Two Gifts for His Followers: John 17:1-26

Focus Passage: John 17:1-26 (CEV)

After Jesus had finished speaking to his disciples, he looked up toward heaven and prayed:

Father, the time has come for you to bring glory to your Son, in order that he may bring glory to you. And you gave him power over all people, so that he would give eternal life to everyone you give him. Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. I have brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you gave me to do. Now, Father, give me back the glory that I had with you before the world was created.

You have given me some followers from this world, and I have shown them what you are like. They were yours, but you gave them to me, and they have obeyed you. They know that you gave me everything I have. I told my followers what you told me, and they accepted it. They know that I came from you, and they believe that you are the one who sent me. I am praying for them, but not for those who belong to this world. My followers belong to you, and I am praying for them. 10 All that I have is yours, and all that you have is mine, and they will bring glory to me.

11 Holy Father, I am no longer in the world. I am coming to you, but my followers are still in the world. So keep them safe by the power of the name that you have given me. Then they will be one with each other, just as you and I are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost, except the one who had to be lost. This happened so that what the Scriptures say would come true.

13 I am on my way to you. But I say these things while I am still in the world, so that my followers will have the same complete joy that I do. 14 I have told them your message. But the people of this world hate them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t.

15 Father, I don’t ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They don’t belong to this world, and neither do I. 17 Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours. 18 I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. 19 I have given myself completely for their sake, so that they may belong completely to the truth.

20 I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. 21 I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.

22 I have honored my followers in the same way that you honored me, in order that they may be one with each other, just as we are one. 23 I am one with them, and you are one with me, so that they may become completely one. Then this world’s people will know that you sent me. They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me.

24 Father, I want everyone you have given me to be with me, wherever I am. Then they will see the glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the world was created. 25 Good Father, the people of this world don’t know you. But I know you, and my followers know that you sent me. 26 I told them what you are like, and I will tell them even more. Then the love that you have for me will become part of them, and I will be one with them.

Read John 17:1-26 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

During the night Jesus would be arrested, He prays a prayer with the disciples and for the disciples as they traveled to the Garden of Gethsemane. In this prayer, which is one of the few that are shared in detail, we see a picture of how Jesus talked with God, and we can see a better picture of His heart and love for His followers.

John shares that in His prayer, Jesus prayed, “Holy Father, I am no longer in the world. I am coming to you, but my followers are still in the world. So keep them safe by the power of the name that you have given me. Then they will be one with each other, just as you and I are one. While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost, except the one who had to be lost. This happened so that what the Scriptures say would come true.” (v. 11-12)

This portion of Jesus’ prayer is a powerful request for protection. Jesus knows He will be leaving soon, and He asks the Father to keep His followers safe. Jesus acknowledges that He was able to keep them safe while He was on earth, but now that His ministry and location would be changing, He asks God to keep protecting this group of followers and friends.

Jesus also prays for His followers’ unity. Not only does Jesus know that opposition would come from the outside, but equally devastating would be division or separation coming from within. If the disciples lost focus and began to argue with one another, they would lose their mission and the young church would die.

Not every one of Jesus’ core group of twelve disciples accepted this protection and unity. But that didn’t stop Jesus from offering it. While Judas Iscariot ultimately chose to betray Jesus, Jesus still had invited him to be a part of this close group.

Unity and protection are two of the biggest things we can ask God for in our own lives today. Helping His followers be united and protected from Satan and his plots is something that God offered to His followers back then, and it is something that He offers to us as followers today. If Jesus prayed for these two vital things for us as followers, it would be wise for us to accept His offer of help!

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Flashback Episode — An Unlikely Apostle: Mark 5:1-20


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After Jesus calms the storm, we discover that He and the disciples then land on the other side of the lake, and they land their boats at a relatively deserted part of the shoreline. While some parts of Lake Galilee were well-populated, other parts, such as the place we discover Jesus and the disciples reaching, have a lot less people living there. However, while this place is deserted by human standards, we discover that it is well populated in a slightly different way.

