"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.
During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him, 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, rose from supper."
John 13: 1-3, 4a ESV
...
I found myself in the middle of John the other day.
So random, but I found myself loving everything John had to say again.
I'm reading about how ridiculously amazing and sometimes verbally confusing Jesus was.
What an incredible friend.
So weird, to picture God as a friend huh?
The GOD OF THE AGES, seeing a woman weeping, was DEEPLY MOVED HIMSELF.
The point of tears.
A woman's tears actually MOVE the heart of God?
I was so touched seeing the desperation of Mary & Martha, how they still hoped in Him.
The circumstances were screaming hopelessness, yet they believed in this God-Man.
I love this dialogue after Lazarus died:
Jesus said to her, "your brother will rise again."
Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do. you. believe. this?"
And Martha, precious precious Martha, just lost her brother Martha, let faith arise; declaring in the face of tragedy:
"Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God..."
Imagine, your brother that you love literally JUST died.
There's this man who comes, and you think he's trying to comfort you in the way that people try to comfort the mourning, even today.
"Oh, don't worry, it'll be ok, you'll see your brother again one day."
Hm. Comforting... I guess? Maybe not?
I love Martha's response, I wonder what it sounded like... I wonder what her heart was saying... "yes, Lord, I know the teachings. He will rise on the last day.
But ya know... my pain right now is kind of real. And in case you forgot... you were late.
Jesus, You could've saved his life, but you were too late."
And then, after that response, Jesus makes these outrageous claims.
I don't know about you, but I highly doubt that a man making these claims, in the smack-dab middle of my heart-wrenching pain, would bring any more comfort to me.
From what I can understand, Jesus isn't even hinting that Lazarus is coming back to life in THIS world, like, right now. .
He's going into his crazy, confusing speech about who He is and I wonder just how much Martha understood about these claims... "everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die."
Then He looks directly at her, and asks a question.
Totally putting her on the spot..... Jesus can be kinda awkward sometimes.
I doubt he was trying to be insensitive, but it just seems like a lot to ask a very, very broken woman in this moment.
It is a lot. In fact, it's absolutely everything.
Her faith rises, maybe out of pure desperation, or maybe... in the deepest, deepest promptings of her heart she just knew this was the answer.... she says, or maybe whispers, "yes, Lord. I believe..."
Incredible.
So Jesus and Mary and Martha and Lazarus and God change the world and shake the community with the "miracle of miracles."
I've heard this story a million times. Yet, recently, it came alive again.
Then, John keeps writing & we see plot twists.
An adoring woman shows her radical love in a humbling way; perfume & hair.
The hypocrisy of the palm-branched-crowd, worshipping one minute, doubting the next...
Sound familiar?
Jesus literally almost gets stoned alive.
God verbally, audibly, speaks to Jesus. In public. People hear, and think it's an angel or something. Absolutely awe-some.
John continues and Jesus continues... making unbelievable claims:
"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (12:32)
"If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." (12:26)
"I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." (12:46)
"What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me." (12:50b)
craziness.
THEN.
We get to Chapter 13.
What a build-up huh?
At this point, I think I'm pretty convinced about the divinity & humanity of this man.
Causing riots. Audibly talking to God. Getting adored by perfume and hair. Worshipped with palms. Broken-hearted over a woman's tears. Almost stoned.
Failing to meet expectations - then blowing expectations out of the water by performing a miracle.
Raising His friend from the dead.
Jesus, only Jesus.
Chapter 13:
"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.
During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him, 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, rose from supper."
What I read next literally made me weep.
JESUS.
KNOWING that the Father had given all things into his hands....
KNOWING that he had come from God and was going back to God...
KNOWING His hour had come, to die....
rose from supper.
Then what?
What makes sense in my mind would probably involve... violence? Scoffing? "I told-you-so's"? SOME type of incredible display of God's power????
Something like this, maybe...
"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands... rose from supper and..."
- Wiped out everyone in the room with one word.
- Sent a lightning bolt to kill Satan.
- Scolded every disciple in the room, calling them out for not truly being followers because He knew about the doubt in their hearts.
- Made fun of His friends for their continued ignorance in what was really going on.
- Rolled His eyes and said "see ya later, losers."
- Got frustrated that His disciples, after everything they had seen, STILL were completely clueless.
- Took revenge on the guys who wanted to stone Him a few verses ago.
- Threw the old palm branches at the easily-swayed crowd.
- Wiped out Judas Iscariot, the one that the Devil prepared to betray Him.
Maybe I'm the only one who thinks any of those options would be a reasonable course of action for this perfect God-man.
He is not only completely justified in doing any of those things, but it just makes sense to me.
Now you see how I easily could've been one of the disciples. :)
After everything, after EVERYTHING He had done in His three years of ministry.
It was the end. The time had come. And He was still surrounded by a table of pathetically clueless people. (Of which, I'm sure if I was there, I would easily identify with each of them).
But NOT Jesus.
"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."
Amazing.
Not only that, though, the story continues...
During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him, 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, rose from supper."
I pray, with all my heart, that the next few verses move your heart in a RADICAL, RADICAL way.
This is the God we serve.
This is the ONE, TRUE LIVING GOD.
This is the God so worthy of worship, so worthy of our lives...
JESUS,
KNOWING THAT THE FATHER HAD GIVEN ALL THINGS INTO HIS HANDS...
"...rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 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."
I can't even write that without crying.
I mean, are you kidding me?
One of His last big "MOMENTS" on earth...
His chance to make a STATEMENT...
A last chance for a mind-blowing miracle...
A last chance to change people's minds about who He is by showing HIS POWER.....
And He washed his followers' feet.
GOD.
Washing the feet of doubting sinners.
Washing the feet of His clueless friends.
Washing the feet of the undeserving.
THIS, this right here, THIS is the God we serve.
THIS is who God is.
This isn't some made-up fairytale to make us feel good... besides, who would make up a story like this?
THIS IS WHO CALLS US HIS OWN!!
What kind of all-powerful, majestic, ALL-MIGHTY God would do something like this?
Jesus.
Only Jesus.
I hope this piece of history absolutely demolishes your hard heart today.
To the core.
To the parts that feel unloved, misunderstood, alone or confused.
To the parts that are still trying to prove their worth, trying to find validation in other people.
To the parts that doubt who Jesus is or what Jesus has done.
To the parts that are so consumed by sin that you feel out of control.
I am convinced more than ever that Jesus is the answer to every problem, the remedy to every pain, the solution to every complication, the peace to every worry, the calm to every chaos, the hope to every despair, the light to every dark place, the joy to every tragedy, the healing to every broken-heart, the evidence to every doubter, the grace to every sinner, the identity to every orphan, the shore to every storm, the water to every traveler, the rest to every worker, the covering to every shame, the dignity to every humiliation, the truth to every seeker, the worth to every failure, the confidence to every insecurity, the restorer to every mistake, the company to every loneliness, the teacher to every unknown, the transformer to every ugly, the love to every abandoned.
Jesus, only Jesus.
Let Him have you today. Every part.
