Category: CrGo

The full measure of joy

[Jesus] says … ‘Your word is truth’. This makes perfect sense, Jesus himself is The Word, spoken into a broken world by the everlasting Father.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Cruising the gospel – John 17:13-19

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Completing the prayer

A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

17:13 – There’s so much in Jesus’ heart and mind as he completes the prayer for his immediate disciples. And there’s a lot for us to dig into and appreciate here too.

Do bear in mind throughout, that Jesus would have been speaking not only to the Father, but also wanted and expected his apprentices to overhear. His words are for them too, and through them passed on to you and me as well, in written form. Jesus intended you to read his words. It’s very personal!

Joy

Jesus wants his followers to have his own joy within them. What is Jesus’ joy? He doesn’t state it here, but surely what makes Jesus joyful is completing the work his Father sent him to do, returning to be in his Father’s presence again after living a life here in our broken world; and knowing that the Father himself is delighted and joyful that, despite unimaginable hardship, the task is completed and has broken the barriers that kept people from entering his Presence. Jesus has the same joy because he knows the same thing, the work is done, the goal is achieved, the way into Father’s presence is open to every Jesus follower, everyone doing Jesus’ own work. That work is love – love towards family, friends, neighbours, even enemies.

17:14 – Yahshua (Jesus) continues to speak to his Father about the situation, making four points.

  • He mentions that he has given them the Father’s word (not words, this is singular). Jesus is himself the Word spoken into physical existence.
  • The world has hated them.
  • The reason the world hates them is because they don’t belong to the world, and the world loves its own.
  • We are like Jesus, not belonging to the world.

One thing we should take away from this is that telling the Father things he already knows is perfectly acceptable. Our expressing them to him is neither pointless repetition nor trying his patience. We can do this too, we’re laying out the situation as we see it before we ask for help, guidance, comfort, encouragement, or action. The Holy Spirit may respond as we do this, showing us things we’d overlooked, pointing out the way forward, changing our perspective.

17:15-16 – Think about conversations between two friends, perhaps over a coffee or sitting in the shade on a hot, summer’s day. A typical conversation might include saying hello (a greeting), checking how the other person is, asking questions, offering help, discussing mutual interests and more. Yahshua says we are no longer servants, but friends, and he says he and the Father are one. He told the disciples, ‘If you’ve seen me you have seen the Father’. So it’s more than OK to be on friendly terms with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; all those things we might discuss with any friend are things we can discuss with the Father. It’s what he wants us to do!

Only after describing the situation does Jesus move on to asking for things. He begins with clarity about what he is not asking, and then he asks for their (and our) protection from the enemy. Think about it! You are following Jesus, and he has asked for the Father’s protection over you, personally. The prince of darkness is restrained from harming you. How far does this go? Well, let me assure you, it goes the entire way. Down the centuries many of Jesus’ followers have died, as he did, at the hands of bad or ignorant people – killed by lions in Roman arenas or hanged by Nazis in the Second World War like Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Martin Niemöller. But all of them were protected from the greater catastrophe of falling into the hands of a spiritual enemy.

Why do we get this special treatment? Because in following Jesus we become like him. Jesus is not of this world, and neither are we.

Sanctified

17:17-19 – This Greek word, ἁγίασον (hagiason), is specific in its meaning; its sense is the act or process of making a thing or a person holy, to consecrate, to set apart, or as here to sanctify. Greek versions of the Old Testament use the same word in explaining that the Tabernacle and later the Temple were holy, and the priests were holy (set apart to serve). Jesus used the word when talking about the Temple, and in the Lord’s prayer when he said ‘Hallowed be thy Name’. In modern English we might say, ‘Let your name be kept holy’.

Here, speaking to his Father, he uses the same word of his followers, ‘Make them holy by the truth, your word is truth’. If you are following Jesus, then know that he has made you holy and set you apart to serve him and him alone! He asks that we be made holy, set apart, by the truth. So what truth is this?

Elsewhere Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’. He also said, ‘The truth shall set you free’. He says here in verse 17, ‘Your word is truth’. This makes perfect sense, Jesus himself is The Word, spoken into a broken world by the everlasting Father.

And finally, in verse 19, Jesus says very clearly that he has set himself apart for his Father’s use on our behalf, so that we, too, can be truly set apart for the Father’s use as well.

Don’t forget who you are

If you take away nothing else from these verses, take away the amazing truth that following Jesus demonstrates you are set apart, holy and fit to serve the Father, precious and special. Do not be hoodwinked into thinking you are not significant. And don’t for one moment think that you’re significant because of what you do. You are significant because of who you are! Jesus is your brother, you’ve been brought right into the family, welcomed and hugged and loved by the Trinity, no less.

