The Christian Leader as Both Lion and Lamb

John 13 Outline

We’re in John 13 today. This is the footwashing passage. I remember my pastor growing up preaching on this passage. And the reason I remember it is because at some point in the sermon, he got out a wash basin and a picture full of water. And a deep sense of anxiousness swept across the congregation – including me. I was sitting pretty close to the front. We all thought, oh no! Is he going to wash our feet? I later found out the organist was extremely worried, she told someone later she was quietly panicked, wondering how she was going to get her panty hose off.

The passage works at multiple levels.

Christian leaders must show true love and vulnerability

Leaders must be genuinely and practically loving toward those they lead. They must reject relating to people transactionally.

Leaders must show real vulnerability. They must reject showcasing their dignity.

Another thought, I think Jesus’ actions here can be summarized as service through vulnerability. The humility displayed here by Jesus is extreme. Look at vs. 1-5

13 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. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 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, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 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. – John 13:1–5

Foot washing was a part of daily life. But there were rigid rules surrounding who could do this. Only a slave was permitted to do this unseemly task.

“The image of Jesus’ removing his outer clothing, wrapping a towel around his waist, and proceeding to wash his disciples’ feet is stunning indeed. Jesus, the Teacher, here adopts the stance of a menial, even non-Jewish slave, a position looked down upon by Jews and Gentiles alike.” – Andreas J. Köstenberger, “John,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament.

In my studies this week, I came across a story of a Jewish mother wanting to wash the feet of her rabbi son. He refused to let her do it. She took him to Jewish court, saying it was her right to honor her son in this way. He firmly refused her petition saying such an action would be a disgrace to her.

So I think a big lesson here is that if you’re a leader, especially a spiritual leader, you must be vulnerable with your people. Suppose I’m speaking with someone about an issue they’re struggling with. And suppose that’s an issue I have struggled with. The foot washing thing to do in that conversation is to bring up my own struggle. There’s no reason that person needs to feel singled out when I can show my own cards and reveal my own struggle.

So there’s two big principles for leaders:

Be very careful to resist the tendency to treat people transactionally. Whatever you’re trying to accomplish in life, never use people. Love them both attitudinally and practically. Be mindful of the little things that could make their lives, or even their day better.

Be vulnerable with the people you lead. Don’t overvalue your dignity. People may be discouraged if your project a sense of superiority. This is especially tough of new leaders and/or young leaders who are very mindful of their respectability and feel like they have something to prove. I can’t promise that everyone will respect you. But I can promise that you’ll be pleasing God.

Now let’s move on to some of the more subtle lessons built into this passage. Let’s read vs. 1-8

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. 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, rose from supper. He 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” (13:1-8)

Christian leaders must address the problem of the secret leader.

“It is difficult to lead people who are already being led by something or someone else.”

Judas: Though he presents himself as a follower of Jesus, Judas is invisibly led by both Satan (13:2) and his own greed (12:6).

Peter: Though he presents himself as a follower of Jesus, Peter is invisibly led by worldly expectations for how a true leader is supposed to act (13:6-8).

“You can never truly know someone until they don’t get their way.”

“You can never know the status of a follower’s loyalty and love until you fail to meet their expectations.”

“The existence of the invisible leader is only revealed when the visible leader contradicts the will of the invisible leader.”

Judas’ invisible leader only became visible as Jesus forced the issue. Peter’s invisible leader (worldly expectations) only became visible when Jesus contradicted Peter’s categories.

Normally, this development leads to the visible leader submitting to the invisible leader. He recognizes that he is no match for the hidden ambitions and expectations that are really leading his followers, and so, fearing the loss of his followers (though he has already lost them), the leader joins the follower in letting these worldly expectations and categories do the real leading.

Jesus does not give in. He tells Peter that he must choose between following him or following his worldly expectations. (13:8)

“Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

Christian leaders must study Christ

Studying Christ is the key to becoming a good leader. Studying Christ is the key to pretty much everything! The phrase “studying Christ” is a Puritan term.

John Owen: “It is a blessed field that is before me, but I shall but hint things unto you. When the soul hath received Christ, it cannot but study Christ.”

Thomas Watson: “My desires to you are, That you would make it your business to study Christ.”

