Love Stronger Than Death

Love Stronger Than Death

(No. 2377)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1894.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 5,
1888.

"When Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of
this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the
world, He loved them unto the end." John 13:1.

THIS is a kind of preface to the story of the foot-washing, and a very
wonderful preface it is, when coupled with the third and fourth verses,
upon which I commented. "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all
things into His hands, and that He had come from God, and was going to
God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments; and took a towel,
and girded Himself." This is the frame of the picture that is here
presented to us. To what shall I compare it? It is like unto a gate of
the Golden City–each gate is one huge pearl and surely this verse is a
jewel of inestimable price! The foot-washing picture is set within this
precious frame.

This memorable and symbolical act took place at the end of our Lord's
sojourn here below. The Passion was the end of His life and we may
consider that the Passion was about to begin. That same night He would
go to Gethsemane and, in less than 24 hours, the dear hands that washed
the disciples' feet would be nailed to the accursed wood and He who
spoke so tenderly to His little band of followers would be in His death
agonies.

It is an important thing to know how a man feels when he comes to the
real crisis of his life. He has cultivated a great variety of feelings
during his career, but what has been his ruling passion? You will see
it now. It has passed into a proverb that, "The ruling passion is
strong in death," and there is great truth in the saying. In the light
of the man's departure, we shall see what power really ruled him. It
was precisely so with our Divine Master. He had almost reached the end
of His earthly life. He had come to a season of awful agony. He was
about to endure the great and terrible death of the Cross, by which He
was to purchase eternal redemption for all His people. What will be
uppermost in His mind, now? What will He think of His disciples, now
that He has so many other things to think of–now that the thought of
His approaching death comes over Him–now that the agony and bloody
sweat of Gethsemane are so near?

What will Jesus think of His disciples at such a time as this and under
such circumstances as these? Our text is the answer to that
question–"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His
hands, and that He had come from God, and was going to God, rose from
supper and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded
Himself." His love was burning as brightly at the Paschal Supper as
ever it burned before! Yes, and it seemed as if, in that wondrous
prayer that is recorded in the 17th Chapter of John, and in the
wonderful discourse which accompanied it, the love of Jesus had never
before flamed out so clearly! Then were the great beacon fires lit and
the fierce winds that blew around the Savior fanned them to their full
force of flame. Now can you say of Jesus, "Behold how He loved His
disciples!" for even at the end of His life He still loved those whom
He had loved before!

With that thought in your minds, will you follow me while I take the
text to pieces and dwell upon almost every word of it?

I. First, then, concerning our blessed Master, let us consider WITH
WHOM HE ASSOCIATED and of whom this verse now speaks. They are called,
"His own." It is a brief description, but it is wonderfully
full–"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end."

"His own." There was a circle–sometimes a wide circle–round the
Savior. It was made up of publicans and sinners and He had a measure of
love to all of them, a benevolent desire to bless them, but there was
an inner circle, containing the 12 Apostles and some godly women who
had joined themselves unto Him. These were, "His own." To them He often

expounded the hidden meaning of a parable which He left unexplained to
the crowd. To them He often brought many a dainty dish which was
especially reserved for their table and not intended for the multitude.
Bread and fish would do for the crowd, but Jesus had choicer fare for
"His own." They were a special people–many knew them, many despised
them–but Jesus loved them, and this was the main thing which made them
"His own."

You know how they came to be "His own." He chose them before the earth
was. A man may surely choose his own wife and Christ chose His own
spouse. He chose His own Church and, while the Scripture stands, that
doctrine can never be eradicated from it. Before the day-star knew its
place, or planets ran their rounds, Christ had made His choice and,
having made it, He stood to it! He chose them for His love and He loved
them for His choice.

Having loved them and chosen them, He espoused them unto Himself. "They
shall be Mine," He said. "I will be married to them, I will be bone of
their bone and flesh of their flesh." Consequently, in the fullness of
time, He came here, made one with our humanity, that He might be seen
to be a true Husband to "His own"–"His own" by choice–"His own" by
espousal.

