The King’s Final Moments

Jesus Christ is nearing the end of his earthly ministry and from chapter 13, John takes us into what can be interpreted as a lengthy but deeply intimate farewell speech and going-away ceremony. But just when we think the disciples and Jesus are about to share hugs and sing goodbye songs over one another, this chapter begins with Jesus turns his attention towards his Father. This isn’t the first time Jesus is praying publicly to the Father in the book of John, but this one is different. Let’s follow John as he leads us through Jesus’s conversation with his Father, our Father.

THE PRAYER OF JESUS

“After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. 2 For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. 3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.” (John 17:1-5)

The five verses above begin the prayer of Jesus as recorded by John the Beloved. A number of things stand out for me here:

  1. Jesus is keenly aware of the season He is in. He is not being dragged by the heels into his final scene; he knows what is about to happen and he goes in prepared. This is different from the Jesus who is coerced by his mother in chapter 2 to perform his first miracle. As it is in the natural, so is it in the spirit; when we first begin to walk with God, we may come into some seasons of our lives throwing tantrums and unaware. However, as we mature, we begin to discern each season accurately before we enter them, and because we know what we are going into, we can actively prepare for what lies ahead.
  2. Jesus depends on the Father. If I were to pray verse 1, it would likely go like this: “Father, the hour has come. And as a faithful son, I have come to give glory to You.” This, to me, is the most logical way to pray this prayer because, after all, Jesus has been on assignment for God for over thirty-three years. Surely, he has hacked the service code and he is the one bringing God glory. 

Yet, we see him ask the Father to glorify him so he can give glory to the Father. In other words, “I cannot bear fruit on my own. If I must give you glory, it will be only because you have done the work in me. I need you to do the work in me. Do your work in me, so I can work for you. I need you!”

  1. The way to eternal life is to know the only true God and His son, Jesus Christ. This is a sobering truth and one I often try to ignore or rationalise away. Perhaps, you do that, too. If we truly believe that the only way to eternal life is through Jesus Christ, what are we doing to ensure that everyone around us knows Jesus intimately? Are we interceding for them? Are we preaching the gospel of Jesus’s death and resurrection to them? Do we truly believe these words of Jesus? And if we do not, what other words of Jesus are we rationalising away and disbelieving? If we say we believe these words of Jesus, we need to act in line with our beliefs. We need to tell others about Jesus in relation to eternal life.
  2. To glorify the Father is to do what He commands. We often sing about giving God glory but Jesus is showing us here that the way He brought God glory was by doing what God sent him to do, and by doing it completely. When we are tempted to obey God half-heartedly, it would be great to remember that we are on earth to glorify Him, and that this requires living as His obedient servants.
  3. In verse five, Jesus makes an audacious demand: “Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.” Firstly, He is implying equality with God. Secondly, He is asking God to, in a manner of speaking, keep His part of the bargain. 

Seeing that Jesus’ death has now made God our Father, is Jesus showing us a template here? Could he be showing us that it is all right to say to God, “Father, I have obeyed You. Now, do for me as You promised.”? I am definitely taking a moment to pray that prayer right now. If, like me, you have been waiting on God for a promise that seems overdue, now is a good time to pray that prayer. But if you have not walked in obedience in this time, not to worry. Now is a good time to repent and receive grace to obey Him completely. Receive that grace now, in Jesus’ name.

If you thought the prayer was over, you were wrong. Jesus is just getting started as we see below. However, for the sake of brevity, I would like us to explore the prayer based on themes.

  1. Stewardship, Oversight and Responsibility

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of respect for anyone who has the power to make their own decisions and execute their own initiatives, but chooses to remain submitted to another person’s vision and agenda. And sometimes, it irks me because I like to lead and even when I am leading under someone, I like to be given autonomy to execute their vision in the way I think best.

So, you can imagine how much awe I have for Jesus Christ right now. From verses six to eight of John 17, I see a man who had the power to have said to his Father, “Dad, being a human being is nothing like you could ever understand. You do not live in my skin and you do not know what it’s like to be me. I’m telling you that what you want me to do/say does not make sense here. Let me do what I think is best” but he didn’t do that.

Rather, we see Jesus give a report of faithful stewardship:

“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. (John 17:6-8 NLT)

From Jesus’ report, we see that Jesus modelled obedience and submission so much that his disciples began to do same. He did not just testify of his own faithfulness, he also attested that his disciples were faithful. 

