A Not So Final Farewell (Part 5: The Lord's Prayer)
4TH and 1
The Lord’s Prayer
Normally
when we think of The Lord’s Prayer,
we think of the Our Father prayer of
Matt 6:9-13 & Luke 11:2-4, but that could more technically be described as The Disciples’ Prayer since it was
given for their use. Jesus prayed often, but we only have written record of a
few of His prayers (11:41-42, 12:27-28). John 17 is certainly the most
extensive of the Lord’s prayers to have survived.
Jesus Prays for Himself
(17:1-8)
The
first part of Jesus’ prayer concerns Himself. The prayer seems to be just as
much (if not more) for the benefit of the listening disciples as for His own
benefit. The prayer confirms that Jesus has accomplished His mission of
bringing people to a right relationship with God and is, therefore, ready to
return to glory (which He relinquished in becoming flesh) with His Father.
Jesus Prays for His
Disciples (17:9-19)
Jesus
prays for His disciples because He will be leaving the world while they remain.
He prays that their shared loyalty to Him will be the basis for success in the
mission of bringing glory to God. They will be opposed by the world and by the
Evil One. Jesus’ people must be IN the world, but not OF the world. This is
possible when sanctification and mission are mixed with the joy of knowing
Christ’s victory.
Jesus Prays for Future
Believers (17:20-26)
Jesus’
prayer for us (believers) is that we be completely unified just as He and the
Father are unified. Indeed, our unity shall not be simply with each other, but
also with God (we share in the glory)! It is on the basis of this unity that
the world will come to know God’s love. Jesus prays that His followers will one
day attain glory/perfection and He is committed to working toward this end.
Continued from last week…
From Grief to Joy (16:16-24)
Having
spoken of the Spirit, Jesus makes a somewhat cryptic statement about His soon
coming departure (death) and return (resurrection). As the Disciples remain
confused (they are still so focused on the departure that they haven’t really
grasped the promise of return), Jesus compares what is coming to a woman giving
birth (a painful experience giving way to joy). The disciples will soon
experience great joy through a new sort of relationship with the Father.
From Figurative to Plain
Language (16:25-31)
Jesus
knows that the Disciples can’t yet comprehend all that He is telling them. Even
as the Disciples claim to understand, Jesus warns of the inadequacy of their
present faith. Only after the resurrection and through Pentecost will they
truly understand.
From Flight to Fight
(16:32-33)
Jesus
knew that the Disciples would abandon Him, but He took comfort in the fact that
the Father would not. His words in this discourse were meant not to shame them,
but to prepare them and comfort them in the good news that, through Jesus, true
victory was at hand!
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