Wednesday in Holy Week, April 20

Jesus said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. John 12:32-33

Thought for the Day: The Testimony of the Cross by the Rev. Jan Dantone

All of Jesus’ life and ministry was conducted with the Cross in view. The purpose of the Incarnation was so that through the perfectly obedient life and the sacrificial death of the Second Person of the Trinity, God could reconcile his people to himself. But for the followers who were astounded by the abundant new wine at a wedding, the fish and bread provided in the wilderness, and the numerous, miraculous healings, the joy and wonder of the events kept them from seeing the cruciform destination on the horizon. Yet Jesus’ earthly journey carried him and his disciples closer to the Cross each day. And now, with crucifixion just around the corner, there is nothing else in Jesus’ view. In our reading today, he is praying in the inescapable shadow of the Cross.

Jesus prays to the Father on behalf of three subjects: himself, then his personal disciples, then those who will be followers of his own disciples. We live today as believers in Jesus because of the testimony of his first disciples. Their testimony has been passed down to us, so we too are included in Jesus’ prayer for those who will believe in me through their word (John 17.20). This prayer is for the followers who were with Jesus on the night of the Last Supper and also for us! 

Put your own name in the blanks below. Read them out loud. Listen to your Savior praying to God the Father for you:

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that _____ may have my joy fulfilled in himself/herself. I have given _____ your word, and the world has hated _____ because he/she is not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take _____ out of the world, but that you keep him/her from the evil one.   _____ is not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify _____ in the truth; your word     is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent _____ into the world.  And for his/her sake I consecrate myself, that _____ also may be sanctified in truth (John 17:13-19).

The author to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the shameful and cursed death on the Cross because of the joy entailed in completing the purpose of his Incarnation, the marvelous joy of reconciliation with God the Father for each of us who believe (12.2). This joy, that Jesus has given us eternal life and salvation through the Cross, is the full measure of joy that Jesus asks the Father to give each one of us. 

Jesus also asks the Father to sanctify each of us, to set us apart for a special purpose. We are set apart to see God’s glory and reveal it. We see God’s glory most fully when we see the Cross as the best and greatest expression of God’s love for each of us. And we reveal God’s glory by passing on the testimony that led us to belief, the words and witness that explain the Cross as the purpose for Jesus’ Incarnation.

Our salvation, however, is not just for each one of us as individuals. We must not stop at hearing Jesus pray for us by our own name alone. He prays for his personal disciples as a group and for all future disciples as a group. Jesus prays for unity among all of his followers, a oneness that is just like the unity he shares with the Father. That kind of unity is profound, too deep for our total comprehension. This divine oneness is characterized by mutual, in-dwelling love, the same kind of love that the Father revealed to the world when he sent the Son to walk toward death on the Cross. You and I can only know that unity with each other and with God when we stand in the shadow of the Cross and praise God for working out our reconciliation for us. The Cross is the means for us being filled with the fullness of God’s joy. It is also the means for the world to believe that the Father did indeed send Jesus, because the unity and love which the world sees in believers and convinces them to believe can only come through the Cross.  

Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:

Ask the Lord to help you see that unity and joy do come through the cross. Give thanks to God the Father that he brought Jesus to the cross for us, that he didn’t let our sins go unpunished and us unsaved, but that he gave all of himself at the cross for us. And then pray a prayer like the following:

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Spend further time in prayer and worship before studying the Gospel of John below.

Study: John 17, The High Priestly Prayer

 ¹When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

 ⁶ "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just 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, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

 ²⁰"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just 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 have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."