Can Jesus say the same of you and me today? Are we faithful? Are we good stewards of the people and resources He has given us—as leaders, as parents, as employers, as teachers, as friends, and even as children and employees? Are we one hundred percent committed to God’s agenda, especially when they seem different from ours? If Jesus were here today, what report would He give of us?

Holy Spirit, please help us to be faithful stewards as Jesus was. Amen.

  1. Baton Exchange

Many parents struggle with the concept of letting go; they worry and fret when their little one goes off into crèche and kindergarten, boarding school, college, the cutthroat world of capitalism and competition called the workplace, and even into marriage. They worry, “Will my child be okay? Will they need me and will I be too far away to help? Will they be able to cope? Will they come to me if and when they need help or have questions? Will they be bullied? Was this a good choice? Am I hurting them by letting go?” 

If you are a responsible parent, you have probably asked these questions and many more I cannot capture here. You know you should let go for your child to grow, yet you have doubts.

Jesus had doubts, too. But even more, Jesus had faith. And this faith led him to pray:

9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. 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. 12 During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

13 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do. 17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 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.

As we see in the verses above, Jesus had faith in the Father who had sent him. He knew that the One who had chosen him for the work was just as capable of caring for them in his absence as he had been. He understood that he had only been a steward and God’s representative—God’s shepherd. He and God were on the same team, but God had the oversight. 

Doesn’t this sound a lot like marriage? But I digress.

More than faith in God’s love for His people, Jesus had experience. He had witnessed firsthand many of the challenges his disciples would go through. He knew, as Isaiah the prophet would say, the end from the beginning. But he did not just know this supernaturally, he knew it experientially. He had suffered hunger, pain, blackmail, persecution, and ostracization. And soon enough, he would suffer heart-wrenching agony as he bore the punishment for our sins.

Thus, this prayer is one we should pay attention to. He was essentially telling the Father what his disciples, which includes us, would need for the journey. So, what did he ask for?

  1. That God would protect them, no, us by His name so we can be united (v. 11)
  2. That we would be safe from the evil one (v. 15) 
  3. That we would be made holy by His Word (vs. 17-19)

Yes, that is all. And yes, I am as flabbergasted as you probably are. I feel like a child who is being sent off to boarding school with only the clothes on my back. Jesus, do you care about me at all?

But we have seen that Jesus is a faithful steward, so let us dig deeper into those verses. Why would Jesus get a chance to pray to God before he leaves this earth and all he seems to pray for is protection and holiness? What happened to fame, power, possessions, victory, the love of foes, friends and family, etc? Feel free to insert a crying emoji here because this is a major tantrum moment.

However, on deeper reflection, I realise this: Jesus is revealing some important weapons here:

  1. God’s name

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. 

  1. God’s word

17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 

At first glance, the above seem quite confusing until it begins to come together.

  1. From the beginning of man’s walk with God, His name has played a major role. From Abraham to Hagar to Moses to David to Isaiah to Joel to Zechariah to Mary and many others until Jesus, God had enjoyed revealing facets of Himself to man, and man had received great fulfilment from discovering God and being able to name Him. This makes more sense when you consider that God’s name is not just His title, it is a pointer to His personality.

Moses, for example, wasn’t even willing to move forward with his assignment until he knew the name of the One who was sending him on errand. Of course, this makes sense because conceptualization is a major developmental milestone for every human being. We need to be able to name objects, persons and experiences, and put them in neat little boxes. If we couldn’t do that, we would lose our minds trying to figure out every seemingly new encounter. 

And just like others before me, I have found great comfort in being able to embrace a God whose name I know. I remember one year I told God, “Lord, this year, I want to know You as the Good Shepherd.” I wanted the comfort of being led, of being provided for, of being shielded. I wanted to be loved and comforted and I knew that if anyone could do that, it would be none other than my Good Shepherd. Another time, I was praying for a husband and God said to me, “Take me as your husband.” I assure you that it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Just seeing God as my Husband opened my eyes to some expectations that I had of my husband that were not biblical. 

And sometimes, I feel like Hagar who called Him “El-Roi, the One who sees me”. Boy! How amazing it feels to be seen by the One who watches over a universe so vast that we haven’t been able to fully explore it in over seven millennia, yet in spite of His insanely incomprehensibly busy schedule, He takes the time to see me, Ini. This little me. Wow!

