope to those that read this gospel in the first century. Yes you are under persecution, but you are my children, and I am in control, and I tell you while I am gone, if you love like me, like God and I love each other, if you are willing to serve each other and even lay down your life for each other, you can change the world. Listen to this
John 14:1–4 NRSV
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
John 14:1-
You see, you can get there from here. But it is all Jesus’ doing!

Application

Yes this message of hope contained in the farewell discourse is a message of hope for his original audience and for us today. They will know we are christians by our love and this kind of love can change the world.
Look at this:
John 16:1–4 NRSV
“I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
:1-
See what I mean, this message was for John’s audience that was being persecuted and thrown out of the synagogue. So what does this mean for the 21st century Christian?
John Wesley comments on verse 33:
A new commandment—Not new in itself; but new in the school of Christ: for he had never before taught it them expressly. Likewise new, as to the degree of it, As I have loved you.
Yes this is not really new for it is loving God and neighbor that goes back to Leviticus and Deuteronomy. What’s new is the degree of it! laying down one’s life in service even to the people that are different from us.
We are to:
love: selflessly
love: sacrifically
love: understandingly
love: forgivingly
This is how Jesus loved and we cannot love like this without Jesus.
Disciples are to reflect the sort of love known to Jesus—a love expressed through committed obedience. “As I have loved you” points to Jesus’ most immediate act of love (the footwashing) and means that to truly love another, we must pursue a life of servanthood and sacrifice.
Our love ought to reflect our status as God’s children! This kind of love is relevant. We live in a polarized, mean world. Our communities are fractured, and our politics are divisive, we have grown cold. Prayer in school won’t change this, 10 commandments in schools won't change this only loving like Jesus loved will change this.
Jesus words here were to prepare his disciples for his departure. His words for us tonight are to prepare us for his return. Will he find us obeying his new commandment?
We cannot will this kind of love. This kind of love is not natural to us. it is only through the Holy Spirit are we capable of such love. In the mandatum novum Jesus commands his church to be a community of love, a circle of Jesus followers who are invested in one another because Jesus has invested a great price in us and we are supposed to exhibit love not based on the mutuality and attractiveness of its members, but on the model of Christ, who washed the feet of everyone (including Judas).
Let us not forget that it was love that put Jesus on the cross and it was love that resurrected him. This love is the power of God and it can change the world.
Mother Theresa Quote
"It is not enough for us to say: "I love God," but I also have to love my neighbor. St. John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And so it is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is not true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me."
Stories: Wayne B. Kathy, Homeless lady
If we love like Jesus loved we can get there from here.
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more