Author: timmacbride

Jesus says farewell – Part Seventeen (John 17)

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We’re continuing in our series through Jesus’ farewell speech in John 14-17. 

The final part of Jesus’ farewell speech records Jesus’ prayer. It’s often called Jesus’ “high priestly prayer,” as he prays on behalf of his people: the disciples gathered around him, and also – quite specifically – for all who would believe in the future through their witness. Which includes us.  Take a look at verses 20-21:

John 17:20-21 My 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.

Jesus prays for us. He prays for the future church that would be established. Specifically, he prays for its unity – that we would be one.

Which makes you ask – when you look at all of the different denominations and groupings of Christians in the world, not to mention the arguments and even wars that have been fought along those lines – it makes you ask: what went wrong?

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Catch-up Friday

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Use today (and the weekend) to catch up on any readings you’ve missed.

If you’re up-to-date, here’s some more thoughts on our current passage (John 16:16-33) introducing a story told by Philip Yancey. It’s a reminder that Jesus has already won the victory. He says to his disciples at the end of his farewell speech:

John 16:33 “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

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Jesus says farewell – Part Sixteen (John 16)

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We’re continuing in our series through Jesus’ farewell speech in John 14-17. 

Yesterday, we saw how Jesus comforted his disciples ahead of what would be a long, dark weekend. He pointed forward to his resurrection – when they would see him again – as a time of joy in their future. Not just because they’d see him (briefly) again, because it would change everything. And we were reminded that for us, that joy doesn’t lie in our future, but in our present. The resurrection is the source of our present joy.

The resurrection is the basis of our future hope

But we still have a future hope, because we haven’t yet received the full measure of our salvation. There’s a tension between the already and the not-yet – precisely because we are not yet face to face with Jesus, in the age to come.

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Jesus says farewell – Part Fifteen (John 16)

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We’re continuing in our series through Jesus’ farewell speech in John 14-17. 

We’re getting towards the end of Jesus’ farewell speech. A speech given on the brink of an historic weekend. Thursday evening, the night before the Passover. The start of a long weekend which would see Jesus tried, tortured, and put to death on a cross. One that would leave the disciples frightened, scattered, and hopeless. But would end with great joy as Jesus came back from the dead.

In today’s passage (John 16:16-33), Jesus attempts to comfort his disciples, preparing them for the long, dark weekend ahead:

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Jesus says farewell – Part Thirteen (John 16)

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We’re continuing in our series through Jesus’ farewell speech in John 14-17. 

Two weeks ago (in John chapter 14) we encountered the first significant block of teaching Jesus gives on the Holy Spirit – the advocate whom he would send in his place once he had gone. The fact that Jesus described him as “another paraclete” told us that the Spirit’s role would be very similar to that of the first paraclete – Jesus. He would be the presence of Jesus who would be with us (a companion alongside) and in us (an indwelling power), equipping us for the task to which we have been sent.

This week, we arrive at John chapter 16, in which the nature and role of the Spirit is taken up again.

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Catch-up Friday

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Use today (and the weekend) to catch up on any readings you’ve missed.

If you’re up-to-date, read the last part of chapter 15 that we won’t have time to cover. What does this text have to say to Western Christians who, in general, aren’t harshly treated for being Jesus’ followers?

John 15:18-25 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

Jesus says farewell – Part Twelve (John 15)

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We’re continuing in our series through Jesus’ farewell speech in John 14-17. This week is all about friendship with Jesus. We’ve seen how friendship with Jesus was friendship of the highest order, in that he was prepared to lay down his life for us, his friends. The response to this act of friendship ought to be loyal obedience, yet this is done not as a “slave” but as an intimate friend who’s been let into the inner circle. Today, we see how friendship with Jesus means that we have a task to do.

Friendship with Jesus means we have a job to do

John 15:16a “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”

In a first-century friendship between unequals, friends were often given tasks to do on behalf of their benefactors; to act as their agents. In Greek thought, friends were referred to as a ‘second self.’ Letters that survive from the period show that it was common for writers to urge that a friend be welcomed and treated ‘as if he were me.’

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Jesus says farewell – Part Eleven (John 15)

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We’re continuing in our series through Jesus’ farewell speech in John 14-17. This week is all about friendship with Jesus. We’ve seen how friendship with Jesus was friendship of the highest order, in that he was prepared to lay down his life for us, his friends. The response to this act of friendship ought to be loyal obedience. Today, we see how friendship with Jesus involves intimacy. 

Friendship with Jesus involves intimacy

We saw yesterday that a friend of Jesus is obedient. But this doesn’t mean mindlessly obeying orders. There is an intimacy on offer whereby we are let into Jesus ‘inner circle’:

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Jesus says farewell – Part Ten (John 15)

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We’re continuing in our series through Jesus’ farewell speech in John 14-17. This week is all about friendship with Jesus. Yesterday, we saw how friendship with Jesus was friendship of the highest order, in that he was prepared to lay down his life for us, his friends. Today, we look at the obligations of those who are Jesus’ friends. 

A friend of Jesus is obedient

Our friendship started with Jesus’ laying down his life for us. It was his initiative; verse 16 says that he chose us to be his friends. Now we are in his debt. We owe him a debt we can’t repay, and so we become his grateful, loyal ‘friends’. And that friendship – like all friendships – has some obligations:

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