Our Bible group that meets after church studied John chapter 17 last Sunday. Which, to refresh everyone’s memory, the entire chapter is a prayer Jesus prayed.
And as this communion approached, this chapter kept settling in my mind.
When we come to the Lord’s table, when we take the bread and the cup, John 17 really helps us understand what should be happening INSIDE of us.
Because if you place that chapter back into the story, it happens right in the middle of a very intense night.
Just before that prayer, Jesus had been in the upper room with His disciples. For the Last Supper.
Bread is broken. The cup is passed.
And Jesus says words that the church has been repeating for two thousand years:
“This is My body, given for you.”
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood.”
“Do this in remembrance of Me.”
That moment alone carries enormous weight. But the night isn’t finished.
See, after that meal, they leave the city.
They walk out of Jerusalem, down through the Kidron Valley, on their way toward the garden of Gethsemane.
The valley had special meaning that night.
During Passover week the temple sacrifices were happening in large numbers. LAMBS were being offered by the thousands, and the drainage from the temple flowed down into the Kidron.
So when Jesus walked through the valley that night, below Him ran the blood of sacrificed lambs.
And He knew something the disciples didn’t fully grasp yet.
Within hours, He Himself would BECOME the Lamb.
Before they reach the garden, Jesus stops. And He prays.
He prays out loud so the disciples could hear him.
So they would know exactly what was on his heart.
And John wrote it down.
Now think about the timing of that. Jesus knows exactly what’s coming. Not just suffering but The arrest, humiliation, torture, the cross itself.
And our class wondered, if we were standing there knowing what the next several hours would bring, what would WE pray about?
Probably strength.
Probably protection.
Maybe even an escape:)
But when Jesus prays, HIS focus moves in a different direction.
He begins by saying, “Father, the HOUR has come. Glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.”
In John’s Gospel that word “hour” always points to the cross.
Which means the moment Jesus calls GLORY is the moment the WORLD would look at and see defeat.
But the cross is NOT defeat.
The cross is where the character of God becomes unmistakably clear.
At the cross we see JUSTICE
that REFUSES to ignore sin.
And we see MERCY that REFUSES to abandon sinners.
God doesn’t pretend evil isn’t real.
He deals with it. But instead of making us carry the weight of it alone, He carries it all Himself.
THAT’S glory.
Then Jesus says something in that prayer that reshapes how we think about life with God.
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
Eternal life is not just something waiting for us after death.
It begins with KNOWING God.
Not knowing about Him.
KNOWING Him.
The Relationship you’re seeking. relationship RESTORED. Fellowship.
The distance created by sin REMOVED.
And the cross is what makes that possible.
Then in that same prayer Jesus begins praying for His disciples. And then He does something remarkable. He widens the circle.
He says He’s not only praying for the disciples standing in front of Him, but for those who will believe through their message.
That includes us.
Before the arrest… before the trial… before the nails… Jesus pauses in the darkness of that night and prays for the people who’ll belong to Him generations later.
And near the end of that prayer He says something that reveals His heart very plainly.
“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am.”
He WANTS us with Him.
Not as an obligation.
And Not as an afterthought.
Wanted.
The love that existed between the Father and the Son before the WORLD was ever created… Jesus says He wants us brought INTO that.
And that’s EXACTLY what the cross opens the door to.
So when we come to the table this morning,
The bread reminds us His body was given.
The cup reminds us His blood was poured out.
Through that sacrifice, sin is forgiven. The barrier between us and God is removed.
And we’re brought into the life and LOVE that has always existed within God Himself.
So as we approach the table, remember the upper room… the walk through the valley… the prayer before the garden… and the cross that followed.
All of it done so that we could KNOW GOD and belong to Him.
Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You for the gift of Your Son. We thank You for the body that was given and the blood that was shed for our sins. As we take this bread and this cup, help us remember the cost of our redemption and the depth of Your love. Shape our hearts by the truth of what Christ has done. Keep us united as Your people and thankful for the grace we have received. We take this now in remembrance of Him.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Don Moore | Member
