The Servant of All

By Dan & Brenda Cathcart

The video version of this teaching is available at:

https://youtu.be/ch-l5I13RTE

The scripture reading for this teaching is John 13:1-30

Preparations for the Passover had been completed. All was now in readiness to celebrate the most important Passover of all.

Luke 22:7-8 NKJV 7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat."

As Peter and John prepared the Passover at which Yeshua would give His life so that others could have eternal life, Judas Iscariot was also making preparations.

Matthew 26:14-16 NKJV 14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

The scriptures go on to describe the last Passover meal Yeshua shared with His disciples. In this description we see contrasting behaviors and motivations of Yeshua and Judas’ actions.

The events set in motion with the preparation of the Passover play out as the Passover began. Yeshua had one last opportunity to demonstrate the depth of His love for His disciples. John’s gospel describes that love and contrasts it with Judas’ betrayal of that love.

John 13:1-2 NAS95 1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would 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, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,

Even as the meal began, part of Yeshua’s awareness is focused in the upcoming betrayal by Judas.

Matthew 26:20-21 NKJV 20 When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. 21 Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me."

The disciples couldn’t conceive that one of them would actually betray Yeshua. They had lived together with these men and with Yeshua for the past three years. At Yeshua’s announcement that one of them would betray Him, each one of the disciples sought to establish his own innocence by asking in essence, “I’m not the one am I?

Matthew 26:22-24 NKJV 22 And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?" 23 He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. 24 "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."

First Fruits of Zion in The Chronicles of the Messiah explain that Yeshua is describing the ritual of the karpas which involves dipping a vegetable twice in red wine vinegar. The modern observance of this ritual is that of dipping the vegetable, specifically parsley, into salt water. Like many rituals of the Passover, it has multiple meanings. First Fruits of Zion explains:

The meaning of the ritual is obscure, but according to some opinions, it represents the betrayal of Joseph whose brothers dipped his coat in goat’s blood—the event that initiated the descent into Egypt. It may also represent dipping the hyssop into the lamb’s blood.[i]

Both meanings can apply to Judas dipping his hand into the dish at the same time that Yeshua did. Judas’ betrayal is a betrayal of Yeshua’s blood poured out for Him. The writer of Hebrews warns that those who know the Torah of God but reject it are subject to judgment. The writer, then, applies that same concept to those who know that salvation comes through the blood of Yeshua but reject it.

Hebrews 10:29 NKJV 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

Judas, who just happened to have dipped his hand at the same time that Yeshua did, understood the reference to the dish and that Yeshua knew Judas would betray Him.

Matthew 26:25 NKJV 25 Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?" He said to him, "You have said it."

As the disciples speculated who among them was the traitor, the discussion degenerated to boasting about who was the best disciple.

Luke 22:23-24 NKJV 23 Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. 24 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.

This was not a new argument; the disciples had engaged in this same type of discussion before. One time, James and John’s mother got involved lobbying for her sons to have the seats of greatest honor in Yeshua’s kingdom! At the Passover meal,Yeshua, once again, rebuked them for behaving like the Gentiles who were without God.

Luke 22:25-26 NKJV 25 And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' 26 "But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

Yeshua had stated before that the greatest among them would be the one who serves.

Mark 9:35 NKJV 35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

How could Yeshua get this message through their heads? The fact that they were once again arguing about who was greatest shows that they still didn’t get the message! Yeshua had only this one evening left to convince them that His kingdom was ruled differently than the world. That in His kingdom, service to others was the most prized action and was associated with the character trait that would lead to the greatest reward! Yeshua decided to demonstrate in a way that could not be denied. Yeshua begins by explaining that He comes as a servant.

Luke 22:27 NKJV 27 "For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

Yeshua, then, knowing His place in the kingdom of God, set it all aside and began to wash the disciples’ feet.

