Prayer: Heavenly Father, Sovereign Lord, Holy Spirit â bring us into this moment when You prepared Your disciples for what was to come. They didnât fully understand; we have no excuse. Open our hearts and our minds to receive Your Words with awe and wonder. We ask this in the precious name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen.
16 âAll this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, âWhere are you going?â 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
Points to ponder: Jesus is finishing this precious time with His disciples by giving them some details about what to expect after Heâs gone. They wonât begin to make sense to them until after His resurrection and after the receiving of the Spirit at Pentecost. But as believers, we already have the Spirit and in this new life we are just beginning to grasp how the world is in the wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgement.
Everything in the world fights back against Scriptureâs definition of sin⌠righteousness⌠and judgment. We must stand firm and not be swayed by the clever, deceitfulness of the world â notice, Jesus says that the world already stands condemned. It is time to for us to boldly step away with a bold shout⌠âNot today, Satan.â
12 âI have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.â
Points to ponder: When we commit to the unity principle â God in three persons⌠Father, Son, and Spirit⌠that invites us to be in Jesus and He in us. The Spirit unveils our hearts and minds to see more truth that is revealed in Scripture. This is NOT an intellectual ability. This is a decisive act of our wills to be submissive to a Holy God â that created us, saved us, loves us, and wants to call us His. {1 Corinthians 6:19-20]
The Disciplesâ Grief Will Turn to Joy
16 Jesus went on to say, âIn a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.â
17 At this, some of his disciples said to one another, âWhat does he mean by saying, âIn a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,â and âBecause I am going to the Fatherâ?â 18 They kept asking, âWhat does he mean by âa little whileâ? We donât understand what he is saying.â
19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, âAre you asking one another what I meant when I said, âIn a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see meâ? 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.
Points to ponder: âTimeâ changes as a Christian â old concepts of âsoonâ⌠ânowâ⌠ânot yetâ⌠all take on new meanings. This section talks about disciplesâ grief turning to joy⌠is that when Jesus is resurrected? Yes. Is that when Jesus returns? Yes.
The interval of time in which we live⌠between Jesus resurrection and His return is always a period of paradox for Christians. Incredible highs, heartbreaking lows, yet all the feelings can be tempered by a strong foundation of truth. In the midst of the worldly chaos, we have a peace that surpasses understanding. We KNOW who is Lord over all. We KNOW this world is broken. We KNOW that the brokenness is temporary and we KNOW that when He returns, all will be made right again.
Even when we donât understand the circumstances, we trust in The One who does. (Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:28, Revelation 21]
This is our faith.
25 âThough 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.â
29 Then Jesusâ disciples said, âNow 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.â
31 âDo you now believe?â Jesus replied. 32 âA 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 âI 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.â
Points to ponder: There are a lot of big things being said here. And this is Jesus talking plainly! âIn that dayâ⌠we ask in Jesus name⌠the Father loves us because we love Jesus AND we believe that Jesus came from God.
Here is the Gospel in 5 simple symbols:
Jesus came down to earth
Jesus died on the cross as the payment for our sins
Jesus is victorious over death and is resurrected
Jesus ascends back to the Father, beginning His reign as King
(soon) Jesus returns to gather His people
When we donât have the full understanding of the gospel, then we, like His disciples, will scatter and leave Jesus. When Jesus asks… Do you now believe?… He is certainly thinking about how they will all soon scatter. I think we have all been on both sides of this phenomenon. When we thought we were strong and steadfast until we were hit with a curveball and our courage failed. (Peter is about to fight for Jesus… then deny even knowing Him!) We’ve also been promised loyalty from those who fell away for one reason or another.
This is a tremendous word to have from our Lord – for He has the experience to comfort us when we disappoint others or they disappoint us. And He’s given us the command to forgive – ourselves and others. He’s forgiven us, so we are now capable of extending that forgiveness to others.
Jesus Prays to Be Glorified
17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
âFather, 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.
Points to ponder: Interesting prayer â it appears to be a conversation with God about what Jesus already knows⌠out loud, so that His disciples and us, can consider. He asks to be glorified again in the Fatherâs presence⌠just like He had before the world began.
I donât think eternal life is given to those who refuse to accept Jesus as God. In Matthew 7:23, Jesus seems pretty clear that those who wonât know Him are commanded to depart from Him.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 âI have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 âI am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Points to ponder: Lots of âreligiousâ terminology here but here are the highlights: Jesus is praying here to the Father on behalf of His disciples in what must be the most tension filled moment in their lives. He has announced His imminent departure but surely, they are still hoping that it wonât happen or that they might be misunderstanding⌠yet His attention is all on them.
He is praying for them to be united with Him and the Father for they have a new status â they are no longer in the world, spiritually, for God has been revealed to them and they believe. They are physically in the world however, so Jesus prays for their protection â for their enemy, the evil one will now strengthen his attacks on anyone with such a status, in order to destroy their testimony. Jesus knows this and Heâs sending them into the world anyway and praying for protection⌠let the troubles they must endure sanctify them⌠i.e., mature them, grow them, strengthen them into even stronger witnesses.
This is not a strategy the world uses⌠now ask yourself, how has The Church endured these 2000 years?
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 âMy prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are oneâ 23 I in them and you in meâso that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 âFather, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 âRighteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.â
Points to ponder: If the depth of all He spoke to His disciples was awesome⌠understand this, He prayed for all those, even me, who would believe in Him, through His disciples. Not only did He know that the cross was coming⌠He knew that 2000 years later, I would approach and wonder if this was all true. I canât explain how I know that God loved me before the creation of the world⌠that God loves me even as He loved Jesus⌠that there is an intimate, invitation to unity that my mind can barely grasp â but I know that Iâve said, âYes.â
Summary: In these chapters we see the mental struggles that the disciples must endure while Jesus tries to prepare and strengthen them. We see His strongest weapon â prayer â being used back then. The power of which endures to this day. Can we ever get over the knowledge that our mighty God, our Lord Jesus, stood here on earth for a moment and prayed for us?
đ Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for praying for Your disciples and praying for us. Thank You for Your promise to return for us. Help us go forward each day with that certain assurance we have â just knowing who You are and that You love us and You are coming back for us. đ We ask for these reminders in the name of Jesus. Amen