No meal in world history is more important than the one Jesus shared with his disciples days before his execution.  The Roman Catholic Church generally calls this meal the Last Supper.  Protestants increasingly prefer to call it the Lord’s Supper.  By whatever name, that event has become the most celebrated meal in world history.  The Gospel of John gives us a unique perspective on this meal.

John said, “2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus” (John 13:2). Immediately, we expect God will reveal an important truth in this meal. And whatever that goodness is, it will stand in stark contrast to Judas’ behavior.

John recorded, “3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 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” (John 13:3-5).

Let’s look closely at the beginning of verse 3.  John wrote, “3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power” (John 13:3a). This verse also shows two important things about Jesus at this moment.  First, Jesus knows everything.  He knows Satan is working with Judas.  He knows Judas will betray him.  He knows all his disciples will soon run from him.  Jesus knows he will soon be killed on the cross.  Second, this verse also teaches us that Jesus is all-powerful. Whatever Jesus wills will happen. He can stop those coming to arrest him. He can avoid the cross if he wills it. All authority is given to Jesus. Knowing what is coming and knowing he has the power to stop it, Jesus gets up in the middle of dinner to wash the disciples' feet.  Jesus is God on earth, and the next right thing God did was to wash feet.  The opening words of this chapter now make sense: “1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Jesus, God on earth, chose to set aside his supreme authority and use his precious little time to love his disciples by becoming a servant to them. I invite you to breathe that thought in for a moment.

As Jesus was washing feet, “6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’  7 Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand’” (John 13:6-7).  Peter believed his eyes.  Jesus was about to wash Peter’s feet.  But Jesus was doing more than this, and he knew none of the disciples understood.  They would only understand after Jesus was glorified.  We heard these words before in Chapter 12, when John wrote: “Only after Jesus was glorified [after he arose from the dead] did they [the disciples] realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him” (John 12:16b). The disciples simply did not understand what Jesus was doing.

 As Jesus approached Peter to wash his feet, Peter said, “8 ‘No, you shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me’” (John 13:8). Peter did not want Jesus to humiliate himself by cleaning Peter’s feet.  But that was not the significance of what Jesus was doing.  With all authority in heaven and earth, Jesus was bringing each disciple into a covenant with Him.  It was a covenant, an agreement between the greater, Christ, and the lesser, his disciples.  The agreement came with a promise of God's commitment and required action from those entering the covenant.  Jesus began the covenant with a promise.  He would first cleanse his disciples with water, and later with the blood He would soon shed on the cross.  Unless Peter accepted this washing and Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross, Peter would not be part of the covenant and could have no part of Christ.  At that moment, they did not understand that they were eating and drinking with God and that God was about to cleanse them.  The disciples wouldn't understand this until Jesus was glorified.  This moment was a supreme occasion for Jesus to show just how much he loved his disciples. Peter entered the covenant as Jesus washed his feet.

When Jesus was done, he told the group that one of them would betray him.  Jesus said, “19 I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me” (John 13:19-20).  Jesus, all-knowing, told the group what would happen before it occurred for one reason.  That they would know “I am who I am.”  Those words are not accidental.  They come from the Old Testament, the Book of Exodus, Chapter 3, verse 14.

God was sending Moses to the Israelites.  Moses said to God, "Suppose they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”  14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:13b-14).  Jesus said to his disciples, “I am who I am.”  I am the God of Moses.

Jesus use of these words, “I am who I am,” was significant because God freed the Hebrews from Egypt.  Then God called Moses and the elders of Israel to go up the mountain to be with God. There, God offered them a covenant. There they saw God, ate and drank with him (Exodus 24:11).  Jesus words made clear he was establishing a new covenant.

The disciples seemed more concerned with the pending betrayal than Jesus’ announcement that he was I am who I am.  So, Peter motioned to the disciple closest to Jesus, the one he loved, and said, “Ask him which one he means” (John 13:24b).  “25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’  26 Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.  So Jesus told him [Judas], ‘What you are about to do, do quickly’” (John 13:25-27).  Jesus had all authority, including power over Judas and Satan.  Using his authority over all things, Jesus told Judas, now fully wed to Satan, to go and do what his heart desired.  “30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night” (John 13:30). “28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor” (John 13:28-29).  The disciples still did not understand that God on earth would not use his power to stop Judas, Satan, from moving forward to betray Jesus to evil men.

After Judas left the gathering, Jesus said, “34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). Jesus, “I am who I am”, all-powerful, all-knowing, invited the disciples into covenant with Him, cleansed them with water, symbolic of the cleansing by his blood soon to come because He “Loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). And so, Jesus said, the covenant requires that those who follow him love one another as I have loved you. Jesus said, “35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Through the disciples' love for one another, everyone would know they were in covenant with the Living God, Jesus, I am who I am.

What an amazing account of the Last Supper, the Lord’s Supper, the meal where the disciples ate, drank, and saw God.  John’s account differs greatly from the other, earlier-published gospels.  The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke say this was the Passover meal, celebrating the tenth plague on Egypt that would free the Hebrew people.  John does not explicitly say this meal was the Passover meal, and John’s Gospel contains none of the other gospels' language about Jesus calling the bread his body and the wine his blood.