See also:

Living in the presence
Truth and facts
The city on the hill

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Praying for his apprentices

Jesus begins by reading back what he already knows. It’s time. His followers still don’t fully understand, but hearing this now, they will gradually understand as events unfold.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Cruising the gospel – John 17:6-12

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Take a look first

A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

17:6 – We learn a lot from the words of Jesus’ prayer. The first thing we can see is that Jesus believes his core followers, the disciples, are a gift to him from his Father. Jesus’ role here was to reveal the Father to these people he’d been given. They were a bit of a mixed bag, four fishermen, a tax agent, Judas Iscariot managed the funds and might have had a background in money management, and the other Judas may have been a farmer or a farm labourer. No doubt the others all had some sort of trade or working background too.

And this disparate bunch had all proved to be obedient and have obeyed the Father’s word. Jesus may just mean that they have done what he has asked of them, because Jesus himself is the Father’s word, a living message of grace, peace and love sent into a broken world.

17:7 – They know that everything Jesus has is from the Father. 17:8 – Jesus has passed on to his apprentices (disciples) the words the Father gave him, and they accepted them. They’re fully convinced that Jesus came from, and was sent by, the Father. 17:9 – And Jesus prays for them, not for the world but specifically for those he’s been given (the disciples). The disciples belong to the Father. Remember that this is true for all of us who believe. If we are following Jesus, then we belong to the Father who has given us to him.

17:10 – On other occasions Jesus says things like, ‘The Father and I are one’, or ‘If you’ve seen me you have seen the Father’. Here he says the same thing in yet another way. Clearly addressing the Father, Jesus says, ‘All I have is yours, and all you have is mine’.

Oneness, threeness, and glory

Notice the last few words of this verse, ‘Glory has come to me through them‘. So the glory that Jesus has comes to him, in part, through his disciples, his followers, his apprentices. Have you thought about what that really means? Bear in mind here that you, that I, that we are his disciples in the world today. Glory is supposed to come to Jesus through us! That can only happen if we, his people, are reaching out into the world as we are supposed to, spreading the knowledge of the anointed Jesus out into the world here and now.

Are you up for that? Am I?

17:11-12 – And now Jesus prays again for the disciples, for a separation is coming. This is prayer for us as well as a prayer for the twelve who were there with him as he spoke with the Father. Drink it in; make it personal.

He says he’s not staying in this world any longer and is returning to his Father, but we are remaining in this world. So he asks his Father (and ours) to protect us. Jesus asks his Father to protect us by the power of his name. And what is the Father’s name? He shared this name to Moses when Moses asked him, ‘Who shall I say has sent me?’ The name is Yahweh, the great I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you (Exodus 3:13-15). Father is the ultimate cause, the source of all things. Jesus is asking this so that we may be one, just as Jesus and his Father are one.

But there’s more! Jesus, speaking to the Father, says very clearly that the name has been give to him also. Perhaps here, more clearly than almost anywhere else, Jesus claims that he and the Father are one and the same. The Jewish leaders condemned Jesus for claiming equality with the Most High; he was actually claiming far more than mere equality!

And he adds (in verse 12) that he protected the disciples and kept them safe by that same name. The only one he lost was Judas, who betrayed him for a bag of cash.

And finally, we can say something else about names. When Jesus appeared in shining brightness on the mountain, he talked with Moses and Elijah (Matthew 17: 1-5). Have you ever wondered why those two?

Moses represents law, Jesus represents deliverance, and Elijah represents prophecy. And these three are seen to be in conversation. Who brought law? The Father, Yahweh, the great I AM inscribed the commandments on the stone tablets (on a mountain). Jesus brings us into the place of promise just as Joshua (the same name, by the way) brought Israel into the place of promise, the promised land. And Elijah brought communication, as did all of the Old Testament prophets, sharing Father’s words with the people.

This is a glorious picture of the trinity – The Father (giver of law), the Son (giver of deliverance), and the Spirit (giver of communication). They are one, and if we have the presence of any one we have the presence of them all. And that, my friends, is why Jesus had to return to the Father in order to send the Spirit. If the Spirit is in you and among you, then the Father and the Son are also in you and among you. It cannot be any other way!

What a deep truth to ponder!

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Praying for the fundamentals

Jesus begins by reading back what he already knows. It’s time. His followers still don’t fully understand, but hearing this now, they will gradually understand as events unfold.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Cruising the gospel – John 17:1-5

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Take a look first
A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

17:1 – Here, Jesus reveals to us what is really fundamental through his prayer. He even begins with something fundamental, but it’s easy to read the words without noticing the implication – He looked up.