They were "His own" also, for His Father gave them to Him. The Father
committed them into His hands. "Yours they were," said Jesus, "and You
gave them to Me." The Father loved the Son and committed all things
into His hands, but He made a special committal of His own chosen
people. He gave them to Him and entered with Him into surety
engagements on their behalf, that as they were His sheep, committed to
His charge, He would deliver them up and not one of them should be torn
by the wolf, or die by the frost or the heat, but that all should pass,
again, under the rod of Him that counts them. That Great Shepherd of
the sheep will take care of the whole flock that was entrusted to His
care! He will not lose one of His sheep or lambs. At the last, Jesus
will say, "Here am I, Father, and the children that You have given Me;
of all that You gave Me, I have lost none." Thus, they are "His own" by
His own choice, "His own" by espousal and, "His own" by His Father's
gift!

But these whom He called, "His own," were soon to be His by a wondrous
purchase. He looked upon their redemption as being already
accomplished, for in His prayer He said to His Father, "I have finished
the work which You gave Me to do." Beloved Friends, have you ever
thought how dearly we are Christ's by His redemption of us? "You are
not your own; you are bought with a price." Have you ever realized the
price that was paid for you? I sometimes think that if I could have
been there, I would have said, "O great and glorious Lord, I beseech
You not to pay such a price for me! It is too great a sacrifice that
You should be made sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness
of God in You!" But He would do it. He loved us better than He loved
Himself! He would do it and He has paid the purchase price for us, and
we are His–and we will not run back from the glad confession! Well may
He call us, "His own," when it cost Him so much to redeem us!

But we have become "His own" by His conquest of us. He had called His
disciples by His Grace. He had drawn each one of them by cords of love
and they had run after Him–and it is the same with you and me. You
remember when He drew you, do you not? Can you ever forget when, at
last, you yielded to the power of those bands of love, those cords of a
Man? Often since then have you sung–

"Oh, happy day, that fixed my choice On You, my Savior, and my God!
Well may this glowing heart rejoice And tell its raptures all abroad!
'Tis done! The great transaction's done! I am my Lord's, and He is
mine– He drew me, and I followed on, Charmed to confess the voice
Divine." Beloved, you are "His own," now, because you have yielded
yourselves to Him. You delight to think that you are His. There is no
greater joy to you than to feel that you belong to Christ! The fact
that you are truly Christ's is the fountain of innumerable pleasures
and blessings to your heart! Jesus calls us, "His own"–His own sheep,
His own disciples, His own friends, His own brethren, the members of
His body! What a title for us to wear, "His own"! I have heard of some
who have felt it an honor to be called, "The Devil's Own." I trust that
you have escaped from such a title as that and now you are Christ's
own. How many regiments have felt pleasure in being called, the King's
Own, the Queen's Own, the Prince's Own! Oh, but we are HIS OWN! He owns
us! He calls us, "His own." Thus He distinguishes us from the rest

of mankind and sets us apart unto Himself. "My name shall be named on
them," He says. We are "His own." Surely, this is the highest honor
that can be put upon us even in the Last Great Day. "They shall be
Mine, says the Lord of Hosts, is that day when I make up My jewels."

Now I trust we can say that we desire to serve Christ in our vocation.
I feel happy to be among the favored few whose vocation it is to serve
Christ, those who are permitted to spend all their time and all their
strength in that dear service. We are, "His own," but so are you, "His
own," if you believe in Him. You, also, are Christ's own, up in an
attic. Christ's own at the washtub. Christ's own in the fields at the
plow. Christ's own making the hay. I am not wandering from my subject
when I say this, for Christ has "His own" among all these classes! "His
own" were fishermen. "His own" cast the net into the Sea of Galilee.
"His own" drew it to shore. "His own" were the poor of this world. His
own, His very own, His choicest and His best friends and followers,
were just such! They were unlearned and ignorant men, yet they were
"His own." So the Apostle says, "God has chosen the foolish things of
the world to confuse the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of
the world to confuse the things which are mighty; and base things of
the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen, yes, and
things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are: that no
flesh should glory in His Presence."

Oh, the wondrous sovereignty of Divine Love! I trust that there are
some here, tonight, who Christ calls "His own" although they do not yet
know that it is so! Bought with His blood and they are not aware of it?
Chosen before the foundation of the world and yet they have not
discovered it? May the Lord reveal to you His everlasting love and help
you to make your calling and election sure from this time forth!