What do we make of this account in the Gospel of John?  I think we have three things to consider today.  One is practical.  One is transformative.  One is challenging.

First, let’s deal with the practical.  Many nonbelievers argue that the Bible is unreliable because accounts of the same event differ.  Jesus’ meal with the Twelve is one example nonbelievers cite primarily because John, unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, omits Jesus breaking the bread as his body and sharing the cup as his blood.  Here are three practical things for us to consider on this point.

First, nonbelievers, even those well-versed in the Bible, are not equipped to properly interpret Scripture.  Jesus faced this issue.  Jesus, when speaking to the Pharisees and Scribes, people who knew the Scriptures, said this: “You have never heard his [God’s] voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:37b-40).  People who deny Christ lack the Holy Spirit's power to understand the Bible properly. So stop listening to them.

Second, John did not forget the symbolism of bread to Jesus’ body and the cup to his blood.  John provided extensive instruction from Jesus on this matter in Chapter 6. “53 Jesus said, 'Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them’” (John 6:53-56).  So, John’s Gospel did speak to the bread and cup as the body and blood of Christ; he just did not present that in the context of this meal as Matthew, Mark, and Luke did.

Finally, by the time John wrote his gospel account, Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s gospels had been circulated for 20 years or more.  The Didache, an early Christian catechism with instructions on the Lord’s Supper, had been circulated for 40 years.  Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, with instructions on the Lord’s Supper, had circulated for 35 years.  John was Spirit-inspired to highlight another key element of that meal: namely that the disciples ate, drank, and saw God.  That brings us to our second thing to talk about: the transformative thing.

The Holy Spirit inspired John to reveal the truth about who Jesus was.  Jesus said, “I am who I am” (John 13:19b); I am God. The disciples seemed to gloss over Jesus’ words.  But those words were at the heart of Jesus’ teachings, as evidenced by the opening words of John’s Gospel: “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). That verse was another way of saying, “I am who I am.”  Shortly after the meal ended, Jesus had this exchange with his disciples.  “5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’  6 Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’  8 Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.’ 9 Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me’” (John 14:5-10).

            After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples would come to understand.  When Thomas saw Jesus resurrected from the dead, “28 Thomas said to him [Jesus], 'My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:28). The disciples got it, and their lives were transformed.  They were no longer confused about God's love for them. They no longer wondered about their destiny.  They lived Spirit-filled lives with meaning and purpose.  We too can be transformed knowing that God loves us as well. Because of Thomas’ excited outburst, “My Lord and My God,” Jesus replied: 29 “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Your life and my life are transformed when we too come to know Jesus as our Savior, Lord, God, and I am who I am.  When we truly open the door to Christ, we begin living in covenant with God as He intended.

            In the Book of Revelation, John recorded these words from Jesus: “20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20). We need to answer the door, letting Jesus into every part of our lives, that we may sit at the table with him.  That we may eat, drink, and see God.  That brings me to our final, challenging point: Who is at our table?

            We are told that when Satan entered Judas, Jesus dismissed him from the table.  Satan would have no place at the same table as Jesus because Satan was not part of the covenant.  Those who remained were the ones Jesus loved, and he called them to love one another.  This challenges us in two ways.

            First, the Old Testament says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23:5a). Let’s take one enemy here: Satan.  “You [God] prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemy [Satan] (Psalm 23:5). Note that God set the table for you and did not include a seat at the table for Satan.  You are invited to eat and enjoy the richest of fare, while Satan is left to watch.  But Satan is not silenced.  He can still speak while we eat, and he will.  Satan is the ultimate confidence man, telling us unsound doctrine, puffing us up, and tearing us down with comparisons to others.  All of Satan’s chatter is intended for us to do one thing: for us to invite him to sit down at the table the Lord has set for us.  So when we act in ungracious ways, in ways that conflict with our good conscience, in ways that are not in keeping with the covenant, check and see if you invited Satan to sit down at your table.  Are you believing some lie or a half-truth?  Has pride entered your thinking?  If so, then Satan is sitting at the table meant for you and you alone.  Kick him out. God did not intend for him to dine with you.

            Second, Jesus told his disciples to love each other because, by loving each other, they would show they were all part of the same covenantal relationship with Christ.  In that same meal, Jesus emphasized this point. He said, “20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me” (John 13:20). Jesus did not challenge his disciples, and by extension us, to be doers of good deeds or social justice warriors challenging every injustice that we perceived.  While those may be good and noble things to do, we tend to do what we enjoy or what we find worthy.  Jesus’ challenge was more difficult.  He said we must love believers he sends our way, whether we like them or understand them or not.  The Christian community's love for every other member is both challenging and amazing. It requires us to see the image of Christ in other members of the covenant and love them as Christ has loved us. When people outside the covenant see that kind of love you display, they know two things.    First, they can see that you and the other believers follow Christ. Second, they realize something is missing in their lives: Christ, I am who I am.  Seeing active love and knowing that love is missing from their lives awakens the nonbeliever and creates a desire to listen to Jesus’ voice calling them.

            The meal between Jesus and his disciples with washed feet is the most important meal in history. That meal showed us what it means to have God love people and build a community of people who loved one another. It transformed the disciples and, if we allow it, the meal and knowing Jesus as I am who I am will transform and challenge us as people of the way, the truth, and the life.  Amen and Amen.