Episode 112 - "The hour has come" - John 17:1-5

John 17:1   When 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, 2 since 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. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

One of the running themes throughout this book is the imminent “hour” for Jesus’ to be glorified.  We first encountered this at his first miracle where he turned the water into wine. When his mother informed him the wedding hosts had run out of wine halfway through the wedding, his response was, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4) Later in chapter seven, his antagonists could not arrest him “because his hour had not yet come.” (John 7:30) In John 12:23 Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” whenever he is informed there were Greeks seeking him. He understood that “the world” seeking him was an indication his “hour” had come. He begins this prayer by acknowledging this truth to his Father. 

It might be easy for someone to think that Jesus was being self-centered by his first request to be glorified. But while leaders and kings are glorified by being lifted in fame, prestige, and power, Jesus’ glorification is being lifted up on a cross to suffer and die. The context further reveals that Jesus knows the Father will be glorified through Him being glorified. This has been Jesus’ attitude and dominant thought throughout his earthly ministry; to glorify the Father. He has glorified the Father by perfect obedience and that obedience will be completed by his sacrificial death on the cross.

He recognized the Father has given him the authority “over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” (John 17:2) This expression by Jesus is consistent with Jesus’ claim to be the Son of Man. In Daniel 7:13-14, “one like a son of man” was given an “everlasting kingdom” and the authority of all people. Jesus has already demonstrated that power by raising Lazarus from the dead and performing miracles never heard of before.

Jesus then explains that eternal life is accessible by knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom God sent. (v. 3) This is perhaps the most important thing we need to understand. Jesus is making it clear that knowing “the only true God” not a god is the way to eternal life. Again, we have a consistent message and repeated message in this book. Jesus had previously said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Jesus then says that he has glorified the Father by doing everything the Father has given him to do on earth. (v. 4) So, he is requesting to return to the position of glory that he had in the presence of the Father “before the world existed.” Sound familiar? Do you remember how the author began this book? “In the beginning, was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) John continues in his prologue by telling his audience more about the Word until it becomes evident that the Word is Jesus Christ. (John 1:17) Before John gets into his narrative about the ministry of Jesus, he prepares us by saying that Jesus was eternally pre-existing with the Father and was involved in the Creation. Now, Jesus himself is supporting that with his own words. 

There will be other wonderful things we will learn in this intercessory prayer of Jesus. But, the priority here is that the Father and Son are glorified. Do we have that as a priority in our life? Do we begin our prayers asking for what we want or asking that God is glorified through whatever He does?

Episode 108 - The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement - John 16:4b-11

(4b) “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

In John 13:36, Peter asks Jesus, “Where are you going?” and in John 14:5, Thomas says to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” So, it seems odd that Jesus would now say, “. . . none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’” What could he mean by this when in fact, a few of them had asked where he was going?

I think the clues to that answer lie in the context of the disciples’ earlier questions of where he was going and the context of Jesus’ indictment in this text. When Peter asks where Jesus was going, Jesus’ response addresses Peter’s expectation that he would follow Jesus anywhere. Jesus said, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” (John 13:36) I interpret that response as, I am going to the cross, the grave, and the Father, and I have a job for you before you can follow me to these three destinations. (My interpretive paraphrase) Shortly after, Thomas pipes up and expresses that they don’t know where he is going even though Jesus had just told them that he was going to his Father’s house to prepare a place for them. So when we get to this text, I notice that the verb translated “asks” is in the present active indicative. This means the translation could read “No one is asking me  (at the present). . .” In other words, Jesus’ accusation is suggesting their thoughts are on the wrong thing. 

The point is that Jesus has continued to make it clear that he will soon no longer be with them physically. Furthermore, they can expect to be persecuted and put to death. How would you likely be feeling if you were in their position? They are sad and despairing, and Jesus is saying their sorrow is consuming them. They should focus on where Jesus is going and what that means for them. When Jesus goes to the Father, he will send the Holy Spirit to them. That explanation should give them joy and hope.

Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of three things: sin, righteousness, and judgment.  The most significant sin the world makes is not believing who Jesus is and why he came to earth. (v.9) Jesus’ explanation of how the world will be convicted concerning righteousness through his return to the Father. (v. 10) I believe this means that God has not been unrighteous by overlooking sin or allowing death, the consequence of sin, to go unchecked. On the contrary, God demonstrated that He is righteous, providing the perfect solution to humanity’s sin through His righteous Son taking on the just punishment for the world’s sin and then conquering death and ascending back to the Father. Paul explains this in Romans 8:3-4, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” 

Finally, the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning judgment “because the ruler of this world is judged.” (v. 11) That is the devil himself. 

I see the initial fulfillment of what Jesus says here concerning the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost as revealed in Acts 2. Read this on your own time and notice how boldly Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, indicts “the world” of their sin of not believing Jesus and for crucifying him. Look at their response in Acts 2:37. The Holy Spirit convicted them. 

The take-away from this lesson is the joy and hope we have knowing that Jesus is risen and is at the right hand of the Father. He has given us the Holy Spirit. We can follow the leading of the Spirit and speak the truth of Jesus, trusting that the Holy Spirit will convict them accordingly and bring people to faith.