NOTES for Joh 13:16-20

Before us are words of Jesus (John 13:16) that can provoke different reactions. On the one hand, how could it be otherwise? Can a servant and a messenger be greater than their masters? But on the other hand, how often pride and the desire to exalt oneself arise in the soul of the one carrying out an assignment. Sadly, this also happens in our relationships with God... These words evaporate from our minds, and we want to act on our own, without remaining under any authority. And what joy it is when the heart agrees with God's will, and the messenger brings not his own message but the message of the One who sent him, and the servant works together with the Master.

Jesus says this very thing: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:17). And blessed is the heart that does not wish to exalt itself and thirsts to fulfill the Lord's will. Then the one who receives such a person receives Jesus Himself, since He abides in him (John 6:56).

What is Christianity? Where are its boundaries? For many people today Christianity is associated with followers of Christ who identify themselves as such, and with the church, or more precisely with the many churches that exist in the modern world. Someone will remember the Church with a capital letter, that body of Christ of which the apostle Paul spoke. Yet Jesus Himself never said that He would limit His communion only to His followers. Only to Christians. Strictly speaking, He did not leave any Christians in the world; He left a small community of His disciples, which later grew.

Then, after some time, a small group of these same disciples called themselves "Christians," or in modern language, "messianists." Later all the disciples of Christ adopted this self-designation. But He Himself did not speak about any "Christians." He spoke about His followers, about those who have some kind of relationship with Him. Precisely some kind, even if minimal. Mediated. Even if only through those whose relationship with Him is more conscious and responsible.

Here, of course, the measure of fullness can vary. There are disciples and followers who are closer; there is the closest circle of disciples, the apostles; and even among the apostles there are people especially close to Him. There are those who know Him personally, more or less, better or worse. There are also those who are not personally acquainted with Him, but whom He knows.

He knows them at least, for example, because some of these people are connected with someone among His direct disciples. Connected by friendship, cooperation, a service once rendered, or help given. The Kingdom, after all, the one He brought into the world, is first of all relationships. Ideally, personal relationships with Him Himself as the King of this Kingdom, but at the beginning, at least with one of His disciples. A chain of relationships can indirectly connect a person with the Kingdom and with its King.

Such relationships are not yet everything, but they can become the beginning of a path. If a person is consistent, sooner or later a moment will come in his life when he will need not simply to touch the Kingdom and its life, but also to become acquainted with the King who rules this Kingdom.

Everything, however, has its time. One thing is important: no contact with the Kingdom, direct or indirect, passes without a trace. Each one is a chance that, if used rightly, can become a chance for salvation.

Peter and the other apostles were naturally embarrassed. No wonder: the King of Israel was washing their feet, doing a slave's work! Many of us would surely dislike it if the person dearest to us began doing something humiliating and improper. But this washing of feet is a decisive moment in the history of Jesus' relationship with His disciples; anyone who dislikes it is free to leave.

Why is it so important? Apparently it is impossible to understand the Lord and follow Him without learning through experience this lesson in which the Master serves those beneath Him and the Teacher serves His disciples. As Scripture says, this is an example—but not an example on a board or in a picture. Peter and all of us must pass through this shock so that we will never again be shocked by the thought that we too must serve those who are lesser and weaker than we are.