  1. The name of the Lord hasn’t just brought comfort to man, it also brings protection. That is why the writer of the Book of Proverbs, hundreds of years before Jesus came would say from experience, “The name of the LORD is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.” (Proverbs 18:10 NLT)

And when Jesus leaves the earth, God honours his prayer by giving us Jesus’s name as the only name by which we can be saved; emphasis on only (Acts 4:12). 

This name also transcends race, age, tribe, religion, social class, financial status and every metric by which you can distinguish man (Romans 10:18). 

The name of Jesus also transcends space so that even if you were on Jupiter, you would get the same result from using His name as you would on earth (Phil. 2:10).

  1. From before time began, the Word existed and when time ends, the Word will still remain (John 1:1; Gen. 1:2-3, Matt. 24:35). The Bible says that our world is literally sustained by God’s word (Hebrews 1:3). The Amplified Bible translation describes it thus:

…and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal] ….”

  1. God is wherever His Word is. As we see in John 1:1 NLT:

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

There is much more to unravel, but what all of the above tell me is simple: if I have God’s name and God’s Word in my heart and on my lips, I will lack nothing whatsoever. Everything I need as a child of God is hidden and provided for within both elements. Everything!

Then, Jesus Prays for Us

Just knowing that thousands of years ago, Jesus the man, prayed for me fills my heart with warmth and joy. Yes, Jesus prayed for me in particular. And he prayed for you, too.

What did he pray?

20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 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.

22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 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. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

Jesus prayed that we would be united. 

I will not say more about that except that you read those verses repeatedly and ask yourself, “Am I perfectly united with my brothers and sisters in Christ? Am I fighting them instead of praying for them, loving them and helping them? Am I an answer to Jesus’s prayer for His Church?”

IN THE GARDEN (John 18:1-11)

In these eleven verses, we see Jesus in a grove of olive trees. Unlike other narrators like Matthew, John does not give us a blow-by-blow account of the events that follow Jesus’s last supper with his twelve disciples, which culminated in the prayer we discussed in preceding pages. In its brevity, the happenings in this garden can be categorised in three phases:

  1. Judas exposes Jesus to his attackers (vs 2, 3)
  2. Jesus protects his disciples (vs 4-9)
  3. Jesus gives in without a fight (vs 10, 11)

While I am tempted to explore each of these phases, I would rather answer some of the questions I have heard people ask when we read these verses:

Q1: Why did Judas have to betray Jesus? Why couldn’t he have been crucified without Judas’s help?

A1: In the past, the Jewish leaders had tried to kill Jesus but they couldn’t because God hid him and Jesus, knowing that it was not yet his time, often walked circumspectly so he wouldn’t fall into their hands before his time. Since they could not touch him, they needed an insider to make the introduction and hand him over to them. 

Also, unfortunately, Judas was simply fulfilling scripture. It had been written that Jesus would be betrayed by one of his own and Judas’s character flaws made him susceptible to being used. The lesson for us here is to submit to God and let the Holy Spirit work on our flaws, so that we do not become victims of our poor decisions like Judas.

Q2: Why did they have to ask Jesus who he is twice? 

Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.

“Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.

“I Am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) As Jesus said “I Am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

“I told you that I Am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” 9He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.” (Jon 18:4-8 NLT)

A2: The simple answer is that he needed to protect the disciples with him. When they asked the first time, they were thrown to the ground by the power of God. This divine show of force threw them off guard, giving Jesus leverage to negotiate when they asked the second time.

It was God’s will that Jesus be captured, but it was not His will for the disciples to be captured alongside. While He did not unleash His power to protect Jesus, we see Him do so to protect the disciples.

This is important for us as believers. We will experience turbulence in our lives, but this scenario is showing us that even in the turbulence, God is working on our behalf to ensure we are not destroyed. When we lose things, positions or people, God is working on our behalf to ensure we do not lose everything. Let this comfort you.

TRIALS, BETRAYALS AND DENIALS (John 18:12 – 19:16)

Et tu, Brute?

You are probably familiar with this popular phrase from the Shakespearean play, Julius Ceaser. Those were supposedly Ceasar’s last words as he saw his friend, Brutus, stand among his killers. Having experienced the pain of betrayal myself, I can imagine that seeing Brutus there hurt more than the impact of the knife as it thrust through his chest. You have probably experienced a similar pain, too.

