Living, loving; interceding

John 17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ² even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. ³ This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴ I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

⁶ “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; ⁸ for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. ⁹ I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; ¹⁰ and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹ I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. ¹² While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹³ But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

²⁰ “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me.

²² The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵ “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; ²⁶ and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

This is the prayer Jesus prayed in the garden before He was arrested to be crucified. The other gospels focus on a portion of Jesus prayer about the difficulty He Himself faced. They focus on the words:  “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”  And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:38-39) Those gospels report that the disciples fell asleep while Jesus prayed. Perhaps John didn’t sleep. Perhaps he heard the prayer of Jesus, at least more of it than those few words about the difficult time He was facing. I don’t believe that Jesus spent hours in the garden that night struggling against the will of the Father. For all His life as a man Jesus did only what the Father told Him. I believe that Jesus prayer that night in the garden, the prayer that caused Him to sweat drops of blood, as is recorded in Luke 22:44, was a prayer of intercession.

 In truth that’s what Jesus came to earth to do, to intercede for man. Jesus lived His life to intercede for sinful man, so that man could be redeemed, reconciled and restored to a holy and righteous God. Jesus died on the cross as the greatest act of intercession the world could ever know, the one without sin interceded, set Himself between us and the judgment we deserved, He was judged for us that we might be judged as righteous in Him. Even now scripture says: Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.(Hebrews 7:25)     Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.(Romans 8:34)  Intercession, standing between the judgment deserved by sinful man and the holiness, righteousness and glory of God, that’s why Jesus lived and died. It’s what He does even now.  

In His prayer of intercession Jesus didn’t see only the trials and difficulties His disciples would face over the next days or years of their lives. Jesus also saw and interceded far into the future. Verses 20-21 say:  “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;  that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me.”    That night in the garden Jesus prayed and sweat drops of blood even for you and for me. Jesus ends His prayer that night with these words:    “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;  and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”       Jesus wants the love with which the Father loved Him to be in us.

Jesus taught that we should love others. He taught that we should love our brothers and sisters, fellow believers and disciples of Christ. He taught that we should love our neighbor, those around us, regardless of their position in life, regardless of their background or their ethnicity. He taught us that we should love even our enemies, those who persecute and hate us. Yet the love which we are to have for others is a love that goes beyond natural human understanding and natural human actions. The love that we are to have for others goes beyond a love understood or experienced in earthly terms. It is beyond feelings or emotions. Jesus prayed: “ I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”  

We have been sent into the world as Jesus was. We are sent to live as intercession between sinful man and the judgment they deserve, the judgment they will receive if they don’t come to know Jesus. That’s the purpose of the love we are to have and share with the world. Jesus sends us into the world saying: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”(Mark 16:15-16)  Jesus died as intercession, that: whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.(John 3:16)  According to Jesus words, even after the cross, after He died as the greatest act of intercession ever known by man, there is still judgment; condemnation for those who disbelieve. We then, are to live as intercession for them, our lives and our love are to point them to the cross of Christ, His intercession for them. Our lives and our love should be lived that they may be, kept from the evil one, sanctified in truth.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, my redeemer, reconciler and restorer Thank You for Your love for me. A love that would not leave me as I was, a sinner bound for judgment. Instead You interceded on my behalf. You loved me enough to be judged in my place. Holy Spirit I pray that You would guide me, lead me to live in such a way that I too may live and love to intercede for others, Not to judge their sin, but rather to stand between judgment and Your glory on their behalf.   Amen