I have said as much as time will permit me to say about our Lord's dear
associates, the disciples, whom He calls "His own."

II. Now, in the second place, you have a full description of how Jesus
had felt towards them up to that moment– "Having loved His own."

How much can be done with one stroke of a pen! I have sometimes
marveled to see how much a great artist can do by a single touch. His
work has seemed unfinished, but he has come with a brush and just
thrown in a few strokes–and the canvas that was dead has seemed to
live before you! Now, John is a great master of the art of
word-painting and he gives you the whole history of Christ's dealings
with His disciples in these few words, "Having loved His own."

For, remember, that is how He began with them. They were poor and
inconsiderable, but He loved them, and He showed His love to them by
calling them to be His disciples. That love worked upon their hearts
and made them obedient to His call. He began by loving them. David
says, "You have loved my soul out of the pit." I do not know a more
beautiful description of conversion and salvation. The love of God
loves us up out of the pit and loves us to Christ. Thus Christ loved
His people from the beginning and proved His love by drawing them to
Himself–and the cords He used to draw them were the bands of His love.

Having begun by loving them, He went on teaching them, but all His
teaching was love, for they were such dull scholars, quick to forget,
yet slow to remember, that He had to keep on loving them or He would
have been tired of trying to train them! "Have I been so long time with
you and yet have you not known Me, Philip?" There is a mass of love in
that question! So was it when He was dealing with Thomas. In His
tenderness He submitted without question to the doubting disciple's
test. He said to Him, "Reach here your finger, and behold My hands; and
reach here your hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless,
but believing." All His teaching was uttered with lips of love–and all
His instruction consisted of lessons of love.

The Lord kept on loving His disciples although their natures were
amazingly imperfect, all of them! There was not one among them who had
what one would call an all-round nature, unless it was John, and even
he was nasty in temper and would have called down fire from Heaven upon
certain Samaritans. Yet the Master kept on loving them. He had made up
His mind to love them and He never ceased to love them as long as He
was with them! And He has gone on loving them ever since. At the time
when He was about to depart out of the world unto the Father, they
still needed to have their feet washed, and He loved them enough to
render even that lowly service for them. All the infirmities, the
imperfections, the carnality, the dullness and the slowness of their
nature which He saw much more clearly than they saw it, did not make
Him cease to love them–"Having loved His own which were in the world,
He loved them unto the end."

Strangest of all, when He opened His eyes and looked into the future
and saw that they would soon be cowardly and faithless, He loved them
all the same! He said, "All you shall be offended because of Me this
night," and so it came to pass, for, "they all forsook Him, and fled."
He told Peter that he would deny Him three times and so he did. Yet it
was true all the while, "Having loved His own which were in the world,
He loved them unto the end." That sums it all up! There was never a
touch of hate, there was never any anger, there was never any
weariness, there was never any luke-warmness in Jesus towards His
disciples–it was always just this–"Having loved His own which were in
the world, He loved them unto the end." That is the love of Christ to
His chosen and that is the love of Christ to me! I do not think that
those gentlemen who have written a, "Life of Christ," could write this
part of it. This is a portion of the life of Christ that needs not so
much to be written as to be known in the heart and in the soul.

How have you found Christ, my Brothers and Sisters? If you have known
Him, what has been His conduct towards you? You answer, "Love." As for
me, I never knew, I never heard of such a Lover as He is! I never
dreamed that He could be such as He has been to me! Oh, how I must have
vexed and grieved His gracious heart and caused Him pain! But never,
never, never once have I had anything from Him but love! "Having loved
His own." That expression sums up the whole of Christ's conduct towards
His chosen people! It is like a miniature painting–it has every
feature of His character. There it is, all of it. You may apply a
microscope and look as long as you like, but you will find that it is
all there. "Having loved His own."

So then, you have seen your Lord associated with His disciples up to
this point, and you have learned that He has manifested nothing else
towards them but love.

III. But now, thirdly, WHAT A CHANGE WAS COMING OVER HIM! "Jesus knew
that His hour was come that

He should depart out of this world unto the Father."

Dear Friends, it was an amazing change that was coming over Him, for,
in the first place, though it is so tenderly described here, yet He
knew that He had to die. You do not wish me, I am sure, to tell you of
all the surroundings of the Cross, of all the bitterness and woe that
culminated in that cup of mingled wormwood and gall. Your heart can
never fail to remember the wounds He endured when suffering for you.

