Day 148

2 Samuel 13:1-39; John 17:1-26; Psalm 119:81-96; Proverbs 16:6-7

WE CAN SEE a clear delineation in David’s story before and after the affair with Bathsheba. In today’s reading from 2 Samuel, some terrible things happened in David’s personal life. His daughter Tamar was raped by her brother Amnon. Amnon was later killed by his brother Absalom for the rape. Absalom was then exiled in Geshur in the north for three years. Incidentally, the Old Testament region of Geshur is also thought to be the location of the New Testament city of Bethsaida, where Jesus ministered and which several of Jesus’ disciples called home.

In John’s Gospel, we’ve spent the last several days listening to the final conversation between Jesus and His friends before Jesus’ arrest. We concluded this conversation today with a prayer. And this prayer is one of the most heartfelt and engaging things Jesus ever spoke: “This is the way to have eternal life —to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth” (John 17:3).

Notice the simplicity of these words. The way to eternal life is to know God. Not to know about God, or to do things on behalf of God, but to know God. The study of God and work for God are a natural outpouring of a life with God, and not the other way around. Knowing God in an intimate friendship is our primary purpose on this earth and leads us into eternal life.

Jesus said, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world” (John 17:15-18).

Jesus’ prayer was not to remove His friends from planet Earth but rather to send them into the world armed with the truth of God’s Word and the Spirit of truth within. And notice these words: “Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them.” Think about that. According to Jesus, we are commissioned and sent into the world in the same way Jesus was. Don’t read that statement and automatically diminish it as metaphor or something less than it really is. We are sent into the world as the Father sent Jesus. Are we living from this perspective? Do our lives reflect this reality?

And lest we think that this was a prayer specifically over Jesus’ disciples and that they got a commissioning and a version of the Holy Spirit we can never have, we must simply turn to Jesus’ next sentence: “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message” (John 17:20).

Consider what Jesus prayed over all of us who follow Him:

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one —as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

I encourage you to read that last one again and see the subtle way we diminish the reality Jesus was praying for. Most of the time, we look at this as a prayer for unity among us. And yes, it is that. But this isn’t only about getting along and playing nicely together. This is about union. Jesus gave us the glory given to Him by the Father. That is mind-blowing. But it was for a reason: so that we could have union with God through Jesus. Listen to the way Jesus describes this: “As you are in me, Father, and I am in you. . . . I am in them and you are in me.” This is what being intertwined with God looks like. This is what union and collaboration look like. This, friends, is what a relationship with God looks like, and only this leads to eternal life.

The phrases and sentences we’ve examined for the last several days come from Jesus’ Last Supper with His friends, and they are some of the most iconic verses in the Bible. After this, Jesus departed for the garden of Gethsemane. Perhaps this is a good time to reread John 13–17 and consider the gravity of the moment in Jesus’ life. This was the last time He would have a quiet meal among friends. This is what He chose to say. And what He said changes everything.

MEDITATION:

When people’s lives please the LORD, even their enemies are at peace with them.