To Do List

A Series on Lent
Jesus prays for the disciples & all believers
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 17 

[Lent is a 40-day season of personal reflection through prayer, fasting and giving in order to prepare your heart to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. We will be following Jesus through the Gospel of John as he enters Jerusalem for Passover, and the ensuing events that led up to his trial, crucifixion and resurrection.]

Are you a list maker? Do you create a “to do list” to be organized? Do you create a shopping list when you go to the grocery store? Do you have a standard list of things to pack when you go on a vacation? If you answered yes to all of these… I’m glad, because we do the same thing in our house.

 

Jesus was running out of time! For the past three years, he had been an itinerant rabbi walking throughout Israel from Galilee to Judea. He had been healing the sick, feeding the hungry and teaching anyone who would listen.

 

Mainly, he taught a small group of committed followers which included the twelve disciples. But it was crunch time. Jesus would be going away to his Father soon, and it was critical to communicate certain things to the disciples. You might say he had a “to do list”.

 

In John 17, Jesus prays his longest recorded prayer. Much of it focused on Jesus being sent by God and in turn, sending the disciples. During his final hours, he begins praying by defining eternal life. Not in terms of going to heaven, but in terms of a relationship.

 

³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.          NIV

 

Then he prays for God’s protection of his disciples.

 

¹¹ Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.          NLT

 

However, his prayer for protection is not so that they can hide in a locked room or return to their former lives. It’s to sanctify them, to set them aside for the special purpose of going into the world to spread the Good News.

 

¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. ¹⁹ And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.                     NLT

 

Jesus’ prayer was not only for his disciples. It was for us too. Like the disciples, we are called to a relationship with Christ. And he has sent us into the world to share that relationship with others.

 

Maybe a “to do list” will help you get started.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams