What Love Does (John 13)

Good morning! Eric, one of the pastors.^[1] If you have a Bible, meet me in John 13. Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker whose family risked everything to hide Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Unfortunately, she and her family got caught.  

In her memoir The Hiding Place, she recounts not only the horrors of prison and concentration camps, but the unshakable love of Jesus that sustained her in the darkest of places. 

The world gave her unthinkable evil, and yet she gave back such otherworldly love. And nothing captures that more than an encounter she had with a Nazi soldier after the war.  

One day at a church in Munich, she was confronted by the guard who had brutalized her sister at Ravensbrück. He came up to her after the service, expressing his gratitude for the blood of Jesus cleansing him from all his sins (which I’m sure, in that moment, she wanted God’s grace to have exceptions). Then he offered to shake her hand as a sign of forgiveness and friendship, but she froze.  

She went on to write: “Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. 

I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness. 

As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. 

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on his. When [Jesus] tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with the command, the love itself.” 

Loving those who wrong you feels impossible to us. But it’s at the very heart of the gospel. That’s what Love does. When Jesus enters your life, he cleans you, and marks you as his own.  

This morning we’re looking at John 13, it’s the night Jesus is going to be betrayed. He’s eating his last meal with his disciples. While the other gospels move quickly past this scene, John slows down with five chapters on what Jesus said and did in his final moments with his disciples before going to the Cross. 

Pick up with me [v. 1] – Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.  

Knowing God had placed all things into his hands, Jesus knelt to wash the feet of those who would soon abandon him. This is what love does:  

1. Love goes low.   

For three years the disciples watched Jesus do the impossible. They saw him turn water into wine, calm the storm, raise Lazarus from the dead. They were convinced that Jesus was the Son of God, the Bread of Life, the Light of the World. If anyone deserved to be seated in honor, it was Jesus. 

And isn’t that how we normally think? The greater someone’s influence or wealth, the more we honor them. We lift up the worthy—and in their presence, we feel our own unworthiness. 

I once heard about a CEO who tested job candidates by inviting them to dinner but making them choose the restaurant. Now imagine you’re applying for an entry-level job—what place would you pick, what would you wear, who’s paying? Suddenly you feel the positional gap in every little detail. 

In John 13, Jesus is hosting a meal with his disciples, and the gap couldn’t be greater. These men already pledged their loyalty to him, but this isn’t just a respected rabbi sitting with his students. This is the holy God eating with sinful men. 

John tells us, “the Father had given all things into his hands.” Jesus knows his power and position. He can do anything he wants. And yet he chooses to lay down his rights. He doesn’t demand to be served. He chooses to serve, love, and give his life away. 

Now, foot washing wasn’t uncommon in that day. With dirt roads and sandals, you needed clean feet when entering a home. But here’s the thing: even servants weren’t asked to do something so degrading. That’s why it was so shocking when Jesus took off his outer garment, knelt down, and washed the feet of his disciples. 

The most powerful person ever—the one worthy of all praise—takes the lowest place. Why? Because he loves them. 

And we actually see glimpses of this same pattern elsewhere. One example’s parenting. Any of you parents remember your “welcome to parenthood” moment? 

Mine happened the first time I held our oldest. She’d been out of the womb for all of 3 minutes and she pooped in my hand. In that moment, I thought, this child can do nothing for me. Lord, give me the strength to do everything for her. Those late nights when they can’t sleep. Those teenage years when they’re learning to deal with heartache. Lord, teach me to go lower still. 

But laying down rights isn’t just for family. It’s how God calls us to love, period. It’s for the person who hurts you with a careless word. Or for the one who takes advantage of your kindness. Or for the person you want to draw a line on and say, “Never again.” 

But Jesus shows us something different. See, washing feet isn’t just an object lesson in humble service. This is what Jesus wants his church to be like: a people who, in love, treat others as more significant than themselves. Who, when hurt or misunderstood, don’t rise up in pride, but go lower still. 