Like Ceasar, Jesus experienced the excruciating pain of betrayal. Firstly, he was betrayed by his own disciple, the very person he had trusted with his money. But what happens when this betrayal is followed by several others? 

In this section, we see Jesus go through a series of betrayals. I wonder if these hold any lesson for us. Let’s see!

  1. Caiaphas, the high priest. Even though Jesus already knew by the Spirit that he would be executed by his own, we must remember that he was also fully human. That is the only reason he was qualified to bear our sins. 

So, imagine Jesus—the man sent from God—coming into Jerusalem with the knowledge that God’s temple lay there and that God’s representatives functioned there. In fact, they earned their livelihoods there. If any man should have welcomed Jesus and made his work easier, it should have been them.

But here, we see that they are the ones who arrest him and hand him over to be tried and crucified. If anyone should have defended Jesus, it should have been Caiaphas because he, of all the Jews at that time, should have been able to recognise Jesus. But no, it was Caiaphas who made the suggestion for Jesus to be killed. Even worse, he used Jesus’s trial to score points with his father-in-law and with Pilate.

If you were Jesus, how would you feel?

  1. The disciples who fled. Peter often gets a bad rap for denying Jesus but we do not often consider that, at least, he showed up. He was the first, and perhaps only one, to fight back when they arrested Jesus. And he was the only one of two disciples to follow the crowd that arrested him. And even though he stood alone among foes, he remained all night and into the morning. Alone, sad, confused, threatened and afraid, Peter stood. But where were the other disciples?

Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. (John 18:15-16)

If you were Jesus, what would you do? How would you feel knowing that at your time of trial, not only did your friends not show up to defend you, they did not even hang around to grant you moral support? 

I bet it would have been a little comforting to be able to look into the crowd and see familiar faces. But Jesus did not have that privilege.

  1. The Jewish leaders. If Caiaphas was blinded by his political ambition, what about the other religious leaders? What was their motive? Why did they go so far to trump up charges against an innocent man? They were the custodians of the Torah and they knew God’s no-nonsense stance against false accusations, yet they chose to lie against him.

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.” 

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” (John 18:29-30, 35 NLT)

  1. Pilate. At this point, you probably think I’m crazy to bring Jessu into the list, but he is just as guilty as everyone else. Here is why: he knew Jesus was innocent but he did not want to lose his position by getting on Caesar’s bad side. Like a corrupt judge, he chose his political relevance over his conscience.

From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. (John 18:12-16 NLT)

Now, put yourself in Jesus’s shoes, how would you react to these multiple levels of betrayal and abuse of power? Would you fight back? Would you become hateful and vengeful? Would you seek justice? What would you do?

In the past, I have not handled betrayals well. Even now, I sometimes struggle with letting go of offences, especially those I see as betrayals. So, I am eager to know what Jesus did and how he responded within the context of this study.

  1. He accepted his Father’s will. 

But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?” (John 18:11 NLT)

Jesus already knew he would be betrayed, just like we already know that we will hurt by those we love. We also know that we will go through difficult situations designed to build our character Romans 5:3-4). We even know that every single thing that happens to us, in us, or around us will come together for our good (Rom. 8:28).

So, why should we take offence when we are betrayed? Like Jesus, we should accept these experiences as part of the curriculum necessary to bring us into our new seasons. I know; it feels so hard! Well, yeah, hard on our flesh.

  1. Jesus spoke up for himself. While he did not curse, rage, or fight his accusers, he was also careful enough to speak up when necessary. He was bold enough to question their motives.

“If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” (John 18:23 NIV)

  1. He did not lose sight of his identity and he was quick to affirm it. When the enemy attacks us, one of the first thing he tries to do is to make us question our identity in Christ. We may find ourselves asking questions like, “Does God really love me?” “Am I being punished for my sins?”

But in times like these, we need to keep our eyes on God’s Word and speak out loud the things He has said to us. This is why it is very important to hide God’s Word in our hearts long before troubles come.

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:36-37 NIV)

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:11 NIV)

In all these, I am most grateful that Jesus came to earth as a man, and that He recruited faithful men and women who were kind enough to document His life for our reference. 

Over to you, what lessons did I miss?