Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. [John 13.3-5]
I have written about this passage before. Today, however, I sense a distinctly more focused understanding of what is being displayed here...
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given him authority over everything, instead of donning royal robes or majestic armor like a mighty warrior, stripped Himself of everything and put on a towel. The significance of this action is "off-the-charts" for all who will see it. The very Creator of the Universe, already humbled just to become a man, now takes humility a step further to humble Himself among men. And, because of what we know about Judas son of Simon Iscariot in this setting, Jesus' humility goes further still to humble Himself to death at the hand of man.
What in the world is going on?
To find some explanation for this, we need to go back to the young shepherd boy, David as he prepared to face Goliath.
Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off again. [1 Samuel 17.38-39]
David, a picture and type of Christ to come, stripped himself. In just a small way, David humbled himself among men, rejecting conventional military armor and then further humbled himself to run onto the battlefield ill-equipped in the estimation of man to face the undefeated battle-machine, Goliath.
Again, David's example was just a glimpse of Christ...
Now, let's fast-forward to the Apostle Paul and a couple passages where he discussed armor and war. We will start with this:
We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. [2 Corinthians 10.3-5]
What Paul so clearly articulated in 2 Corinthians is that the war we are engaged in has nothing to do with human convention even though we are indeed human. He goes on to describe where the battle is found - where the strongholds are - human reasoning and false arguments. These are the work of God's enemy, Satan.
Human reasoning would have concluded that, fit or no fit, David's life would have come closer to being protected wearing Saul's armor. All the while, Goliath was gushing with arguments (false ones) that he was undefeatable. And yet, David stripped himself just as Jesus stripped Himself in John 13.
Paul reveals that human reasoning's error is that, from the inside, it keeps people from knowing God. False arguments do the exact same thing, but they are generated from outside sources. Both these rebellious thoughts however are combatted, even captured, with the instruction of "Christ." In other words, the only way to overcome the strongholds of human reasoning and false arguments is to "teach them to obey Christ." And, how is this done? In obeying Christ before them... Christ Who stripped Himself...
Let's not stop here though... Paul had much much more to speak on this topic:
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. [Ephesians 6.10-12]
Here in Ephesians Paul further clarifies Satan's strategies. He is clear that they are NOT flesh and blood enemies, but instead ARE evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, ...mighty powers in this dark world, and ...evil spirits in the heavenly places. They are all distinctly UNSEEN! You know what else is unseen? Human reasoning and false arguments!
What Paul goes on to describe in Ephesians 6 is the full armor of God. Because Paul has already established that the enemies of God are UNSEEN, it only makes sense that God's armor follows the function of worldly armor but has nothing at all to do with the form of worldly armor - it too is UNSEEN!
We must see that David's stripping himself of Saul's armor, and Jesus' stripping Himself of everything show us how to dress (or should I say "undress") for spiritual battle! And yet, the function of every piece of God's armor was on display in a second stripping of Himself by Jesus!
Let's review "donning the full armor of God" piece by piece from the following passage:
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [Ephesians 6.13-17]
Truth and righteousness work together as belt and body armor. Belt and body armor, in worldly form and function, offer critical protection to vital organs. However, as Jesus put on the belt of God's truth and the body armor of God's righteousness, it rendered Him, in form, naked on the Cross but, in function, completely submitted to the protection of God's will in the realm of the Spirit.
Let's move on now to the shoes: the peace that comes from the Good News... The full preparation of having on shoes Paul described makes great sense to worldly battle in form. However, in function, nothing can offer the peace of the Cross: the peace provided by the feet of Jesus nailed to the Cross.
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns! [Isaiah 52.7]
As with the belt of truth and body armor of righteousness, it is necessary to ignore the form of the shoes in order to see the function. The function of these pieces of armor are literally seen in their absence in form on Jesus on the Cross. Jesus stripped Himself of any form of worldly protection so that nothing would obstruct the full view of God's armor as He wore it on the Cross!
And, so it goes with the shield of faith. Perhaps no piece of God's armor has been more misrepresented by Christendom than this one piece. Jesus put the shield of faith on full display when, in form, He defenselessly spread His arms in full submission to being nailed to the Cross, functionally screaming, "faith in God alone" as His shield. The shield of faith is not some gloriously decorated piece of metal or wood, but is the unseen resolve to vulnerability, in form, so that the protection of God might be indisputably seen in function!
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. [Hebrews 11.1]
As we are now beginning to see, the full armor of God as Jesus displayed on the Cross, including also the helmet of salvation, reeks of vulnerability in form unlike the popular picture used to represent it. However, the function of the humiliation endured by Jesus from the painful crown of thorns is consistent with His undeniable resignation from human help so as to be seen trusting, again, in God alone.
And then, my favorite part... The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. We should have learned long ago not to resort to silly pictures of man's weaponry to depict God's armor. Our understanding of the sword of God's Word should have brought us to this conclusion! But, because Paul used human forms to describe spiritual functions, it requires intense spiritual attention to not be distracted by the human forms! That attention particularly and ironically manifests in our saturation in God's Word. Jesus was saturated in God's Word. And, you know what words He spoke on the Cross?
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. [Luke 23.34]
The pattern therefore, in function, of God's full armor is complete vulnerability while it can only be described, in form, in brazen militaristic armament. It is this same vulnerability in Christ (and in us as we take up our cross and follow Christ) that saves the world - that captures people's rebellious thoughts and teaches them to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10.5).
Jesus so beautifully gave a preview of the Cross in the Upper Room as He stripped Himself to wash the disciples' feet. Little has Christianity understood that He was modeling the full armor of God in so doing. And so it is fitting to conclude this article with Jesus' own explanation of what He was doing:
After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them. [John 13.12-17]
No comments:
Post a Comment