Because love will choose to go low if it means lifting the other up. That’s what love does.  

2. Love washes clean.  

In the world, we love others because of what they can do for us. We love because they’re attractive. We love because they make us feel good about ourselves. We love those we think deserve it. But Jesus isn’t motivated by that at all because he experiences perfect love within the Godhead.  

And the love Jesus calls his church to be known by is different from the world’s love. The love of Jesus says I’ll love you in spite of your flaws and unattractiveness. It’s the kind of love that’s willing to take on your dirt so you can be wiped clean. 

Think about what’s going on here. [v. 4] says Jesus rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Jesus leaves his place of honor, takes off his outer garments, and ties a towel around his waist. Now, if you saw someone dressed in green, wearing a helmet, riding a motorbike with a green box on the back, you’d say that’s a Grab driver. And Grab drivers are great. But if you saw Jesus delivering your Grab food, it would be weird and uncomfortable.  

But this is on a whole other level because Jesus is wearing the uniform of a slave. And he’s washing feet. And as he’s doing it, you can just imagine, the towel around him’s getting gross from all the dust and dirt he’s cleaning off their feet.  

At some point, somebody’s gotta speak up, right? That’s what the Peter’s of the world are for.  

[v. 6] – [Jesus] came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feetonly but also my hands and my head!”  

Peter tries to stop Jesus from washing his feet, but Jesus tells him, “Unless you let me wash you, you have no share with me.”  

Some people are hard to serve because no matter what you do, it’s never enough. Others are hard to serve because they won’t let anyone help them. 

We tend to think the first is unhealthy and the second is admirable—but Jesus shows us neither is ideal. 

Peter wasn’t trying to stop Jesus because he didn’t need his feet washed. He was refusing because he thought the task was beneath Jesus and he’d rather handle it himself. But Jesus says, “Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. The sin ruining your life—you can’t wash it off yourself. You need me to do it for you.” 

What’s admirable about Peter is how quickly he concedes. He goes from “Don’t wash my feet” to “wash my whole body” just like that. But Jesus says those who’ve believed have already been made clean. Because believing is a matter of repenting, obeying, and abiding. Those who believe Jesus have received his message, which means they know the Father who sent him. 

But the Christian life is one of ongoing repentance. That’s why we need to keep bringing our dirty feet to the footwashing Savior. We need to confess that we can’t wash ourselves and let Jesus minister to us. 

And the Enemy hates that. Just like Judas listened to the voice of Satan, we’re tempted by the same lies—doubting God’s goodness, questioning whether we really belong to him, wondering if Jesus could really love us. Maybe you believe Jesus saves sinners, but you struggle to believe he’s really saved you. 

But what do you think qualifies you for God’s family? If you continue to wrestle with sin in your life, join the club. Paul had to remind the church in Corinth of a whole list of people who didn’t qualify for the kingdom of God:  

[1 Cor. 6:9] – …neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. [What changed?]But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Jesus even tells Peter he won’t understand what he’s doing, but that Peter should trust him anyway. See, you won’t be ready to love and serve others like Jesus if you’re not first learning, day by day, to rest in his love for you. 

Now, Jesus’ ultimate work of salvation is once-for-all. But the daily washing of sin is an ongoing thing that Jesus will not resist because he loves you and he’s committed to seeing you perfected in him. 

That’s why Jesus says in [v. 10] – “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not everyone of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

Love goes low.  

Love washes clean. 

3. Love endures all things.  

To endure all things means we choose to stay in tough situations for the benefit of others, even when it means our lives get harder. We don’t take the easy road; we stay the course because we love them.  

See, most often, we love because it fills a need. I love because I need connection, I need acceptance, I need purpose. And we love people that seem worthy to us.  

But Jesus’s heart is set on loving people who are completely unworthy of it. If Jesus loved like us, he wouldn’t love anyone. I mean, usually when you express love to someone you hope they reciprocate back. But Jesus came to people whose hearts are completely bent against him. We will not love him. And yet he chose to love his own to the end.  

