What Would Jesus Pray?

I expect that we are all familiar with the acronym, WWJD: What Would Jesus Do?

But What Would Jesus Pray?

We discover the answer to that question in John 17 which is in the first chapter in our five chapter focus for this week. Some refer to this as "The High Priestly Prayer" because Jesus intercedes for his disciples - and not just for the original Twelve. In 17:20 Jesus says,

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.

You and I are included in that extension! In John 17, we encounter a prayer that Jesus prayed for us!

And what did He pray? What as the focus of that prayer? What was it's aim?

Jesus is very clear:

. . .keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. (John 17:11)

And again

. . .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. (John 17:21)

Unity.

Not uniformity. We are not all alike. But we are all united. One God. One Lord. One Savior, Jesus. We are drawn together in him. We are drawn into one fellowship with the Triune God and with each other. We are joined together with one love, one source of joy, one hope of eternity. Though we may come from vastly different places and have widely diverse life experiences, still there is only One in whom we find salvation.

What would Jesus pray?

He would, he did, and he does pray for our unity in His name. Our witness is tied up with our unity.

This is not an optional piece of our religious response to the grace of God. This is an essential and non-negotiable part of what God is doing among us in Christ.

And in a world that is so divided, in a nation that is so divided, the unity of believers will certainly stand out.

This is what Jesus wants from us. This is what Jesus prays for us. That we may be one in him.

Don't Let Your Heart Be Troubled

It stood out so plainly this morning as I was reading chapters 13 to 16 in the Gospel of John.

Do not let your heart be troubled. . .  John 14:1a

Reading the news this morning, talking to church members, visiting with people in the community, I see a lot of troubled hearts. Hearts are troubled with anxiety over the politics of our nation. Hearts are troubled over our nation's relationships with other nations. Hearts are troubled with marital issues and by scary words like "cancer." And into the midst of all these troubles and more, Jesus speaks these very direct words: do not let your heart be troubled.

We should all take notice that these words imply that we have a choice. The troubling of our hearts is not a foregone conclusion. We are not enslaved by it. Jesus implies that we have a choice - "do not let."

And then he gives some resources to help us "not let" our hearts be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in Me. . .  John 14:1b

Faith becomes the shield against a troubled heart. We are trust in the providence of God at this point. We are trusting that God is greater than whatever troubling circumstance arises in our life. We are believing that God has got hold of us and that God will not let us go no matter what comes. God is greater than politics. God is greater than national and international conflict. God is greater than disease and disability. God is greater than cancer. God is greater than death. To believe in God and to believe in Jesus is to trust in their providence and their goodness and to see the circumstances of life through the lens of their sufficiency.

Corruption Within

Reading John 12 again today, the first thing that grabbed my attention is the good that Judas Iscariot said he wanted to do.

"Why was this perfume not sold for thee hundred denarii and given to the poor?" (John 12:5)

Judas talked a good game, didn't he? He fit right in with the rest of the disciples. Indeed, he was so much like them that at the Last Supper, no one suspected him of betrayal when he left a little early. Everyone just assumed he was going out to do some good that the Lord had commanded him to do (see John 13:29). After all, here was a man who had heard the same teachings they all had heard. He had seen the same miracles. He participated in the same activities. He ate the same food, shared the same hopes, and experienced the same fears. The reason he fit well with the other disciples is that he was just like them.

But his heart was twisted.

Corruption is a matter of the heart. It does not mark a person physically. Such people don't suddenly start wearing signs saying "I'm a bad guy." They don't wear black hats when everyone else is wearing white. A movie soundtrack does not start playing in a minor key every time this person appears. To all appearances, such people look just like everyone else. And such people can be full participants in good works in the world. They can give lots of money to the poor. They can guide charitable organizations to help others. They can be civil servants serving the good of the nation.

And their heart can be corrupt and filled with hurtful self-interest.

They're nice people, for the most part.

They could be any of us.

Hearts unchanged. Religious for what they can get out of it. Interested only in their own wants, likes, and interests. Hearts hardened to the leadership of God.

And such corruption within makes a person susceptible to greater evils. Luke 22:3 tells us that Satan "entered into" Judas. His corruption had laid the welcome mat. His self-interest had opened the door and set the table. His unfaithfulness in the little things positioned him to be unfaithful in something much greater. It is not so far from justifying one's theft to seeing everyone else as less than fully human. People become objects that can be used or discarded. And once people cease to be human and start becoming objects, murder is not so big a step, particularly if we can justify that murder by our self-interest.

Judas, of course, didn't need to do the murder himself. He only needed to deliver Jesus over to the ones who would. Such a small thing, really, in the big scheme of things. Easily justifiable for the thirty pieces of silver he received.

Our nation right now is having a conversation about murder, and I am worried at how I see it unfolding. When a religious leader can claim that whatever happened to the Saudi reporter in Turkey should not jeopardize big money contracts, I hear a not-so-faint echo of Judas' words in John. People are becoming objects. Murder is becoming justifiable. We are becoming desensitized to that which God sees in each of us, and we are opening a door and offering an invitation to an adversary that should be guarded against at all times. He seeks only to destroy. We do not want him in our hearts. We do not want him in the heart of our nation.

So I see in Judas this morning a call to self-examination. A self-check for pride, for greed, for a desire to follow Jesus only for what he can do for me. And I pray that the Holy Spirit would create a right heart within me and within all who function as leaders. Lord, save us from corruption!

The Celebration of What Is

Our slow reading through the Gospel of John brings us to chapter 9 this morning. And as I read the story of the blind man who was healed by Jesus, I was struck by one of the questions the synagogue officials asked him - How?

