If you have a Bible, please open it to the book of John, Chapter 13. The Gospel of John, that we have been studying, has been a rich and deep book. But there have been some passages in that gospel that I have looked at and not known how to begin. My mind couldn’t think of how to present them. Then, there have been other passages. I’ve not known where to stop because there were so many things I thought of! That’s preachers’ partake, I guess. But I am saying this to let you know today, as we approach John 13, that we have a passage that just triggers my thinking in many directions and I am going to spend lots of time, in the next few weeks, on that passage.
Let us read together v. 1-11. “…” It’s the last evening in the life of Jesus. And he has brought together his apostles for a last supper. It’s the Passover meal. Now those apostles have fastidiously washed themselves and cleansed themselves before this important supper. But they have had to travel to the house where the dinner is served. And their sandaled feet have become dirty. Normally, when there was a feast, there was a servant standing at the door. This servant would immediately wash the feet of the entering guests. That was the proper thing. You have to remember two things to understand the context.
But Jesus party was a poor party. They didn’t have a slave and the meal was a secret meal in the upper room. So no one was there to wash the feet. And I am sure every apostle understood the need for the feet to be washed. But no one volunteered. You know how that goes. There are some jobs for which no one volunteers. Suppose we all go to help someone who is ill by cleaning their house. No one says, “I’ll take the toilet. I’m the one who is going to do that!” Instead we all hope no one will assign that to us. And there are no exceptions. I’m like that too and sometimes I stand aside pretending a nasty job is not there for me to do! I force my mind to think, “It’s alright. We can go without doing this!” And what I am truly saying is, “Somebody else will take care of it!” And that, folks was the attitude of the apostles. They were all ignoring the task. But suddenly, Jesus rises. He takes the towel and the basin of water and he begins to wash feet. I suspect the apostles were extremely embarrassed. Of all people, why does Jesus have to do that? They are probably feeling guilty now, wondering, “Why in the world didn’t I volunteer? I shouldn’t have waited!” And in v. 6, Jesus comes to Peter, who is the apostle with great courage and with a great mouth. And in this case, he has the courage to admit his embarrassment. He says, “You, Lord, you are going to wash my feet?” And then Peter says, “No Lord, you aren’t going to wash my feet!” And Jesus replies, in v. 7, “Now you don’t understand!” And then he says, “If I wash you not, you have no part in me!” In other words, “If I can’t serve you Peter, you won’t be able to be one of mine!” And I think these words must burn in the ears of Peter, because look again at what he says in v. 9. “….”
I. That which we do not understand, we have a tendency to shy away from.
And with this brief encounter, we learn a powerful, much needed lesson. And it comes first from Peter. Why? Because the attitude Peter displays has been common to all of mankind, for all time. And it is wrong. And yet we all display it at times. We all fall in that pitfall once in a while. What pitfall am I talking about? That which we do not understand, we have a tendency to shy away from. Isn’t that true? That which we do not understand we have a tendency to shy away from and even oppose! You see, often when we come to something we don’t understand, we have a tendency to turn away from it and even oppose it. It’s always been that way. I am reminded of the first time I saw some guacamole. It was presented to me on a fajita platter along with some cheese, sour cream and tomatoes and lettuce. And this scoop of green paste made me think of cow vomit. I wanted to run away from it. I’m trying to remember if I didn’t take my wife’s fork and push it on her plate at dinners. That was bad. I never had seen that before. I was not about to eat it, nor was she about to make me try it. Anything with that color had to be bad. I didn’t understand. I didn’t know. Finally, after a few months of exposure, I was convinced to eat some and it didn’t taste that bad. Nowadays, I love it. But you see it’s the way we all function.
In the 1800’s, a few people started to talk of a machine that would carry people through the air. It seemed a wonderful idea to fly in the stars like the birds. But because most didn’t understand aerodynamics and physics, these men were marginalized. They became a subject of ridicule to the crowds. In 1895, Lord Kelvin, a famous British scientist, said, and I quote:
“Any object heavier than air will never fly!”
You see, he didn’t understand. And that we do not understand, we normally shy away from and at times even oppose it. Examples of that are abundant. In the early 1900’s, in America, there was a great debate as to whether or not we ought to allow women to vote. Especially the politicians were concerned. They could not figure out how it would be with women voting. It would change, in their minds, the entire direction of politics in America. One of America’s own presidents, in 1905, made this statement publicly, “Sensible and responsible women would never want to vote!” He didn’t understand the good that could come with women voting. But he shied away from the good because that which he didn’t understand, he opposed. I have one more example. In 1927, Henry Warner, of Warner Brothers Studio, took the stand in a public debate that the producers in America should not go beyond silent movies. He said, “The American public will never want to hear actors talking!” Boy, was he wrong! How would you like to revert to silent movies? But, you see, this man didn’t understand. And because he didn’t understand, he shied away from talking movies and almost deprived this nation of TV, as we know it today. What we don’t understand, we have a tendency to turn away from.