The kind of love that endures all things says, I don’t love to get. I love to give. I’ll even lay myself down if it means you get lifted up.  

Think about this: On the final night before he’s betrayed, what does Jesus spend his time doing? Playing the slave to the very people who are about to abandon, deny, and betray him. And he knows it. It’s like Jesus is trying to comfort them before they’ve even done the wrong. 

Do you think Jesus skipped anyone in the footwashing line? Do you think he said, sorry, your sin’s too much for me. I can’t love you. 

There’s a man at that table who’s going to doubt Jesus really rose from the dead. The empty tomb and the testimony of witnesses won’t be enough. Thomas won’t believe it until he sees. What does Jesus do for the doubters? He washes their feet. 

There’s a man at that table who’s going to deny Jesus. Peter thinks he’s ready to do anything for him, but in the horror of Jesus’s arrest he’s going to prioritize himself over Jesus; not just once but three times. What does Jesus do for the deniers? He washes their feet. 

The disciples dropped everything to follow Jesus. They’re ready to do anything for him, but as soon as Jesus gets arrested they’re all going to scatter. And when he’s murdered, they’re going to hide in fear. But what does Jesus do for the fearful? He washes their feet. 

We also know that Judas is there because in [v. 10] Jesus told them they weren’t all clean.  

Skip down with me [v. 21] says, After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom hewas speaking.  

The room is shocked when Jesus announces his betrayal. They can’t believe it. Which I think is a lesson in itself on loving hard people. No one said, I bet he’s talking about Judas.  

In fact, Mark tells us some of the disciples asked: “Is it me, Lord? Is it me?” Which is the kind of insecure question you ask when you’re not fully convinced Jesus loves you. How many of us have been there? How many of us have stared our sin in the face and said, surely, Jesus can’t love me.  

But at the Cross the love of Jesus knows no bounds. He came to love the unloveable.  

Even Peter’s mouthing, is he talking about me? So he motions for John to ask…  

[v. 25] – So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, heimmediately went out. And it was night.

No one assumed it was Judas. And why would they? Judas was entrusted with the money. Judas was with them when Jesus sent them out two by two. The disciples saw Judas do all kinds of ministry work for Jesus, and yet betrayed him.  

So what does Jesus do for the one who commits the most wicked sin against him? He washes his feet.

Because he loves them all! Jesus didn’t come for people who had anything to offer him. He came for people who would hate him, reject him, distrust him, kill him.  

He knew his disciples wouldn’t understand. He knew they’d fail. And he knew he’d love them to the end because love endures all things.  

He endures the sin of doubt, fear, denial, and betrayal because of the joy set before him in seeing the ones he loves become who God always intended for them to be.  

4. Love sets the way.

Love doesn’t do anything from selfish ambition but in humility counts others more significant than yourself (Phil. 2:3). That’s the mentality Jesus wants his church to adopt.  

[v. 12] – When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Jesus goes low and then retakes his place at the table. He’s giving them a picture of the gospel. The gospel is the power to transform dead sinners into the beauty of Christ.  

Jesus says we’re right to call him Lord and Teacher because all power belongs to him. So we should follow in his pattern of going low for the sake of raising others up in the truth. We should lay down our lives to see his kingdom advanced.  

What Christ has done for us, we’re called to do for others. We’re called to go into the world to love the unloveable because Christ loved the unlovable in us.  

But see, the problem isn’t that we’re lost and don’t know what to do. The problem is that we have the blueprint and can’t follow it.  

So when we’re in those moments where love is required the most, we fall short. We feel like Corrie ten Boom, stuck in the impulses of our own sin.  

On our best days, we recognize the sin within us. We say, God I know what you require of me, but I’m just too weak to do it.  

