Episode 198: Eat of My Death, So You Can Live In My Resurrection Forever | Brian Morgan+ | Maundy Thursday

Introduction

Well, good night, good evening. Great to see everybody. This time of year is the time of year where we are flooded with invitations. Look in your email box over the next couple of days and just count every invitation you're gonna have. There's one for your yard, there's one for the bug man, there's one for your car, there's one for graduation, there's one for the baby announcement— all kinds of invitations. We are flooded with them right now because winter is this cold time when we stay in, and then spring and summer come, and we're to experience the world again.

What's difficult with all these invitations is knowing which ones I'm supposed to say yes to and which ones I'm supposed to say no to. And often, because we have so many, we're just scattered and say no to all of them. And maybe that's okay, I don't know. But tonight, for the last sixteen hundred years—that's a long time—the church has gathered on Thursday night, just like tonight. And they have wrestled with this invitation from Jesus. That's why we're here: to wrestle with a very personal invitation from Jesus to us.

Holy week is about walking with Jesus and the disciples, walking together as the family of God, walking together to the cross, to the empty tomb. And Holy Week kicks off really tonight with the invitation. So let's pray as we dive in.

The Context of the Passage

Lord, we thank you that you know us each by name. Scripture says you have all the sands in your hand, and yet somehow you know us—all the hairs in our head. You know us the best, you love us the most. We pray, Lord, you would meet us right where we are. Come, Holy Spirit, bring scripture alive for us. Shoot it like a fiery arrow into our hearts, into our minds. Christ's name, amen.

So really, after four hundred years after Jesus died, the church said, hey, on this Thursday night—these three or four nights before Jesus's death and resurrection—we need to get together and we need to look at what were the final events, what were the final teachings of Jesus, and what does that mean for us?

If you got a Bible, turn to John 13. It's the gospel that we just heard. John chapter 13. There's a Bible right in front of you. I encourage you to get it out. You know, whenever we're up here preaching and teaching, it's always great to have a Bible in front of you— just kinda get your hands in the pages and see exactly what God is saying.

As you turn over to John 13, this is the final days, the final hours before Jesus goes to the cross. And he's gathered his closest buddies in this upper room for the Passover meal— a really significant meal. The first reading was all about the Passover. And here's what you can remember about the Passover: it's all about this imprisoned people, a blood shed, and a rescue accomplished. It was about a imprisoned people, a blood shed, and a rescue accomplished.

And Jesus gathers them on this final night to have this Passover meal. But he does something before the Passover meal—that's what happens in John 13. So let's read and see what's going on.

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. — John 13:1

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, 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— he got up from supper, 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. Only a slave did that, only the lowest of the low. If you had guests over in the first century, you'd want them to wash their feet because their feet were nasty and dirty and wanted to keep the house clean. But it was also a way of saying, hey, I value you. You're important to me, and so I want to wash your feet. You always gave it to the lowest of the low to wash your feet.

Here's Jesus: he'd done all these miracles, talked about his death and resurrection, and in these final moments, he gets down and washes their feet. The interchange, look at verse 6, the interchange between Peter and Jesus is quite entertaining.

When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? What is he saying? He's saying, Jesus, man, you're amazing, and I'm not. You're gonna wash my feet? You know, you're kind of this king figure, and I'm not, and you're gonna wash my feet?

Jesus answered him, what I am doing now, you don't understand; but afterward, you will understand. See, when Jesus begins to wash their feet, he's saying, what I'm doing here is symbolic of a greater washing that's about to take place. He's saying, I'm here to wash your feet off. That's great. But don't you know—in hours from now—what you see me doing here, you're gonna look at the cross. And I want you to remember, the washing you see here is the washing that will take place on the cross. He's pointing to the cross right there.

And Peter says this, look, verse 8. He came to Simon Peter, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, what I'm doing, you don't understand now; but afterward, you will understand.

Simon Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Have you ever been there? God, don't—I don't want you to know all that. I don't want you to wash me there. God, I got a lot of dirt under that part of my life, and I don't want you to get down there because it's pretty scuzzy. God, I came into this service tonight, and I got some really big burdens, and they're in my backpack and my soul, but I know about them, and I think you know about them, but I don't—I don't want you to expose them.

