John 17
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I haveguarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that youtake them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I do not ask for these only, but also for thosewho will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even thoughthe world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
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It's a lot, I know, but have you ever read the whole thing?
Recently?
I know I've read this chapter before, probably multiple times.
But I never really got it until now.
{at least part of it}
I think that's what the writer of Hebrew meant when he wrote that
"the word of God is living and active."
The Lord never stops showing you things through it.
You could read the same verse, again and again,
and get something different out of it every time.
This is what struck me about it tonight.
The night before Jesus was going to be tortured,
physically, and spiritually, more than we could ever dare imagine,
He was praying, for us.
The glory that you have given me {Jesus} I have given to them {us}
(vs. 22)
Let's just take a minute and look at the sentence.
Jesus' glory = our glory
you {Father}..loved them {us} even as you {Father} loved me {Jesus}.
(vs. 23)
The Father's love for Jesus =The Father's love for us
If those two phrases don't blow you mind to pieces,
I don't know what will.
The selflessness of Jesus is another thing that just astounds me in this.
(besides just the general selflessness that Jesus shows throughout the entirety of His life here on earth)
Yes, Jesus prayed for Himself.
He asked that this cup pass from Him.
But His prayers extended beyond Himself.
If I knew that I was going to be tortured the next day,
I wouldn't be doing anything but begging and pleading.
There is so much in this chapter, it would take volumes to unpack it all.
Obviously one blog post does it no justice.
So I end this here,
as I just sit in awe of our Lord Jesus Christ.
