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      THE GOD WHO KNEELS

      A Forty-Day Meditation on John 13

      Copyright © 2015 Douglas D. Webster. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

      Cascade Books

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

      Eugene, OR 97401

      www.wipfandstock.com

      ISBN 13: 978-1-4982-0099-8

      EISBN 13: 978-1-4982-0100-1

      Cataloging-in-Publication data:

      Douglas D. Webster.

      The God who kneels : a forty-day meditation on John 13 / Douglas D. Webster.

      x + 148 p.; 21.5 cm—Includes bibliographical references.

      ISBN 13: 978-1-4982-0099-8

      1. Bible. N.T. John 13. 2. Foot washing (Rite)—Biblical teaching. I. Title.

      BS2615.2 W43 2015

      Manufactured in the USA.

      Jonathan James Webster

      ὁ λόγος σαρξ ἐγένετο

      Preface

      Learning to Play John 13

      The beauty of the Gospel narrative, including our focus on John 13, can be likened to a well-made instrument. In the hands of a skilled violinist, a lightweight, fragile piece of finely crafted spruce and maple can fill a concert hall with music. What the violin is to music, the Bible is to meaning. In the hands of a novice, the same violin only squeaks and grates, like fingernails on a chalkboard. No one just picks up a violin and plays beautiful music. It takes years of study and practice. The biblical text and the musical instrument require sensitivity and skill to draw out their true dynamic. I’m not suggesting that we need to be “Bible experts,” but we have to “play” John 13 as John meant it to be played. The depth of John 13 is drawn from the truth revealed, and not from ourselves.

      Like a violin, the verses of John 13 may appear to be simple and lightweight, but when played with skill, the narrative resonates with truths so profound and moving that we are filled with awe. The biblical text in the hands of a sensitive and skilled interpreter reveals the dynamic meaning that the Spirit-led author intended. Faithful readers and good preachers draw out the meaning of the text the way a great violinist plays music. We want the full range of meaning to be played out not only in our hearing, but in our living. The words and actions of Jesus in the upper room are essential for spiritual formation and ethical impact. Less than twenty-four hours before the crucifixion Jesus gave his disciples a full description of the truth of the atonement and the way of discipleship.

      To be attentive to the upper room experience we need a close reading of the text—a lectio divina (divine reading). Online surfing and scanning is changing the way we think and affects our meditation on the Word. Our habit of processing data at a rapid clip tends to whisk us past the truth that is meant to fill our minds and hearts and stop us in our tracks. John’s narrative art plays to our praying imagination and invites us to become like one of the original disciples. That is to say, that the message intended for them is intended for today’s disciple. The same Holy Spirit who reminded the disciples of everything Jesus said continues to remind us (John 14:26). We join the twelve in the upper room. The text is the Spirit’s gift to the church. John’s vocabulary is simple, his language straightforward, but the impact of the upper room’s words and events is incalculable.

      These meditations are not spiritual Pop-Tarts with a thin layer of fruity goodness. Comedian Brian Regan has a hilarious take on people who microwave their Pop-Tarts for three seconds because they don’t have time in the morning to toast them. Regan warns, “If you are waking and hauling in three seconds, you’re booking yourself too tight.” The longest meditation here takes about ten minutes to read. If you prayerfully read through the verses in John 13, it will take you a little longer. These theological devotionals are not spiritual sound bites. They require thought and prayer. I don’t have a particular reader or “target audience” in mind. I’m writing it up as I see it.

      I don’t have a communication strategy. That frees me up to say what occurs to me to say, what I’m led to say in the light of the biblical text. I hope that works for you.

      Day 1

      Upper Room Access

      “Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet . . .

      ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.’

      Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

      Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory of God. Then Jesus cried out, ‘Those who believe in me do not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When they look at me, they see the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.’” John 12:37–38, 40–46

      We begin outside the upper room. On Wednesday of Holy Week, Jesus and his disciples are with a mixed crowd of unbelievers. Unbelief is evident in two distinct ways. The first group’s unbelief is obvious because it remains adamant in its refusal to believe in Jesus. Drawing on the Prophet Isaiah, John writes, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn —and I would heal them” (John 12:40; Isa 6:10). The roots of unbelief go deeper than any claim to freedom of choice. Ultimately, there is no such being as the sovereign self. We are not free atoms careening around our own little universes. We are all dependent beings reacting to an array of life-altering forces that we only slightly understand. The unbeliever may characterize his or her state as acute rational awareness or courageous existential honesty, but John characterizes unbelievers as spiritually disabled. They are blind and dumb. There is a negative synergy here between their persistent denial and God’s permissive will. Denial has its roots in spiritual blindness. Unbelief is unnatural.

      The members of the second group, the believing unbelievers, want to believe, but they cannot bring themselves to acknowledge publicly that Jesus is the Christ. John describes this as a clash of glories: human glory versus the glory of God. The crux of the matter is that they are more worried about what people think than what God thinks. Ironically, the pursuit of human glory here is totally religious. If they “openly acknowledge their faith” they will be thrown out of the synagogue. The perversity of this type of unbelief may be worse than outright angry rejection. Religion keeps people from Jesus. A private faith in Jesus is like no faith at all.

      There are two groups outside the upper room. One group pretty much despises Jesus and the other group is drawn to Jesus, but both groups are on the outside. Unbelief comes in two forms: public denial and private faith. Sadly, the pursuit of human glory, even when it is framed religiously, keeps well-meaning and sincere people from experiencing upper room discipleship.

      John’s sharp distinction between human glory and God’s glory may be jarring. We’d prefer a diplomatic middle way that comforts the undecided and timid, but John is having

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