John 13:3-5 NKJV 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

The act of washing a guest’s feet was a duty of a slave of the house. It was a duty that only the lowest of servants was expected to carry out. First fruits of Zion in The Chronicles of the Messiah explains that although a slave was expected to wash the feet of guests, it would be beneath even his dignity to be expected to remove the guests sandals to do so. So, only the act of removing the sandals to wash the feet would be of lower caste than that of actually washing the feet! Yeshua took on the lowest of duties. First Fruits of Zion explains:

Yet another [passage of the Talmud] says, “A disciple must render to his teacher all the service that a slave renders to his master except that of loosening his shoe. In other words, the disciples considered it beneath their own dignity to wash the Master’s feet, how much less should He have washed theirs.[ii]

The disciples were all both outraged and embarrassed! Their own Master was performing a duty to them that only a slave was expected to perform!

It was a duty that they would not even consider doing for their beloved Master! Peter, as usual, the impulsive one, immediately cried out against Yeshua washing his feet!

John 13:6-8 NKJV 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" 7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." 8 Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."

Yeshua told Peter that he would understand Yeshua’s actions after He had completed them and explained. Yeshua continued to wash all the disciples’ feet delaying the explanation for after He had finished.

John 13:12-16 NKJV 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.

The context of Yeshua’s words was that He knew that He was sent from God and was returning to God. Yeshua’s own Master was none other than God the Father. If serving others as a slave was not beneath Yeshua whose own master was God, than serving others was certainly not beneath the dignity of a disciple! This lesson was not about washing feet, but about serving others and performing even the tasks that are considered the lowest of the low! Yeshua, who loved His disciples to the very end, was demonstrating that love here!

However, Yeshua hints at a deeper meaning when He says it is necessary for Yeshua to wash their feet if they are to have any part of Him. We go back to the Torah and the requirements of the priests to wash their feet in the laver before approaching God.

Exodus 30:18-20 NKJV 18 "You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, 19 "for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. 20 "When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water, lest they die.

When Peter understood that he needed to allow Yeshua to wash his feet, He offered up both his head and his hands for washing as well.

John 13:9-10 NKJV 9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."

Yeshua stated that they had already bathed and the rest of their body was already clean. Before participating in the Passover, Yeshua and all the disciples would have undergone a mikvah or ceremonial cleansing. Only those who were ritually pure could participate in the Passover.

Then, as part of the opening rituals of the Passover Seder, Yeshua and the disciples would have already ceremonially washed their hands before drinking from the first cup of the Seder, the cup of sanctification. So, at this point only the feet of the disciples, which would have become dirty in the walk from the ceremonial baths to the location of the Seder, would need to be washed again. Only their feet, with which they interact with the world in an intimate way as they walk through life, needed to be cleaned once again.

Yeshua refers to the state of their cleanliness when He told them He is the vine and that they are the branches who abide in Him and produce fruit.

John 15:3-4 NKJV 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

Once we have our entire bodies washed, we are clean and sanctified before God. Paul writes to Titus that we are saved by the washing that comes through faith in Yeshua.

Titus 3:3-6 NKJV 3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Paul again writes in his epistle to the Ephesians that we are both cleansed and sanctified through the word.

Ephesians 5:25-26 NKJV 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

Although all the disciples had undergone the mikvah and had their feet washed, Yeshua stated that not all of them were clean. He was, of course, referring to Judas Iscariot who, even as Yeshua was washing his feet, was planning to betray Him! Once again, the identity of the traitor would be revealed through a ritual of the Passover Seder. This time it was at the time when the matzah is declared to be the “bread of affliction” and is dipped into the bitter herbs and charoset. Eating the lamb, the matzah and the bitter herbs together is called the korech or binding because it binds the elements that God commanded to be eaten during the Passover together. Rabbi Yechiel Lichtenstein, as quoted by First Fruits of Zion in The Chronicles of the Messiah explains:

But here Yeshua dipped and gave it to Judas, for it is the custom until today that the host does this dipping [of korech] of the Passover and bitter herbs in the charoset; he divides it among all the guests, as we know.[iii]

It is after Yeshua served Judas the korech, the lamb, bitter herbs, and matzah together, that Judas immediately leaves and rejects God’s Passover sacrifice!

John 13:30 NKJV 30 Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.

John makes the obvious statement that it was night. Remember, that Yeshua stated that He was the light and they were to walk in the light not the darkness.

John 12:35-36 NKJV 35 Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36 "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

Judas rejected the light and did not receive the blessing of becoming a son of light! What exactly did Judas reject? If Judas left as soon as the meal was complete, then he would have participated in receiving the matzah, the bread that Yeshua blessed and broke for them.

Matthew 26:26 NKJV 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."

Judas would have received the cup that Yeshua stated was the blood of the new covenant. Yeshua stated that they were all to drink it!

Matthew 26:27-28 NKJV 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Judas betrayed the body and blood of Yeshua. Judas betrayed the love that Yeshua had for him! He truly trampled the Son of God and insulted the spirit of grace! Judas rejected the New Covenant! It is right that Yeshua later calls Judas the son of perdition!

John 17:12 NKJV 12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

The word perdition is translated from the Greek word ap-o’-lia, #684 in Strong’s Concordance meaning ruin, loss or destruction. Judas lost the salvation offered to him! His end was ruin and destruction! Judas demonstrated selfishness, pride, rejection and unbelief.

But Yeshua kept all the others that God gave to Him. He demonstrated His love for them by serving them physically as He washed their feet and served them the Passover meal. He served them spiritually as He broke His body for them and poured out His blood to establish the New Covenant. Immediately after Judas had gone out and into the night, Yeshua stated that now, the Son of Man is glorified.

John 13:31-32 NKJV 31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 "If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.

The betrayal had been set in motion; Yeshua would be delivered to the hands of the Jewish authorities and Roman officials. He would pour out His life on the cross for His disciples and for us. This is His love for us! At this time, Yeshua gave His disciples a new commandment.

John 13:34-35 NKJV 34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

The commandment to love each other is not a new commandment. Loving your neighbor as yourself is a commandment of the Torah. Loving God above all is the first and greatest of the commandments! Loving one another is a new commandment because it was given to be observed after Yeshua died on the cross. Yeshua’s words that He would humble Himself to wash His disciples’ feet even though He was sent from the Father and would return to the Father remind me of Paul’s words in Philippians 2:5-11:

Philippians 2:5-11 NKJV 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As Paul said, we are to have the same mind as that of Yeshua. So, we are to love one another as He demonstrated His love for His disciples then and now. As Yeshua washed the feet of His disciples then, we are to wash each other’s feet now. As Yeshua demonstrated His love by coming as a servant, we, also, are to be servants! As He was and is the servant of all, we, also, are to be servants of all!

Study Questions:

1. Passover is called the LORD’s sacrifice in Exodus 12:27. Zephaniah writes about the day of the LORD’s sacrifice in Zephaniah 1. In what was this fulfilled when Yeshua was rejected as the Passover sacrifice? In what way can it be understood that it will be fulfilled again?

2. Yeshua said that unless He washes their feet, the disciples would have not part of Yeshua. What is required of them and of us to have a part of Yeshua?

3. John writes about the evidence of love in 1 John. What evidence does John cite?

4. Judas chose to walk in darkness as described by Yeshua in John 12:35. What does Paul say in Ephesians 5:1-14 about walking in love and light? What does John say about walking in the light in 1 John 1? What does this mean in our daily lives?

5. In what way is Judas a son of Perdition or loss? Paul calls the Antichrist the man of sin and the son of perdition in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Compare the description of the actions of this man in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. How does Judas fit the description of an antichrist as described by John in 1 John 2:18-19?

© 2018 Moed Ministries International. All rights reserved.

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[i] The Chronicles of the Messiah. D. Thomas Lancaster. First Fruits of Zion. ©2014 D. T. Lancaster. P.1463.

[ii] The Chronicles of the Messiah. D. Thomas Lancaster. First Fruits of Zion. ©2014 D. T. Lancaster. P.1464..

[iii] The Chronicles of the Messiah. D. Thomas Lancaster. First Fruits of Zion. ©2014 D. T. Lancaster. P.1473.