Reflective Bible Study

As John’s gospel describes the last supper Jesus had with the disciples on the night He was betrayed, John shares an interesting set of verses that give us a big clue into Jesus’ character and His motivation for what was about to happen over the next 24 hour time period.

During this meal, John tells us: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (v. 3-5)

This set of verses is amazing in my mind for a number of reasons. First, John tells us in verse 3 that “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power”. Reading this verse makes me a little curious: Did Jesus not have all things under His power prior to this point at the end of His ministry? Was the Father holding power back from Jesus while Jesus worked and ministered to the people?

While there are many questions I could ask about this one verse in John’s gospel, regardless of how or when Jesus received all things under His power, John tells us that at this point in His ministry, Jesus knew that all things were under His power. Reading what comes next is powerful.

Immediately after this realization, Jesus gets up, takes His outer garment off, and begins moving around the room washing the disciples’ feet. The most powerful Person in the room (Jesus) was taking the role of the least valued and least important servant.

Not only do these verses impress me about Jesus’ humility, but as we read the rest of the crucifixion event, it is powerful to think that everything that happens is chosen by Jesus. We know this because of what John initially says: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power”. (v. 3a)

Jesus chose the cross for you and for me. At the point when He realized He had been given the greatest amount of power, He chooses to humbly take on the role of a servant. Jesus is not interested in exercising His power and position over us. Instead, Jesus wants to serve us as a way of inspiring us to have a relationship with Him.

After sharing with the disciples about how they should be more focused on serving others rather than competing with each other for the best place and/or position, Jesus shifts the focus onto how He came to model the life He is describing. Matthew finishes this event off by telling us Jesus said: “Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be most important among you will be your slave. It’s the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.” (v. 26b-28)

While it is one thing to simply tell the disciples how they should live, Jesus doesn’t stop there. Instead, Jesus finishes off by pointing the spotlight on Himself as an example – and He shares one more time that He would be facing death in the future.

Jesus being a servant to everyone is a significant detail that we should pay attention to. Jesus does not call us to do anything that He didn’t do Himself. The Pharisees and religious leaders were the ones in that culture who told others they needed to do a whole list of things that they were not willing to do themselves. In contrast, Jesus lived the life He wants us to live.

This might not be all that comforting for us when we think about it a little closer. Jesus faced voluntary death because He was that dedicated to serving humanity, and while we should be incredibly thankful to Him for this, Jesus’ sacrifice and voluntary death may be something that He calls us to as well. Remember, Jesus does not ask us to do anything that He wasn’t willing to do Himself. He gave up His life, and He might call us to give up ours as well.

We should be extraordinarily thankful towards Jesus for serving us in the way He did, and while it isn’t ideal to think about from this perspective, if Jesus calls us to give our lives up for Him, we can trust that He has something better in store for us when we arrive with Him in heaven. While Jesus doesn’t call us to do or give up anything He wasn’t willing to give up, everything that we give to Him will be returned in an exponentially better way when we arrive in heaven.

When reading this entry’s passage, I often wonder about the people who were originally invited. In each case, those who received an original invitation – which almost sound like an exclusive invitation, give an excuse and ask to be excused from attending the celebration. These original invitees were offered everything almost exclusively, but chose to reject the invitation, which was really also rejecting the king, in favor of doing their own thing.

Verses 5 and 6 tell us their response when receiving the king’s invitation: “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.”

The two possible responses from the king’s invitation are indifference and hostility.

Many of the original invitees were too interested in what they were currently doing to pay attention when the king called. When the call came in, they were not finished building their business, taking care of a client, saving enough to weather retirement, or with their goals-checklist – and they placed these things as more important than the king’s wedding banquet for his son. These original invitees lived like they were their own boss and like their personal priorities were their highest priorities.

Other original invitees hated the king, and so when the call came to them, they refused it simply because of who the king was. The passage also says that these haters mistreated the king’s servants, and some even went so far as to kill the servants who were sent to them. These original invitees picked themselves to be kings of their own life because they didn’t want to submit to the actual king.

In every case an invitation is given in this passage, there does not appear to be a cost involved. No one has paid to purchase a seat/plate at the king’s table, and this truth reveals something else that is interesting about human nature: We discount the value of free gifts we have received, regardless of their true, often priceless, value.

If the king in this parable represents God, then some of the elements in this parable become clear.

The first thing to become clear is that if God exists, then regardless of what we think, say, feel, or do, He is in control. There is nothing we can say/do that will remove Him from His position of authority. If God exists, then no amount of thinking He doesn’t exist will change this reality. Our belief is not stronger than God’s reality.

The next thing is that we can really have one of three responses to God’s invitation: We can reject the invitation like those who were hostile towards the king; we can ignore the invitation like those who had chosen other things to be higher priorities; or we can accept the invitation, leaving what we were doing for the higher priority of being with God.

Lastly, there are two ways we could understand the context of this parable: as a future invitation into heaven, or as an immediate invitation into a relationship with God today.

When Jesus returns, He will take us to heaven to be with Him, and I imagine there will be a huge welcome celebration and feast. It will be like the wedding between Jesus and “His bride” (a metaphor for His people). When Christ returns and calls His people to Him, there should be nothing that takes precedence over this call.

When we first learn about Jesus and about the sacrifice He made on our behalf, we also are given an invitation: We can choose to distrust God’s motives and hate Him because of something else that happened; we can choose to ignore or delay accepting the invitation because something else is more important to us; or we can accept the invitation and enter into a new life with Him. Other parts of the gospels tell us there is a celebration in heaven every time someone accepts Jesus’ invitation.

In either case, we have God’s invitation now, and what matters most is choosing to accept this invitation into our lives today.

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, He tells His disciples and those who were present a short illustration about how God accepts (or in this case does not accept) our prayers based on how we approach Him in prayer. In this illustration, the gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus directed it towards those in the crowd who “were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.” (v. 9)

To this group of people, Jesus begins His parable by sharing someone who they can relate with: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’” (v. 10-12)

While nothing is mentioned in this parable that this self-righteous group of people prayed this type of prayer, chances are high in my mind that this sample prayer from the Pharisee in Jesus’ illustration was similar to what this group prayed. While nothing is technically wrong with anything described in the prayer itself, the tone of what the Pharisee shares is what God does not approve of. Giving thanks to God, fasting regularly, tithing, and living obediently are all noble things, but this Pharisee seems to think God doesn’t recognize these accomplishments – so he intentionally decides to share them with God in His prayer.

The Pharisee’s prayer is two relatively short sentences, and it includes four uses of pronoun “I”. Each of these four uses in this prayer asks God to look at how good, noble, and righteous he is. But God doesn’t need help seeing the good in our lives or the bad. God knows our triumphs and trials better than we know them ourselves, and nothing is a surprise to Him.

While a prayer of thanks is not bad in itself. However, in order for it to be productive, we must thank God for something He has blessed us with, and not simply thank Him for something we’ve done ourselves. A prayer of thanks should be a reminder of how God has helped us, and remind us of our place in God’s bigger plan; Our prayers are worthless if we simply thank God for something we are claiming responsibility for.

Praying like a Pharisee is trying to get God to acknowledge how good of a person we are – especially in comparison with someone else, and this type of prayer is never answered. Instead, when we give thanks to God, we should thank Him for the things He has blessed us with in a way that helps us remember our small part in His big plans related to saving people for eternity and in a way that genuinely is thankful for His help.