Let’s read the passage and discover what we can learn about who inhabited the place where Jesus and His disciples traveled to. While our event is found in three of the four gospels, as you can imagine, for our year in Mark, we will be looking at it from Mark’s gospel. This event is found in Mark, chapter 5, and let’s read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Let’s pause reading this event for a moment. While reading from Mark’s gospel, I find it interesting that when we are first introduced to this man, Mark describes him as someone who lives among the dead and who has an impure spirit. The thing that stands out in my mind is the singular nature of this description.

In contrast, when Jesus confronts the evil spirit and asks its name, we discover that the evil spirit’s name is a plural: The evil spirit’s reply in verse 9 is, “My name is Legion, for we are many.

What first appears to be a region inhabited by only a handful of people, specifically one demon possessed man and a group of pig-herders, is now defined as a key location that was home to thousands of evil spirits. Looking at the size of the herd of pigs, there would have been at least 2000 evil spirits in this man using a ratio of one spirit to one pig.

However, when we look up the definition of a Roman “legion”, we discover this term was used to describe a group of three to six thousand Roman soldiers. This means there could have been anywhere from two to six thousand evil spirits living in that region, specifically within that social outcast.

It may have been likely that two or even three spirits got to share each pig in that large herd.

However, why would Jesus have agreed to the evil spirits’ request to be sent into the herd of pigs?

In many ways, this doesn’t seem all that nice, especially to grant the request of a group of evil spirits at the expense of a herd of thousands of pigs who just happened to be nearby.

Let’s continue reading and discover what might be the answer. Picking back up in verse 14, Mark tells us that:

14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

Pausing our reading one additional time, I see in what happened here one possible answer to why Jesus let the evil spirits stampede the pigs to their death. For this miracle to be significant, it cannot truly stay hidden. Too many people knew about the man living in this region and about his demon possession. If this had been a secret miracle, then the healed man’s testimony would have very little credibility because people could just discount him saying that he was not that guy. Also, people visiting the region would welcome the absence of that man and would likely not assume that he had been healed. It would be more logical that he died somehow or that he moved to a different area. With attention being given to this miracle, we discover that this shines the spotlight on God and on God’s power over the evil spirits.

In our last episode, we discovered how one word from Jesus can calm the most significant storm Satan can muster, and this episode draws our attention onto the truth that one command from Jesus sends an army of evil spirits out of a comfortable home in a man and into a herd of pigs. One command from Jesus will always send Satan away. Any confrontation Jesus has with Satan results in Jesus gaining the victory.

However, what comes next is also amazing. Continuing in verse 18, Mark tells us:

18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

At the close of this passage, Jesus sends the man home and this man goes to a region that was clearly known in that area, but one where Jesus rarely visited. Actually, there is only one other mention of this region in the gospels that references Jesus’ presence. It is likely that this man’s testimony about what Jesus did for him opened what was otherwise a shut door for His ministry. Those present in this event wanted Jesus to leave, but they couldn’t say no to this man whose home was there.

This man becomes a powerful ambassador for Jesus. In an instant, Jesus takes this man whose condition would place him firmly against God, frees him from the spiritual chains that held him, and then commissions him to be a missionary to his home territory.

In many ways, this mirrors how God calls us. While God calls some people to be missionaries for God in distant places, many of us are called to be ambassadors and missionaries for God right where we already live.

Wherever God has placed you and I, I believe He has called us to be His witnesses. While this man wanted to travel with Jesus and be a disciple, His commission to spread the news about Jesus was even more significant. While we might not readily think of it this way, this man becomes the first apostle, because like the disciples who were commissioned by Jesus after His resurrection, this man spreads the great news about Jesus with everyone who would listen! This man, like Saul turned Paul who we read about in the book of Acts, needed only an instant with Jesus in order to have His life turned around and focused on being an apostle for Jesus!

As we come to the end of another episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to serve Him in wherever He has you placed. Choose to be God’s best representative regardless of the situation you are in and regardless of what other people might think of you.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow and strengthen your relationship with God. A strong personal relationship with God will help you be the representative God has called you to be in a world that is growing more hostile to God the closer to Jesus’ return that we get!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or leave where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year in Mark – Episode 12: In an unlikely twist, discover how someone whose situation made them completely opposed to God discovers after an encounter with Jesus that he has what it takes to be one of Jesus’ greatest apostles while Jesus was still alive!