Well, now, if you and I had to bear all that Christ had to suffer, it
would engross our thoughts–we should not be able to think of anything
else but that–but it did not engross our Lord's thoughts! He still
thought of "His own." He loved "His own" unto the end! He went on with
that same calm, solid, resolute love which He had shown towards them
before. He set His face like a flint to go up to Jerusalem, but there
was no flint in His heart–it had all gone into His face. He had
undertaken the work of His people's redemption and He must go through
with it! Death, itself, could not change His love. You know the love of
which Solomon sings at the end of the Canticles–"Many waters cannot
quench love, neither can the deeds drown it." And he says, "Love is
strong as death." Truly, in our Lord's case, love was stronger than
that death of deaths which He deigned to die that He might make us
live! Now is His great "hour" of trial, but He is true to "His own"
even in this dread hour. He is about to die, but He still loves "His
own."

Dear Brothers and Sisters, that is not all! Jesus was about to depart
out of this world, to go away from His disciples. After a while He
would see them no more with His bodily eyes–neither would they hear
His voice leading them and teaching them. It may be true that, "Absence
makes the heart grow fonder," but, alas, we have met with many
instances in which mortal men have quite forgotten those whom they
professed to love when once the sea has rolled between them. Many
hearts are dependent upon eyesight. It is a pity that it should be so,
but it was not so with Christ. All the distance between earth and
Heaven was soon to intervene between our Lord and His disciples, but
still He loved them and He loves them still. No distance makes any
difference between Jesus and "His own." "Having loved His own which
were in the world, He loved them unto the end."

Yet, remember, that the Savior was about to undergo a very amazing
change in another respect–He was going to the Father. Have any of us
the slightest idea of what He is, now, with the Father? I will not
attempt to describe the supernal splendors of His Throne, the glories
which His redeemed delight to lay at His feet, the songs which angels
and cherubim and seraphim continually present before Him–but this
verse we love and we can truly sing–

"Now though He reigns exalted high, His love is still as great; Well He
remembers Calvary, Nor lets His saints forget."

I cannot describe these wonderful changes of our Lord, from life to
death, from death to resurrection, from resurrection to ascension, from
ascension to the glories of His Father's Throne. Would all these
changes make any alteration in Him? No, none of them! "Having loved His
own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end."

I shall try to speak of that, presently, and that will be my last
point. But before we come to that theme, we must see what would be the
condition of "His own." I have shown you what would be Christ's
condition, and the change that would take place in Him.

IV. Now, fourthly, WHAT WOULD BE THEIR CONDITION?

Why, they would remain where they were–"His own which were in the
world." To me, there seems to be a great abyss of meaning in that
expression, "in the world." Some of you know more about what this means
than others of us do. The Church of God in London is nothing but a camp
in the midst of heathendom. The sooner we believe that terrible truth
the better, because it is really so–and the Church of God in the world
is nothing but a traveling tent in the midst of a world that lies in
the Wicked One. We are "in the world." Now, some of you know what it is
to be "in the world." When you get home, tonight, there will be little
but oaths and cursing. Some of God's dear people, whom He loves with
all His heart, are still in the world, seeing that which vexes them as
much as Lot was vexed by the filthy conversation of the men of Sodom.
"In the world!" Now, those whom Christ was about to leave in the world
would be left in the midst of all the abounding wickedness, idolatry
and blasphemy in about as ungodly an age as man could live in–yet He
left them "in the world."

Being in the world, you see, they began to be persecuted. They were
stoned. They were shut up in prison. They were dragged into the
amphitheatre to be torn apart by lions. But "He loved them unto the
end." You know how that blessed eighth chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans concludes. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the
day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

In addition to being persecuted, they were liable to be severely
tempted. All kinds of bribes were put in their way and all sorts of
pleasures and lusts were presented to them. They were men of like
passions with ourselves, so those temptations were very real to them.
They were "in the world" and Jesus had gone to Heaven. They were "in
the world," also, in affliction. Ah, dear Friends, we find that we,
too, are, in this sense, "in the world." However closely we live to
God, we have pains of body and we have to grieve as we see our dear
relatives suffering. We have losses and crosses because we are "in the
world." God's curse still rests upon the earth–"Thorns, also, and
thistles shall it bring forth to you." You may do what you like with
it, but you cannot make it stop bringing forth thorns and thistles!
They will continue to spring up as surely as the dust will return to
the dust from whence it was taken.