And today, I would contend it also happens in religion. It happens all the time in the Church of our Lord. It happens to, even us, in the Church of Christ in Strasbourg, France. We start a program and because we don’t understand, we shy away from it. A person will have a new idea and will start some good outreach; but, because we don’t all understand, we oppose it. That’s exactly what Peter was doing in that passage. He didn’t understand what Jesus was doing. He said, “No Lord, you will never wash my feet!” But then, Peter is told, “If you don’t let it be, you’ll miss something good for your life. And with this, I see, I must ask myself some hard questions. I look at my own life. You see, if I have a tendency to shy away from what is new, sometimes I can become a hindrance in my Lord’s plan or to the good of the Body. Have you ever wondered why so many churches divide? It happens all over and it usually is due to change! What most often happens is, there is a group on one side, mainly young people and new Christians, and they want change – for things to be different. Then you have this group, on the other side, which shies away. They are mainly the elderly and the old-time Christians. They are comfortable and service with what they know. They don’t want any change. And eventually, they get tired of clashing and one group leaves the other. That’s why, in the South, you find congregations of mostly elderly in some spots and mostly younger people in the other. Is that right? No. Did God want it that way? No. Who is to blame? Both, I suppose. You see, sometimes change goes too far and there is a lack of love and patience there within the younger generations. But the old-timers aren’t any better. You can’t keep things as they always were.
The world is changing and if the church wants to address today’s generation, it needs to change. You can’t keep reaching out as you did yesterday. It used to be gospel meetings were the way to do it. The churches would set up a two week gospel meeting. They would invite some of the best preachers in the brotherhood. They would tell their neighbors and for two weeks, every night, people came and responded. It worked well in rural America. They were farmers, didn’t work in the fields at night and had no TV to go back to. But today? Try to have a two week gospel meeting. See who shows! Even in our short ones, Christians find it hard to attend. People don’t respond too much. So if we only reach out as we did yesterday, we won’t go very far. TV and radio are the way to reach out today. You need new ideas to bring people in. You don’t change the old gospel, but you have to change the means. There are so many examples of that. Do you know why we meet two times on Sunday? Does it come from the Bible? No, it’s because of farmers in early centuries. They needed to get home to milk cows and today, society is different. I am not saying you ought to cancel services, but ought to adapt them to today’s generation. Paul met all night long, didn’t he? Not in the morning. Why? Paul needed to meet, according to his schedule. The day still belonged to God, but they adapted to meet their need. Early Christians met very early in the morning! Why? Because of the slaves, who needed to be back home when the master woke up and so the Christians could hide from the Romans. So you have examples of change there.
II. Change is not always bad:
Change is not always bad. In fact, if you don’t change, at times, you don’t benefit and you become ineffective. Let me say this. Nothing in this world is static, except for three things – God, His Word, and the way we offer our praise to Him. These three things should never be changed. But for the rest, how should I approach it? I should approach it like Peter, at the end of the story.
Look at what he says in v. 9. “….” I must go along. I must embrace even what I don’t always understand.
I am not saying be foolish. I am not saying everything new is good. But after I have considered things in the scripture, and I find nothing wrong with a change, I find here that even if I don’t understand, I can move along with an idea. You see, understanding is not always a prerequisite for participation. You don’t have to catch every detail of everything, to accept something new. And by the way, we must be careful with our evaluation of things, too. When something is not, at first, seeming good for everyone, is it because that change is necessarily bad or is it because there is a resistance to change. Is it because I don’t like something and project my feelings on others? See, what I learn from Peter, is the idea of giving a fair shot at something before I say I don’t like it. That’s the way my parents did with me. When I said, “I don’t like green beans, my mum said, “Have you even tried them?” And the way I came to enjoy the beans was not with one bite, but with repeated small trials. It took time for my mind to adjust.
Conclusion:
And so I conclude my lesson today by calling all of us to look at our lives – knowing I have a tendency to shy away and even oppose what I don’t understand. What is it, lately, that I have been resistant to? Today, you can probably think of a few examples. And no doubt, some are legitimate. The scripture backs you up on it. But don’t forget change is often good. Remember when President Kennedy, in the ‘60’s , talked abut putting a man on the moon. How many walked on their porch, looked up at the moon and thought, “It’s not right. It can’t be done. It wasn’t intended for a man to be on the moon!” Because it’s the way we are. Remember, later, who, when he didn’t understand, opposed! But remember, also, the blessings he would have missed if he hadn’t changed. I am sure you can think of an example, in your life, when it was a gain, in the long run, because you changed. Yes, maybe at first it wasn’t perfect. Maybe you had to fine-tune the details; but, you came to great blessings when you persisted. Today, I call you to do the same, in the Lord, if you need to - whatever it be. Whether it’s a program you don’t understand and you oppose; whether it’s the Bible you don’t understand and you oppose; whether it’s baptism or obedience in a certain area you don’t understand and oppose. Step in by faith and see if blessings don’t come in your life!