Join the discussion on the original episode's page: Click Here.

Why People Followed Jesus: Luke 6:17-26

Focus Passage: Luke 6:17-26 (GW)

17 Jesus came down from the mountain with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples and many other people were there. They had come from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They wanted to hear him and be cured of their diseases. Those who were tormented by evil spirits were cured. 19 The entire crowd was trying to touch him because power was coming from him and curing all of them.

20 Jesus looked at his disciples and said,

“Blessed are those who are poor.
    God’s kingdom is theirs.
21 Blessed are those who are hungry.
    They will be satisfied.
Blessed are those who are crying.
    They will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you, avoid you,
    insult you, and slander you
        because you are committed to the Son of Man.
23             Rejoice then, and be very happy!
                You have a great reward in heaven.
                    That’s the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

24 “But how horrible it will be for those who are rich.
    They have had their comfort.
25 How horrible it will be for those who are well-fed.
    They will be hungry.
How horrible it will be for those who are laughing.
    They will mourn and cry.
26 How horrible it will be for you
    when everyone says nice things about you.
        That’s the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Read Luke 6:17-26 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

During one of the heights of Jesus’ popularity, Luke describes a message Jesus gives to His followers. While Luke states that this message was given to the disciples, Luke qualifies the word “disciple” in this instance to mean the large group of followers present and Jesus likely spoke it loudly enough for everyone present to hear.

But while transitioning to Jesus’ less famous “Sermon on the Plain”, Luke shares some interesting details in the setup for this message. Luke tells us, “Jesus came down from the mountain with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples and many other people were there. They had come from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. They wanted to hear him and be cured of their diseases. Those who were tormented by evil spirits were cured. The entire crowd was trying to touch him because power was coming from him and curing all of them.” (v. 17-19)

When I read this, I am amazed at the detail in verse 19 that “the entire crowd was trying to touch him [Jesus]”. When I think about crowds and individuals trying to touch Jesus, I immediately think of the woman who tried to secretly touch the edge of Jesus’ robe. That event is so well known that seeing another place where people were clamoring to touch Jesus may come as a surprise.

It is during this commotion that Jesus turns and shares the four blessings and four warnings with His disciples. Luke doesn’t say that Jesus finished healing the sick in the crowd before beginning to speak; Luke simply transitions the focus making me think that Jesus paused in the middle of this crowd.

Luke shares two reasons for Jesus’ popularity at this point during His ministry. He tells us that the crowd of disciples “wanted to hear him and be cured of their diseases.” (v. 18a)

Wanting to hear Him and being cured of their diseases are two key reasons to follow Jesus. While some people think following Jesus is simply “fire insurance” (another way of saying they would rather go to heaven than hell), following Jesus out of fear does not produce true love. A “fire-insurance”, fear-based relationship does not create the society that God would want to build in heaven. There are many examples of fear-based societies on earth, and none of them are desirable to live in. Fear and love may not be able to co-exist together.

In order for love to be present on both sides of a relationship, there must be the freedom to choose and the desire to be present. This crowd demonstrates this by freely choosing to come to Jesus because they wanted to hear Him. The freedom to choose is the first key reason to follow Jesus.

But the second reason is because Jesus is able to heal us. Another way to say this is that He can free us from our diseases. Luke describes Jesus banishing evil spirits who were torturing others. The crowd came to Jesus in order to be helped by Him.

Jesus is interested in freely helping those who come to Him. Jesus wants us to choose Him because we want a relationship with Him and a relationship with God. God wants to win us over to Him through acts of love and a selfless attitude towards us. Jesus demonstrates this – and there is nothing fear-based in God’s approach of inviting us to follow Him!

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Discovering Who Jesus Really Is: John 5:16-47


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Coming immediately following Jesus’ miracle in our last episode, which happened on the Sabbath, and following the religious leaders learning it was Jesus who had healed the man and told him to pick up his mat on the Sabbath, we discover these religious leaders challenge Jesus about what He is doing. In this challenge, and specifically in how Jesus responds, we discover many amazing things about God, and about who Jesus truly is.