In the world, of course, they were in great labor, for they were left
in the world to seek to convert it, or, at least, to call out the
redeemed of Christ from among men by preaching the Gospel to every
creature. And, being "in the world," they were surrounded by much
weakness–weakness of body and weakness of mind–always needing to call
to their Lord for help. He was up there upon the Throne of God and they
were down in the dungeon! He was up there, clothed with all power, and
they were down here in all weakness!

V. NOW, HOW WILL JESUS BEHAVE TOWARDS THEM? That is our last question.
We began with it and we will finish with it. Well, here is the answer.
"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the
end." And we may rest sure that He always will love them and that He
will never change from the tenderness of His heart towards them! "He
loved them unto the end." What does that sentence mean?

I think it means, first, that He loved them right on. The Hebrew, "His
mercy endures forever," might be rendered, "His mercy endures to the
end." That is, to the end which has no end, for there never will be an
end to His mercy–and His love is continual, everlasting love, it will
never come to an end! Christ, Himself, in His Passion, may be said to
have come to an end–and He loved His disciples until His death–but it
means that He loves them without any end, forever and ever. Having
loved them while He was in the world with them, He loves them right
straight on and always will love them when time shall be no more!

I am sure, dear Friends, you believe in the everlasting love of God
towards His people. If any of you do not, you are robbing yourselves of
one of the greatest comforts that are to be found in the Scriptures. If
the Lord can change, where are we? Everything has gone when His
everlasting love is gone! I delight to believe that the mountains shall
depart and the hills be removed but His kindness shall not depart from
us, neither shall the Covenant of His peace be removed–it stands fast
forever and ever!

But the sentence may be rendered, "He loved them to perfection."
"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to
perfection." He could not love them any better–that was impossible. He
could not love them more wisely–that would be out of the question. He
could not love them more intensely–that is not supposable. Whatever
the perfection of love may be–that is what Jesus Christ bestows upon
His people! There is no such love in all the world as the love of
Christ to His people! And if you were to gather up all the loves that
ever were, of men and women, of mothers and children, of friends and
friends, and heap up all these loves, the love of Jesus is of superior
quality to them all, for none of those loves are absolutely perfect,
but Jesus Christ loves to perfection!

Those of you who have the Revised Version will find in the margin the
following words, "to the uttermost." "Having loved His own which were
in the world, He loved them to the uttermost"–to that which is
uttermost, farthest and most distant–or, if I turn the word in another
way, "He loved them utterly," unutterably, in such a way that you
cannot tell, or conceive, or describe, or imagine how much He loved His
people! He loved His people to the utmost stretch of love! So is it,
there is no love like His and, as I said just now, all the loves in the
world, compressed into one, would not equal it! "Having loved His own
which were in the world, He loved them to the uttermost."

Now, it seems to me that this Truth of God ought to tempt some poor
soul to wish to enjoy Christ's love. "Oh," says one, "if I did but get
that love, I would never lose it. He would love me to the uttermost.
Oh, if I could but creep in among His people!" The way to discover
Christ's love to you is that you should begin by trusting Him, and
surely He will help you to do this. He is so true, so good, so able to
save unto the uttermost, that if you will come and trust Him, trust Him
wholly, trust Him, now, trust Him just as you are–He will save you to
the uttermost and show His love to you to the uttermost! I have been
preaching what I trust will comfort God's people, but I wish that some
poor soul would come to Christ through it. I believe that is the right
way to preach the Gospel.