And then here's the invitation. Right? We're talking about invitations tonight. Here's the great invitation right here. Jesus answered, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Do you hear the invitation? Peter, can I wash you? Peter, can I wash you? The focal point's off the feet at that point. Peter, can I wash you? Peter, you don't know what I'm doing here. You think it's about feet. It's something much bigger than that. Peter, why I've come is to wash.

Application

Friends, why we're here tonight is because Jesus wants to wash you and me. That's why we're here. Wash your feet? Yeah, it's going to be great. Come up, get your feet washed. That's awesome. But that is pointing to a bigger washing— that's pointing to a washing that we all need over and over and over and over.

What's interesting is it's not a new concept in scripture. We see it way back in the Old Testament, this concept of dirty and clean, that the people were set apart from God and God was perfect, and they wanted to try to get near God. All these incredible things had to happen in the Old Testament.

And David picks it up in Psalm 51. Listen to this in Psalm 51:

Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Oh God, the mistakes I carry are too much. Wash me, God.

He says, I know my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; in my sin, my mother conceived me. Behold, you delight in truth in my inward being. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

John picks it up. Listen— these words in 1 John:

If we walk in the light as Jesus is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us, washes us from our sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Titus 3 also says, saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Spirit.

So Peter's like, Lord, you shouldn't be doing this. You can't do this. No. I'm not sure about this. And Jesus says, if I don't wash you, you can have no part with me. That's the invitation tonight: to be washed by Jesus.

Maybe you're here tonight and you're not a Christian. You'd say, you know what, I'm not exactly sure if I believe in Jesus yet. I want to encourage you tonight. All of us would want to encourage you tonight. We would stand up and applaud if you took that step tonight and said, Jesus, I want you to wash me for the first time tonight. It'll be one of the greatest moments in your life. If you haven't done it, it's really easy. I'm going to tell you in just a minute how to do it.

Don't go out of here tonight dirtied up by your sin. Jesus wants to wash you.

But for most of you are Christians. Most of you, I know you. I kind of know your stories. Most of you are saying, yeah, I've been a follower of Jesus. Well, what his invitation for you again tonight is? Come and be washed. Your sin, it needs to be washed. My sin, it desperately needs to be washed tonight. We need to go to the cross the next three days so we can show up on Sunday morning and celebrate that we were washed again by Jesus.

So the invitation is quite simple. Are you going to accept the invitation that Jesus is offering? How do you do it? Really easy. Honestly, really easy.

Number one, you just admit you need to be washed. That was part of Peter's problem. He didn't know that Jesus was pointing to the cross. He thought it was more about his feet. He also thought, hey Jesus, you're really super and amazing, and I'm not, so you shouldn't wash me. And the gospel says, absolutely, Jesus is perfect and we're not, and that's why we need washing. And so step one is just to come and say, Jesus, I know I need you to wash my sin tonight.

Number two, this is amazing. This is amazing. No, it's a gift. It's already been paid. The invitation is stamped. It's in your mailbox. It's totally free. All you have to do is just receive it. You don't have to pay your dues. Don't worry about cleaning your feet off before you come forward. Don't worry about confessing the top ten sins before you ask him. He already knows all that. It's totally been laid on him. And he says, admit it, admit it, and know it's free.

And then third, receive it. Jesus, wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. So as you come tonight and get your feet washed, let's make it about the cross. If you hear somebody and you know they're going to wash your feet or you don't know who's going to wash your feet yet, know that it's not about your feet. It's an opportunity to say, Jesus, come wash me.

Now I had a question earlier. Somebody said, I don't want anybody to touch my feet because I'm going to start laughing in the middle of the service, and it's going to be really awkward. Alright. If you're one of those people, you're thinking, I do not want to come forward—that's fine. You don't have to come forward. Get your feet washed. But the invitation for you to get your soul washed, absolutely.

Conclusion

Let's pray. Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, what I'm doing, you do not understand now, but afterward, you will understand. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

Lord Jesus, I pray that you would show us our dirt and our sin tonight, so you can wash it. Lord, we're tired of carrying it around, tired of covering it up, tired of pretending like everything's fine, and we know it's not. And you're saying, let me wash you tonight, let me cleanse you tonight. Help us to receive. Help us to admit. Help us to celebrate. Come and wash us, Lord Jesus. Come and wash us.