Now, I’ve heard some people say, the church has a discipleship problem. That’s the issue. If people would just attend church more, read their Bibles, pray, serve, and do evangelism, then all these things would be fixed.  That means we need better leaders. We need better programs. We need ministries rooted in the Word of God. We need this evangelism strategy. 

We need this kids program. Small groups. Sunday school. Bible studies.  

And all those things are great. Let’s do them. But just because you go to church, study the Bible, and do great things in the name of Jesus doesn’t mean anything if you don’t love Jesus. Just ask Judas.  

Think about this: The disciples had the best discipleship strategy ever. They had 3 years on the road with Jesus. When one of them wanted to know if God could make a rock too heavy for him to lift, they got to go to Jesus.  

• When one of them wanted to know what the kingdom of God would be like, they got to go to Jesus. 
• When they wanted to know what a good prayer sounds like, they got to go to Jesus.  
• When they were overcome by fear, because they thought the raging sea or the problems of this world would crush them, they got to go to Jesus.  

They had the best Pastor, Bible Study Leader, Counselor, Discipler ever. And yet, when he dies, they’re all going to hide in fear. Thomas is going to doubt him. Peter’s going to deny him. Judas is going to betray him. 

If you were going to judge Jesus’s discipleship plan at this point, wouldn’t you say it failed? 

But the good news is that Love’s not done with us yet.  

5. Love supplies the power.  

Jesus doesn’t just show us what to do. He loves himself into us. Because he doesn’t love to get, he loves to give.  

[v. 31] – When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A newcommandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Laying your life down out of love for the other is the defining mark of his church. Because you can’t fake it. Loving people like this requires a dying to yourself that willpower alone doesn’t have the strength to do. You can’t will yourself into making the ultimate sacrifice for people you marginally like. It requires a supernatural work of God. Just ask Corrie ten Boom.   

This kind of love takes away all the “buts” to our reasons for not loving someone else. But they cheated me. But they lied to me. But they hurt me.  

See, Jesus gives us a new command to love one another just as he loved us. But we can’t do that apart from him. And he knew it. That’s why when Jesus gives the command to love one another, all Peter can focus on is the fact that he’s leaving and he thinks he’s ready to go with him. 

[v. 36] –  Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you laydown your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

Peter thinks he’s ready to graduate his discipleship training, but Jesus tells him he’s just getting started. He’s like, “Peter, you haven’t even let me love you at your lowest yet.” But when that moment comes, I don’t want you to focus on your shame. I want you to turn and look at the shame that’s been cast onto me at the Cross. You can’t come with me now because I’ve come to take your shame on myself. I’ve come to wash you clean.  

[v. 36] – he says you can’t follow me now, but you will. How? Because in the new covenant, being washed clean by the blood of Jesus doesn’t just mean freedom from sin, but freedom to love like him. 

[Ezek. 36:25] – I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Real quick, if you look back at John 13:23, John calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, which sounds like a flex. Like, Jesus loved all the disciples, but he especially loved John. But that doesn’t really fit the rest of the chapter.  

I think when John was writing his gospel, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he thought about Jesus washing his feet, and he saw the connection to Jesus dying on the Cross for his sins, he could no longer understand his life apart from the grace of God for him. The love Jesus had for him had become the defining marker of his life.  

And I don’t think that’s a John thing. I think that’s true for anyone who encounters the grace of God in Christ.  

Charles Spurgeon put it like this: [John] calls himself “that disciple whom Jesus loved,” because he recognized the delightful obligation which springs out of great love, and wished ever to be under its royal influence. He looked on Jesus’ love as the source and root of everything about himself which was gracious and commendable. If he had any courage, if he had any faithfulness, if he had any depth of knowledge, it was because Jesus had loved these things into him.

That’s what love does.  

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^[1] Works Consulted:  

      –     The Gospel According to John – Carson; “The Love of Jesus” – Keller; “You Will Be Blessed” – 

Martin; https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-forgiveness-of-corrie-ten-boom/ – Crocker