Jesus looked up. This was the first thing he did, even before he spoke. He looked towards the Father before he spoke to him. This is exactly what we all do immediately before we speak to another person. We look at them and then we begin to say whatever is on our mind. The looking is an important part of the communication; it announces an intention to say something, checks if the other party is ready to listen, and alerts others nearby that a conversation is about to start.

At the very least, if we’re about to say something it is kind and thoughtful to look and see if right now is a good time to do that. We are checking, but also making the connection to establish communication.

Now speak, freely and openly. Jesus speaks to the Father but also to his apprentices, the disciples.

The hour has come

Jesus begins by reading back what he already knows. It’s time. His followers still don’t fully understand, but hearing this now, they will gradually understand as events unfold. They will later recall that Jesus knew what they did not – and that he was prepared for it.

Glory!

17:2-3 – Jesus knows that he is going to receive glory, but he also knows that the purpose of it is that he can then glorify the Father. He has authority over everyone and he’s been given the power to give eternal life to those entrusted to him by the Father.

And what is eternal life? Why, it’s the knowledge of the Father and of the Son that the Father sent! Jesus has told them already, that if they’ve seen him, they have seen the Father. It really is that simple! Simple to say, yet still very hard for them to comprehend at this point. Right now they just don’t get it – but after Pentecost they will.

The work is complete

17:4 – The Father receives glory by the Son completing the task he was sent to do. Jesus has done everything except the very brief final act. Think about what he has already achieved. He was born into a broken world, and grew up as a young child, obedient to his parents. By the time he was twelve-years-old he had understood who his real Father is and was capable of debating with Jewish scholars at the Temple in Jerusalem. He grew up, learning the trade of carpentry. He went out into the river country to be baptised by John in the Jordan, and then he called people to follow him, teaching them everything they would need to know. He had prepared everything for them so that they could accept his Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Christ) when he would arrive and fill them just a little later.

17:5 -Now he is ready to be obedient in the final act too, and to receive again the glory he had in his Father’s presence even before the world began. These five verses at the beginning of John 17 summarise everything he has done and will do.

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Speaking in Jesus’ place

We do not get to choose which parts of his work we are to do. We are to do all of it! We absolutely need one another in this task, when we stand alone we are weak, but together we are strong.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Cruising the gospel – John 16:25-33

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They will ask the Father
A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

Now we come to something extraordinary, and it’s something we need to take on board very personally. Every single follower of Jesus must grasp this for themselves. Don’t miss it! Seize it, hold this truth in your own understanding, feel it to be the deep truth that it actually is.

16:25-26 – So far, Jesus’ language has been figurative as he helps his followers grapple with things that are, frankly, too hard for them to comprehend. Now he says that a time is coming when he’ll communicate plainly with them, there’ll be no need to use figures of speech any more. Surely that time is the period after they receive the fullness of the Spirit of Christ? It will happen in the upper room at the soon-to-arrive Pentecost. From then on, Jesus says ‘they will ask in my name‘.

We (and they) are to stand in Jesus’ place and ask the Father as if we (they) are the Son! How many times must he tell us – we are his body walking this Earth! Collectively, we are intended and expected to carry on his work. We do not get to choose which parts of his work we are to do. We are to do all of it! We absolutely need one another in this task, when we stand alone we are weak, but together we are strong. Jointly and in concert we are Jesus’ body, walking this Earth.

So we no longer say, ‘Jesus, please ask the Father to do this and that’. Now we must say, ‘Father, we’re here in Jesus’ name asking you to do this and that.’ We must not feel how weak and small we are – and we are weak and small individually. Instead together, as the church, because we are Christ’s body, we have his strength and greatness!

Me – weak and small. Us – strong and great.

16:27-28 – Do we have the Father’s love? We do! Why? Because we love Jesus and know who sent him! Jesus explains that there’s a symmetry here. He came from the Father into the world. Now he will leave the world and go back to the Father. His physical presence in the world was a temporary exception.

Clarity and faith

16:29-30 – And Jesus’ followers get it. They tell him that he’s speaking clearly now, that they can see he knows everything, and that he doesn’t need anyone to ask him questions. Does that seem a little odd to you? It seemed odd to me at first.

Perhaps it’s simply that this was a method other Jewish Rabbis habitually used, encouraging their followers to ask questions to find out where they lacked knowledge and to then guide the teaching to address those gaps. Instead, Jesus already seems to know where the gaps are and he is well able to address gaps in their understanding without waiting to hear their questions.

Might it be this uncanny ability of Jesus that persuades them he really has been sent by the Most High?

What will they do next?

