Introduction
Because we’ve been in the Maundy Thursday scene for so long, I won’t rehash the context from the last few weeks too much. This text is in line with the last few Sundays. It is the conclusion of Maundy Thursday. As we heard last week, Jesus was giving the disciples his final teachings and his final commands. “Love one another as I have loved you.” This week, we hear Jesus’ final prayer to God for his disciples. The disciples are overhearing Jesus praying for them. It is a beautiful moment. I am going to jump right into interpretation and preaching possibilities this week.
Preaching Possibilities
Jesus Praying in Front of the Disciples
Professor Karoline Lewis writes, “This is no longer Jesus telling the disciples what they know and what they have done. Jesus is telling his father. Jesus is giving witness to the disciples, testifying about them to God. Imagine the disciples’ possible reactions to this moment in the prayer, to hear both the promise of what you know and what you have done on behalf of Jesus in the world, but now to hear Jesus telling God all about it.”[1]
I often joke about this with my wife Sarah that I am terrible at receiving compliments. At my best, I will look and shy away, just say thank you, and pray that you stop talking as soon as possible. But there are sometimes when Sarah won’t say compliments directly to me, but she’ll talk about me with other people. She might talk about my love for education and how I know too much, or she might talk about my sobriety and how proud she is of my journey in recovery.
It is amazing how meaningful it can be to hear someone compliment you to other people. Equally it can be amazing to hear someone pray for you. Not just someone saying that they’ll pray for you and then walk away. But that they pray for you right then and there. Pray for your health, praying for your success in a job search, praying for a relief to stress or conflict, praying for your healing. To hear those loving words shared for you can be uplifting in a way that we don’t get very often.
Now imagine you are the disciples, and you are hearing Jesus shower you with compliments in prayer to God. He is praying about the good that you can do in the world, about you being sanctified or blessed to go out into the world and to accomplish the things that we thought only Jesus could do. Imagine you are these disciples hearing these words.
Jesus is not praying to God to allow him to stay on earth to ensure that the disciples do the right thing. Jesus is saying they have already been taught, and that they themselves will become leaders and are going to be sent out into the world to continue the mission of God as themselves. Jesus is praying for them to hear that they, the disciples, are qualified to go out into the world, that they are being sent out into the world to continue God’s work, and they don’t need Jesus, the Son of God, the I am, to be physically present with them to do it.
This prayer from Jesus is the passing of the mantle in the gospel of John. It is the moment when we hear Jesus turning over the keys of the ministry. It is not Jesus who will continue this ministry, but it will be the disciples. From the ministry of the “I am” to the ministry of “us”
Because we are meant to hear this prayer too. These words are not just for the disciples, but Jesus is also praying for us. Jesus prays for our protection, for our blessing, for our ministry, for our sending. We are being sent out into the world to continue the ministry that Jesus started.
What does it mean for us to hear these amazing prayers of Jesus for us? What does it mean that Jesus believes that we can continue his ministry in the world? From the ministry of the “I am” to the ministry of “us.”
[1]Karoline Lewis, John of Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2014), 211.
Micah Krey 
Leave a comment