Undercover Boss (John 13:1-11)
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Welcome to another episode of Rebuilding Faith.
These are 10 minute Bible messages for people with questions and doubts. Today we're going to talk about authority. Authority is that thing that we probably have some taste of, and yet most of us wish we had more of it, right?
But authority is [00:01:00] part of the world.
It's part of our relationships. If you have kids, especially when they're young, you have an authority over your kids. You might have authority in your job, especially if you lead other people. There's an authority element to the decisions that you get to make. You might be an authority in your field where you have spent so much time or so much focus or so much training that people listen when you talk because you have an authority about what you do.
It reminds me of the show Undercover Boss usually the, the CEO goes undercover as, as a new hire and, and sees all sorts of things that are wrong, that people are doing.
And then you get to the end where the CEO reveals, I'm actually the boss of this company and I'm going to make these changes and I'm going to, reward the people that are overlooked and I'm going to punish the people that are taking advantage. Of others. We love to see authority in this way, and yet if we're honest, we [00:02:00] also have experienced authority abused.
And you can likely think of people who have hurt you with their abuse of the authority that they had. But I wanna look at how did Jesus use authority as we figure out what might this mean for us today? This is John chapter 13, beginning in verse one. Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his father.
He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas son of Simon, a scarat to betray Jesus. Now, Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything. That he had come from God and would return to God authority over everything.
Can you imagine what that kind of [00:03:00] authority would feel like? But more importantly, what would you do if you had that kind of authority? What laws would you create that you would say this would make the world better? What kind of things would you redesign and go, we're not gonna do it that way anymore.
We're gonna do it this way. How would you design it? How would you put people in their place who are hurting others, who are abusing others? What would you do if you had that level of authority? Well, we are able to see what Jesus does after he acknowledges the authority that he has. Chapter 13, verse four.
So he got up from the table. He took off his robe, he wrapped a towel around his waist and poured water into a basin. And then he began to wash the disciples feet, drawing them with the towel he had around them. And when he had come to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my [00:04:00] feet? And Jesus replied, you don't understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.
Now, the reason Peter's having this reaction is that. Foot washing was the lowest of the low, demeaning activity for a servant to have. I mean, this was the entry level thing. You would give it to your lowest servant, or if it was, one of the kids doing it, it'd be the youngest child that would have to do this.
This was the most demeaning thing that that had to be done. And so no one would've wanted this. You'd give it to the, the new guy, right? That was the way this worked. In fact, rabbinic tradition even indicates that Jewish slaves were often exempt from doing this, that they would give this work to the gentile slaves because they tried to avoid that because of the nature of how they viewed foot washing.
And then we see Jesus doing this after acknowledging all the authority that he has. It would be a little [00:05:00] bit like watching the CEO of a company. Who you know is the CEO. Come in and grab a toilet brush cleaner off of a janitor's cart and then walk into the bathrooms and start cleaning the toilets.
Maybe thinking like, cool that you're doing that. But we have people that, that do that. And isn't it your time much better spent doing something else? I mean, we need you to do other things. Why would you be doing that? It would be shocking to see this, and yet that's an image of what Jesus is doing as he cleans the dirt.
Off of their feet. Verse eight. No, Peter protested. You will never, ever wash my feet. And Jesus replied, unless I wash you, you won't belong to me. So Peter exclaimed. Well then wash my hands and my head as well, Lord, not just my feet. I love how Peter's just all over the place, right? And Jesus replied, A person who has been bathed all over does not need to wash except for the feet to be entirely clean.
And you disciples are [00:06:00] clean. But not all of you. For Jesus knew who would betray him, and that is what he meant when he said, not all of you are clean. So not only did Jesus do this with the authority, but now we realize he's going to wash the feet of Judas can you imagine tenderly serving someone who you know is about to betray you for their own gain?
I mean, I want you to think of the name of someone. Who has hurt you in your life? Think about someone that just comes to mind and go, this person really damaged me. Now I want you to imagine serving them in a way that would be demeaning to you and choosing to do it, not because you have to, not because someone made you, but because you voluntarily chose to serve that person who has done that to you in that way, again, we see something remarkable here.[00:07:00]
Jesus. So if this is how Jesus uses authority, then coercion does not represent God. And when we see it today, we can clearly acknowledge that's not how God uses authority. Domination does not represent God. Nationalistic power does not represent God legislating our morality onto others. It does not represent God.
A show of force does not represent God. It means that God is represented by displays of service that most of us would not connect with people that have authority, that's what we see in a passage like this, that the way the Kingdom of God works is very different than the way we think things have to be done today.
The theologian, Miguel de la Tore said it like this, who Christ [00:08:00] is is directly linked to what Christ does, right? So we don't separate like we have Jesus as the teacher, and then Jesus as this like person who does all these things. None of these are all embodied together as we see Jesus reveal who God is in our midst.
And so when we see what Jesus does with authority, it tells us volumes. About God and it invites us to join him in rebuilding the world around us with the authority that you and I have as well. I wonder if you got to the end of the Undercover Boss show and when the CEO reveals, Hey, I'm actually the CEO, rather than fixing everything and then going back to their corner office, what if they stayed working with the entry level employees after the camera shut off?
Would it not be a very different show of everyone being confused? Why is the CEO making deliveries? Why is the [00:09:00] CEO cleaning the back? Why is the CEO taking phone orders? Right? That would be the more perplexing thing is, hey, you've already revealed you have this, and yet you continue to, to work amongst us.
This is more likely what we find. Jesus, that after we fully see who he is and the authority he has, he continues to serve us in our midst. See, we live in a world where billionaires are put on a pedestal and most of the world looks at them and goes, how do I become more like them? How do we do what they're doing?
And in the midst of that, we have an expression of who God is in the person of Jesus that shows a radically different way of using authority. And I believe this is the way that would actually bring healing and transformation to our world. So let's join Jesus in using authority like that. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