So they kept saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?" (John 9:10)

I thought in response, "Isn't that a perfect picture of human nature?" Rather than celebrating a good occurrence, a good event, a Divine miracle, we are immediately suspicious and want to know the the "why" and the "how" of it. We break it apart and refuse to enter into the joy of it.

In John 9, a man who was born blind has become seeing. But no one rejoices with him in what must have been a joyous occasion for him. No one offers to throw him a party. No one offers to buy him lunch. No one offers to buy him a drink. Instead, he becomes an object to be poked and prodded and dissected. He is less than human. He is a curiosity. He requires explanation.

So they "kept on saying to him. . ." This was not a one-time asking. This was something they kept coming back too. How? How? How?

We get a sense of his eventual annoyance in verse 27:

"I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" 

But despite his annoyance, he recognizes one, undeniable thing - he was blind, but now he sees. He cannot answer how. He cannot answer why. At this point in the story, he cannot even answer who. What he knows is that something incredible has happened to him. He has been healed - beyond all expectation, beyond all hope, beyond all experience, beyond all explanation, he has been healed.

But his neighbors, his teachers, and even his own family fail to celebrate what has happened. They are too caught up in questions that do not always have satisfactory answers. How? I don't know. Why? I am not sure. Who? Jesus.

At the end of the chapter, Jesus points out that this fixation on the "how" is actually an indicator of blindness. The formerly blind man's contemporaries are the ones who are blind to joy, blind to love, and blind to the power of God. If they cannot explain it and cannot control it, they close themselves off from experiencing it.

I pray that I would be among the seeing today - seeing the power of God at work in me and in others; celebrating what is good; rejoicing in what is wonderful; contemplating what is beautiful; in awe of what is marvelous.

Pleasing God

It was John 9:29 that caught my attention today:

And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.

There is so much that is rich in this verse!

"He who sent Me is with Me." There is a lot of encouragement in this word from Jesus. He is speaking about himself, but we can confidently apply this to ourselves as well. If we are faithful, if we are following after Jesus, this promise is for us. Remember Matthew 28:20: ". . . and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." He is with us! He is with us in the good and the bad. He is with us at church and at home. He is with us in class and at work. He is with us in grief and in great joy. He is with us among our friends and among our enemies. He is with us!

And just in case we need further encouragement, Jesus phrases the same promise a slightly different way: "He has not left Me alone."

There are times when being alone can be a wholesome and refreshing thing. But there is a difference between being alone and feeling along. Feeling alone can be a soul-sucking, scary feeling. It robs our hope and our joy. The present and future seem dark.

But hear Jesus' words again: He has not left me alone!

This is hope and light! This is strength and comfort! We are not alone! He is with us. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (Ps. 23:4).

This is a verse filled with good news. He is with us. We are not alone. And the courage and the inspiration this brings to our lives can be translated into something good and positive. Knowing His presence and His enabling power, we can act and think and speak in ways that please Him.

As I read this verse, the first thing that came to mind was a quote from Toyohiko Kagawa:

I read in a book that a man called Christ went about doing good. It distresses me that I am so easily satisfied with just going about. 

 It distresses me that I give so little thought to what pleases God and so much thought to what pleases myself. Jesus points the way! He knew He was not alone, and that knowledge worked its way into his words and his actions so that all that he did pleased the Father.

May the sure knowledge of God's presence work its way into all of our thoughts, words, and actions today!

Look First to the Father

We are reading this morning in John 5 to 8, and it was John 5:19 that stood out to me first this morning as I read.

Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

The Father is at clearly at work (My Father is working until now - John 5:17). Jesus is watching the Father's work, and Jesus is doing what the Father does.

At first, I am convicted. How often am I looking for the Father's work in the world? Is my usual pattern not simply do what I think is best and good and then ask the Father to bless it? But this is not the way of Jesus. Jesus looked first to the Father. He took his cues from the Father. He patterned his life and his ministry after what the Father was doing.

Should I not do the same?

At first, I am convicted. But then I am inspired. God is at work. It is not all on my shoulders. God is at work. He is at work in my life, in my community, and within my church. God is at work. This is great news!

And Jesus, who told me to follow him, set a pattern of responding to the Father's initiatives. If I am to follow, then I must do the same. Where is the Father at work? What is the Father doing? Is the Father in "this"? These are the questions for the day. These are the questions for the week. These are the questions that should serve as a lens to help me see the opportunities and the challenges around me today.

So far in the Gospel of John, God has been at work at a wedding and at a well. God has been at work on the Sabbath and in the middle of the week. God has been at work in special occasions and in the middle of daily chores. God is at work today. How can I join Him?

It Begins with God

As we move into October, the focus of our devotional reading shifts to the Gospel of John. In order to get through the book in a month, we will have to alter our reading schedule a little. We will read four chapters a week for four weeks, and then we will read five chapters on the fifth week. Read along. Read prayerfully. Read slowly, seeking the direction of God.

As I read the first four chapters of John this morning, there were several verses and phrases that jumped out at me. Chapter 3 verse 19 struck me as a timely verse:

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light for their deeds were evil.

I suspect this verse will linger in my mind for some time. I say that because of the political climate and the vicious partisanship within our country at the moment.

Without getting bogged down in this one thought, though, I was also reminded of the larger plan of God in the world. It begins in Chapter 1 verse 1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

All good theology begins with God. All good worship begins with God. All good devotional thinking begins with God. All proper seeing of ourselves, of each other, and of our world begins with God. Here is the first principle from which we reason. Here is the foundation upon which we must build. Here is the beginning of everything good and eternal. Before we get trapped in a cycle of bad news, before we enter into our day of meaningful work and relationships, it is important - essential, even - to recognize that everything worthwhile begins with God.

Begin your day seeking the One who began the universe! Begin your understanding of yourself, your view of your neighbor, and your outlook on the world with the First Word!

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33