Have you not noticed, in the story of the Prodigal Son, that the father
said, "Bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on
his hand, and shoes on his feet," and so on? But he did not go on to
say, "Feed him." Do you notice what he said? It was, "Let us eat and be
merry." "Well, but I thought he was thinking about his son." Yes, and
he says, "Let us eat." So, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us
eat and then sinners will begin to feel their mouths watering and they,
also, will want to eat, and to have a share of the feast! This is the
only way to make them eat! You can bring a horse to the water, but you
cannot make him drink. But you are very likely to do so if you set
another horse a-drinking! So, if you and I enjoy the sweetness of the
love of Christ, there may be some in the gallery, and some downstairs
who will say, "We wish that we knew it, too," and they will be wanting
it! That is the way to make them eat. I pray the Lord, by His Spirit,
to lead them to put their trust in this loving Savior, and each one to
say–

"Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Your bosom fly." He will let you
fly to His bosom! therefore–

"Come, and welcome, sinner, come."

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: John 131-19

Verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His
hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the
end. Our Lord Jesus Christ had a clear foresight of all He had to
endure. Future things are happily hidden from our eyes. We do not even
know the moment when we shall die, nor how it will be. It is well that
it is so, but our Lord was able to anticipate His sufferings by knowing
all about them–"Jesus knew that His hour was come." It was all
appointed and nothing happens to any of us by accident–chance is
banished from the Believer's creed! There is an appointed "hour" for
each one of us and it will

come in due season. "Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should
depart out of the world unto the Father." What a beautiful way of
describing death! Christ's death was certainly a more trying one than
ours will be, so that this description may apply to ours as well as to
His.

2. And supper being ended. I suppose that was the Paschal Supper.

2. The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's
son, to betray Him. What a horrible purpose for Satan to put into the
heart of Judas even in the Presence of Jesus! I hope that the devil
will not put any such purpose into your hearts or into mine while we
are in this House of Prayer, but no place is sacred from his intrusion,
he will come in anywhere. Even where Christ, Himself, is at the head of
the table, Judas may be sitting at that same table and Satan may then
and there, put into his heart the horrible purpose of betraying his
Master.

3, 4. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His
hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God, He arose from
supper and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded
Himself. Notice those words, "Jesus knowing…He took a towel, and
girded Himself." If He had not known how great He was, there would not
have been such condescension in His action, but He knew who He was and
what the Father had entrusted to Him–"The Father had given all things
into His hands." You might suppose that He would stand up, in a very
dignified manner, and put on a purple robe and a golden belt, but,
instead of that, He rose from the supper table, laid aside His
garments, and took a towel, and girded Himself. He knew that He had
come forth from God and that He was going back to God–and He performed
this action on the way home to His Father. O dear Brothers and Sisters,
if Christ thus stooped, how humble ought we to be! No office should be
counted too lowly, no work for His servants should seem to be too
humiliating, since Jesus "took a towel and girded Himself."

5. After that, He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the
disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was
girded. You see that Jesus does His work well. He omits none of the
details of it. He puts Himself in the place of a slave and He performs
a slave's duty very thoroughly. I am afraid that, sometimes, we do our
work for Him in a slovenly way, but Jesus was not satisfied with simply
washing His disciples' feet–He must do the wiping, too. I bless Him
that He did so, for this is a picture of what He has done for us. He
has washed our feet and He often repeats the gracious act. The feet
that Jesus washes, He will wipe–He has not begun His task without
intending to finish it. I know that He will complete in my soul the
work which He has undertaken, for He fulfilled, on the feet of His
disciples, the office He had undertaken–"He began to wash the
disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was
girded."

6. Then came He to Simon Peter: and Peter said to Him, Lord, do You
wash my feet? I do not wonder that he said that. Would not you have
been equally astonished had you been there? Peter had some faint idea
who Christ was. He had confessed Him in such a way that Jesus had said
to Him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood has not
revealed it unto you, but My Father which is in Heaven." Knowing so
much about Christ, Peter marveled at His action. He felt so astonished
that He asked, "Do You wash my feet?"

7. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, you know not, now; but
you shall know hereafter. I have heard this saying of our Lord applied
to affliction and it is very true that what Jesus does, we do not, at
present, understand, but we shall know, by-and-by. I do not think,
however, that this sentence is very applicable that way, for there was
no affliction in having his feet washed. The fact is, Brothers and
Sisters, though it is a very humbling thing to say, we do not
understand that which Jesus does–even His simplest actions are a
mystery to us. We have never gone into the very depths of them so as to
comprehend them. "What I do–even though I only wash your feet, plain
and simple operation as that is– you know not now; but you shall know
hereafter." Our knowing times, dear Friends, are to come. We need not
be so very anxious to know at present–this is the time of love. I
would forego the filling of my head, for a while, if I could have my
heart full, but, alas, we are generally so busy trying to attain merely
head knowledge! My most intense longing is for a growing heart, a heart
that truly loves the Savior. That is the way for the head to learn, for
knowledge that comes by the way of the heart, and so enters the head,
is the best of knowledge! Jesus said to Peter, "What I do, you know
not, now; but you shall know hereafter."

8. Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet. That is just like
Peter. If John had not told us who it was that said this, we would have
known that it was Peter! He was always in such a hurry and he spoke so
quickly that he made many mistakes, yet he was always so honest and so
true, that his Master forgave his faults and helped him to correct
them.

8. He answered him, If I wash you not, you have no part with Me. If
Christ does not cleanse us, we do not belong to Him. If He does not,
day by day, exercise a purifying influence over us, we are not His.

9. Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet, only, but also my hands
and my head. How that pendulum swings to and fro! It went this way just
now–"You shall never wash my feet." Now it goes right away to the
other extreme– "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my
head." Go more gently, Peter, be more quiet! Why do you go so far in
one direction and then rush off so far in another way? Your Master
knows better than you know what is right for you.

10. Jesus said to him, He that is washed, needs only to wash his feet,
but is clean every whit: and you are clean, but not all. Dear Friends,
when we believe in Christ, we are washed in the Fountain filled with
blood, and we are clean. But this world is such a sinful place that we
cannot walk through it for even a day without some of its mire and dust
clinging to us. Besides, God's lilies are so pure that they are hardly
fit to bloom in such a defiling atmosphere. Oh, how we need that the
dew should wash the lily when the night comes! How greatly we need to
have the foot-washing administered to us every day! We need not repeat
the first great washing–the bath by which our sins were cleansed–when
that was done, it was done once and for all. Our sin was pardoned as
before a Judge, but we need it to be taken away as before our Father,
for we are now under His loving discipline!

Christ further said to His disciples, "You are clean, but not all."
Does He say that to us at this time? "You are clean, but not all."
Where sits the man, in this House of Prayer, who is not clean? The
sinner who has not yet been washed by Jesus Christ? Where sits the
woman who is not clean? The Lord have mercy upon you, dear Friends! You
know, that in the olden days, they put a red cross on the door of the
house where the plague was. We cannot put a cross upon you, but I pray
you to consider yourselves as marked men and marked women in the sight
of God. And I pray the Lord to take that mark away by causing you to be
washed, that you may be clean every whit. How quickly He can wash the
foulest sinners! He that believes in Jesus is washed in the precious
blood and he is clean. God cleanse us all for His great name's sake!

11-15. For He knew who should betray Him; therefore said He, You are
not all clean. So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His
garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, know you what I
have done to you? You call me Master and Lord: and you say well; for so
I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you,
also, ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an
example, that you should do as I have done to you. Christ's actions are
the pattern for us to imitate! Oh, that we followed them more closely!

16. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his
lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. Sometimes
we think that we are a deal too great to wash anybody's feet–we would
like to see a person dare propose it to us, such big people as we are!
If we talk like that, there is great need that we should be taken down.
That would be the true way to rise in the likeness of Jesus! Oh, that
we were lowlier in humility! We should be higher in Grace if we were.

17. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Peter
needed to know them. Jesus would have us do them.

18. I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen. Christ has a
chosen people, though some will not believe it. Yet it is so, for He
says, "I know whom I have chosen."

18, 19. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he that eats bread
with Me has lifted up his heel against Me. Now I tell you before it
comes, that when it has come to pass, you may believe that I am He.
"That I am." So, you see, even the great trouble of the early
Church–the betrayal by Judas–was used by Christ for the strengthening
of His disciples' faith. He foretold that it would be as it came to
pass. So, dear Friends, in these latter days, many forsake the Gospel,
but Jesus told us that it would be so. He taught His servants to write
that there would be a falling away and that in these last days there
would be scoffers–and as we read the prophecies and compare them with
the fulfillment–even the doleful fact, itself, confirms our faith in
our Lord! God bless to us this brief reading of His own Word! Amen.