Horatius Bonar wrote, “God wishes us to study Christ.—Again and again He opens out His ‘unsearchable riches,’ and gives us another and another view of the ‘unspeakable gift.’ Study His person; study His work: the wisdom, and the power, and the love of God are there. Study all His fulness, and, as you study it, drink it in. Study the cross; study the resurrection; study the present majesty of the ascended and interceding Christ; study His coming glory as Judge, and King, and Bridegroom. There is none like Him, neither shall be. He is the chief among ten thousand; the only perfect One; the all-perfect One; the representative of the invisible Godhead; the doer of the Father’s will; the accomplisher of the Father’s purpose, both of vengeance and of grace.”

“Only by studying Christ can we join him in true leadership, escaping the pressure to conform to and be led by worldly expectations.”

The world’s expectations for leadership are usually in reaction to two common problems:

The authoritarian (the strong man)

The wet-noodle (the soft man)

As the world reacts to these problems, two competing visions of leadership emerge:

Those who view “strong men” as the problem demand a soft leader

Those who view “soft men” as the problem demand a strong leader

Depending on your age, your experience, your cultural influences, etc… you are likely to say either: authoritarianism or wet-noodletry.

The closer you are to the Post War Consensus, egalitarianism, feminism, the more likely you are to see authoritarianism as the real problem we must avoid. We don’t want leaders “lording it over their followers.”

The closer you are to the dissident right, post-liberal order, etc… The more likely you are to see weak, ineffectual leaders to be the real problem.

Jesus’ actions in John 13 (and the whole of his earthly ministry) break the expectations of both groups.

He is acting with more humility and tenderness than the strong-man aficionados can handle.

Peter is in the strong man camp. This is why he finds the footwashing so objectionable.

But Jesus is also acting with more authority than the soft-men aficionados can handle.

In vs. 8, Jesus tells Peter, “my way or the highway.”

In vs. 12-19 Jesus asserts his positional (hierarchical) authority over the disciples without demuring or apologizing for it.

“When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

He isn’t hiding his authority. He certainly isn’t apologizing for it. Rather he’s appealing to it. I am your Lord, your teacher, your master.

And for those being led by worldy categories that are chiefly concerned with authoritarianism, this kind of stuff would be a real deal breaker.

Do you see the point I am trying to make? While the world tends to organize around at least two perceived problems with leadership: some blaming the strongman and others blaming the softman, Jesus is simply being Jesus.

Throughout the rest of his ministry, Jesus continues to defy both sets of expectations.

The meekness Jesus shows in John 13 is compounded at the cross.

The authority Jesus shows in John 13 is compounded in Acts and the rest of the New Testament – especially in Revelations.

He is too strong for some, and too weak for others.

Key Takeaway: Only by studying Christ do Christian leaders stand any chance of breaking free of worldly reactivity.

IV. Application

Salvation only comes by believing a gospel that is both nakedly authoritative and legitimately humble.

The Christian must understand that their sanctification comes via the same gospel. They must resist the tendency to curate Christ – to cherry pick biblical data in such a way that overemphasizes either his tenderness or his toughness. Just as nobody can be saved by accepting a partial Jesus, neither can anyone be sanctified by walking with a curated Christ. Is your vision of Jesus complete? Does it include his perfect harmonization of both authority and humility?

Those investigating Christ must understand that even as they are considering following him, they are currently being led by invisible forces – the most common of which has to do with the worldly categories highlighted above. They must expect Jesus to offend at least some of their sensibilities.
Some struggle to follow Jesus because they think he is too strong (authoritative).

Others struggle to follow Jesus because they think he is too weak (door-mat).

Church members must investigate any sense in which they are using worldly expectations to judge the leaders God has given them.

You need to ensure that your expectations for leaders are properly calibrated by the whole counsel of God’s word and not simply the world.
"The use of fashions in thought is to distract the attention of men from their real dangers. We direct the fashionable outcry of each generation against those vices of which it is least in danger and fix its approval on the virtue nearest to that vice which we are trying to make endemic. The game is to have them all running about with fire extinguishers when there is a flood, and all crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gunwale under." – CS Lewis, Screwtape Letters

Christian leaders need to be willing to lose followers if faithfulness to Christ’s leadership model provokes such a thing.
Jesus loved his followers but did not build his identity around keeping them.
He remained faithful to the Father even to the point of being abandoned by everyone.
God rewarded this faith by filling the earth with followers of Christ.

Communion:

Consider this quote from Jonathan Edwards: "There is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Jesus Christ. The lion and the lamb, though very diverse kinds of creatures, yet have each their peculiar excellencies. The lion excels in strength, and in the majesty of his appearance and voice: the lamb excels in meekness and patience... But we see that Christ is in the text compared to both, because the diverse excellencies of both wonderfully meet in him."

In Psalm 62:11 we read: Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.