One of the most precious captures in scripture (in my opinion) comes from John 17. It is Jesus, not long before the crucifixion and things are brewing around him. He is well aware that his time is getting shorter and there is an urgency in all that he does. Not hurried... but urgent. He felt the time table pressure in the sense that he wanted to equip them well for what would come. The disciples can't seem to grasp what lies ahead, even when he spells it out. It seems unthinkable. It creates so much cognitive dissonance that they miss what he is trying to say. Who could kill Jesus?
What they didn't understand was that they were not going to see the church leaders and government officials take Jesus life. Oh no, they were about to be witness to something much greater. They would see Jesus giving up his life in pure, sacrificial love, so that we might be made clean and acceptable in the eyes of a holy and just God.
What does Jesus do when suffering and death is before him? He prays. In the garden he will pray a more personal prayer asking God if there is another way, but submitting to death. In John 17, his prayer is not for what he wants or needs, but for all who believe in him... then and now. Yes. Jesus prayed for us. Those who believe today are included in this amazing prayer. He prayed for believers in his time and those in the future. He prayed for us. We were on his mind, more than the cross.
This is an excerpt from John 17 in "The Message".
I pray for them.I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.
For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;
They’ll continue in the world
While I return to you.
Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind
As we are one heart and mind.
As long as I was with them, I guarded them
In the pursuit of the life you gave through me;
Life will have unexpected trials and plot twists. Jesus prayed for us, knowing some days would be hard. He prayed for us to be sanctified by the truth... His truth... that we could grow to be more like him. I love how he personalizes that we are His. We belong. We are precious enough that he wants us guarded. He knows they will have a faith forged in the fires... as well as in the quiet moments of prayer.
He took the cross so we don't have to suffer death. We step into new life the instant we become His in faith. Death loses all of it's power... as it simply becomes a door. We will be more alive in death than we are here, but as long as there are souls who have not yet had the opportunity to accept or reject the gospel, we still have a mission and commission. There is work to be done. (Nola... Earworm is singing, "Work for the night is coming.")
Today, I am grateful Jesus prayed for us.
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