John 16

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”  ¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”  ¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.  ²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”  ²⁹ Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰ Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”  ³¹ “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. ³² “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.  ³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 17

¹After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.  (John 16:16 – 17:5, New International Version)

Theme:  Discipleship

Context:

We have arrived at Passion Week – so named because the origin of “passion” is the Latin word passio, which means suffering.  Indeed, Jesus suffered for our sake during Passion Week.  During His time of suffering, Jesus made prayer a priority and His disciples featured explicitly and implicitly in His prayers.  This week we are going to focus on Jesus’ prayers during Passion Week and discuss the immense implications of these prayers for His disciples.

First, we will set the stage for our discussions.  Across the four Gospels, we find three settings during Passion Week where Jesus prayed.  In each of these settings we find three prayers (or three distinct sections of one prayer). 

• Setting #1:  In the 17^th chapter of the Gospel of John, we find a prayer with three distinct sections: 1) Jesus prays for himself, 2) Jesus prays for the disciples who followed him during his earthly life, and 3) Jesus prays for all other disciples.  The prayer in John 17 is sometimes called the High Priestly Prayer or the Farewell Prayer.
• Setting #2:  In the Gospels of Matthew (26:36 – 46), Mark (14:32 – 42), and Luke (22:39 – 46) Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane while His disciples struggled to stay awake. 
• Setting #3:  The synoptic Gospels record Jesus’ three prayers on the cross.  Luke records two prayers (Luke 23:34 and 46) and Matthew and Mark record the third prayer (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34). 

We will discuss these prayers in detail over the next four days.

Bible Passage:

Our Bible passage contributes to the stage setting for our discussions this week.  Jesus’ conversation with His disciples in John 16, which occurs just before His prayer in John 17, demonstrates the intimacy of the relationship between Jesus and His disciples.  Likewise, the first five verses of John 17 demonstrate the intimacy of the relationship between Jesus and His Father.  Please prayerfully read the passage and consider the questions below.           

Questions:

Put yourself in the shoes of the 11 disciples observing how Jesus communicated with them and His Father during a week of suffering with no parallel in human history.  Based on what Jesus said to His disciples and His Father in the Scripture passage above:

• What general impression do you believe Jesus made on the disciples?
• What impression do you believe Jesus left regarding prayer?

Sharing your thoughts could be a big help to someone else.  Please leave a comment on the blog.