16:31-33 – Now Jesus asks them a question. You just told me you believe I came from the Almighty, but do you really believe? Truly? And he tells them they’ll all run away, back home, leaving him alone. These followers, the disciples learning to be like their Master, his trainees, his apprentices – they’re going to run off and leave him? Remember that they’d been treading the highways and byways of Judea and Samaria and Galilee, and even the ten Greek cities (The Decapolis) for three long, dusty, weary, yet exciting years. Are they going to abandon him now?

Jesus tells them they will, but he also says he won’t actually be alone because the Father will be with him. And he explains that he has shared all this with them so that in him they can have peaceful hearts. He’s told them what will happen, and he is not fazed by it, and neither should they be! They might feel they’ve let him down in his time of great need, he anticipates this and wants to let them know in advance that it’s OK. They shouldn’t be disheartened.

The world will throw more than enough trouble at them, but he wants their hearts to remain peaceful because he, Jesus, has already overcome the world.

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John 16:16-24 – Sadness and joy

Questions and enigmas make us think harder, and discuss the possibilities amongst ourselves, while the observing teacher gets a clear sense of whether the students are understanding the important principles.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Not seeing, then seeing
A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

What Jesus says next is a complete riddle for his followers. ‘Soon you won’t see me, but soon after that you will see me.’ They discussed this amongst themselves, over and over it seems; but they didn’t ask the Master to explain what he meant. Perhaps they were embarrassed because they couldn’t work it out. In verse 10, Jesus had mentioned he would be ‘going to the Father’ and they were puzzled about that as well. And what did ‘soon’ imply?

Jesus understood perfectly what was going on in their minds and that they’d like to ask him about it, but were not going to. And this is typical of him in his dealings with all his followers, not just then, but now as well. He asks questions and he makes enigmatic remarks. The reactions of his followers inform him more than a straightforward conversation would and, more to the point, they help his followers learn.

How we learn

Any teacher knows how to use this method whether the subject is art, maths, science, history – whatever. Questions and enigmas make us think harder, and discuss the possibilities amongst ourselves, while the observing teacher gets a clear sense of whether the students are understanding the important principles. It’s likely this was a method used by any Jewish rabbi. Ask a tricky question, then let the learners wrestle with it and observe their level of understanding.

So remember, when Jesus gives you a question or a problem to resolve, it’s most likely just a way of helping you go deeper or further. And if necessary, don’t be afraid to ask him! He knows your difficulties but he wants you to make the effort and, if necessary, he will help you out. Even if he needs to explain, the fact that you wrestled with it first will help his explanation stick.

So what did he mean?

First he lets them know that he understands their struggles and need to ask, and then he adds a little more information – that they will cry in deep sadness while the world rejoices. And here comes another standard teaching idea, use an illustration, something quite different, something familiar, but something with important similarities. Jesus tells them it will be like a woman giving birth – lots of pain and anguish but with relief and great joy when accomplished.

And now they understand the principle, he adds more detail for them. Their time of grief is now, but he’ll see them again and they’ll rejoice. Nobody will be able to steal that joy from them and they won’t need to ask him any more questions. In fact, they’ll be able to ask his Father (in Jesus’ name) for anything. So far they have not done this – ask, receive, and rejoice!

And what about us?

Can we expect the same? Should we, too, expect to ask in Jesus’ name, receive, and rejoice? Yes! Indeed we should! Does Jesus say to us, ‘So far you have not done this’? Perhaps he does for some of his people and for some of the time. Often we think in terms of faith – ‘Do I have too little faith?’. Frankly, it’s a bad question.

Faith is important, of course. Faith is one of the three things that Paul tells us will remain. The other two are hope and love. And Paul is very, very clear about it, the greatest of the three is not faith, but love! (1 Corinthians 13:1-2) Do you love Jesus? Does he love you? Do you have the Father’s love?

Let me remind you, that yes you do! And this love is greater than faith. Faith is required, but it’s not the measure of the answer. Father’s love is always the measure of the answer.

When you ask for something in Jesus’ name, you may or may not see the answer you expect. Anyone moved a mountain recently? Faith expects that you will trust the answer to Father’s wisdom and love. We don’t always see what we expect. We don’t always immediately receive what we ask. We need to be wise, recognise his love, remain patient and not give up.

And another thing to remember, sometimes we ask in hope, not faith. That’s OK too. There’s nothing wrong with the prayer of hope; there’s no shame in it. Sometimes there is a gift of faith, received in the moment, and we feel certain that what we ask will be done. If so, go ahead and use it! If not, pray anyway, Father listens, he does not turn away. He loves you! We all know what that’s like, we have all been children and some of us have been parents.

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