Since this is a longer passage, let’s dive into it and discover some amazing truths about Jesus from this passage and this conversation. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 5, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 16, John tells us that:

16 [So,] because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

Pausing briefly, I want to draw our attention onto the huge truth that God the Father is not the Judge. While God the Father could easily be the judge, He gave the authority to judge to Jesus. While Jesus had said earlier in His conversation with Nicodemus that He did not come to judge the world but to save it, the next time Jesus comes to this earth, it will be as King and Judge. Jesus’ first coming was to save the world, Jesus’ second coming will be to judge the world and redeem God’s people. God the Father has given Jesus the authority to judge.

However, that isn’t all. Let’s continue reading to discover what else Jesus tells us that is powerful. Picking back up in verse 28, Jesus continues saying:

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Let’s pause reading again briefly, because what we just finished reading is powerful, and I don’t want you to miss it.

In the first century culture, that was built on the Old Testament structure, in order for a testimony to be valid, it must be validated by additional witnesses. When two or more people gave testimony that was in line with each other, that testimony would be considered valid.

While some people have claimed that Jesus only spoke on His own, and that His single testimony is not valid, John has just recorded Jesus telling the religious leaders three additional witnesses that testify about Him.

The first witness, which should be the clearest, is John the Baptist. John the Baptist came testifying about Jesus, and he directly tells people Jesus is the Messiah on more than one occasion. However, Jesus tells these religious leaders that John the Baptist was given for their benefit, and Jesus doesn’t need to rest on John’s testimony.

The second witness Jesus gives is the witness of God the Father. When Jesus was baptized, God spoke from heaven affirming Jesus. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, God the Father spoke from heaven affirming Jesus. And, later in John’s gospel, while Jesus is teaching in the temple, God the Father speaks from heaven affirming Jesus. Rejecting Jesus’ second witness means rejecting God the Father.

The third witness Jesus gives is the witness of the Old Testament scriptures. When we look at the Old Testament, there are so many layers of prophecies foreshadowing Jesus that it is difficult to get away from them. From obvious prophecies about where Jesus would be born, to subtle symbolic prophecies like the lamb given as a sacrifice on the alter to pay for sins, the Old Testament speaks loudly about who Jesus truly is. Rejecting Jesus’ third witness means rejecting the Old Testament scriptures.

Unfortunately, today we have Christians who reject God the Father and there are Christians who reject the Old Testament. By rejecting Jesus, these Jewish leaders ultimately reject not just John the Baptist, but God the Father and the Old Testament scriptures as well. When we let our preconceived biases get in the way of God’s truth, we blind ourselves to what God wants to teach us.

However, Jesus isn’t finished. Picking back up in verse 41, Jesus tells these religious leaders:

41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

In this passage, and in Jesus’ counter challenge to the religious leaders, we discover that Jesus only accepts glory from God. Jesus is not interested in glory from people.

It is also interesting to note that Jesus won’t accuse those who don’t believe in Him. Instead, he will let historical individuals who the people did believe in to accuse them. In the religious leaders’ case, their accuser is Moses, who did believe in Jesus, and who wrote about Him.

Ultimately in this passage, we discover that Jesus is God’s Son, that Jesus has multiple witnesses to testify to this, and that Jesus is more interested in doing God’s will and receiving God’s glory than on being accepted or praised by people. We are called to be like Jesus, to trust in the multiple witnesses of the Old and New Testament scriptures, and to focus on receiving glory from God and not praise from people.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, seek God first and place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus and what He accomplished for each of us on the cross. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we discover how much God loves us and how much He wants to redeem us from this sin-filled world.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and discover who God really is. While it is easy to rest on other people for your knowledge of the Bible, by doing so, you short-change yourself because you will only grow as much as those you pay attention to. God wants a personal relationship with you, and this relationship begins when we make it personal, without putting anyone else in the middle.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year in John – Episode 11: When some religious leaders challenge Jesus about a miracle He did on the Sabbath, discover in Jesus’ reply some amazing things about God, about Jesus, and about how we are to have faith in Jesus as God’s Son and our Redeemer.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.