Christian Reflection and Prayer

The High Priestly Prayer

Lenten Meditation

Read John 17.

TEXT: "When Jesus had spoken these
words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven,
and said, 'Father, the hour has come;
glorify Your Son that the Son may
glorify You'" (John 17:1).


Jesus has finished His Last Supper
and offers a special prayer before
leading His disciples to the Garden
of Gethsemane. We call it the High
Priestly Prayer because Jesus our
great High Priest offers prayers for
Himself, His apostles, and all who
believe in Him.

Jesus first prays that God the Father
would glorify Himself through Jesus'
coming death. The Roman cross was
never connected with glory; it was a
symbol of shame and dishonor.
St. Paul would call it a "stumbling
block to the Jews" and "foolishness
to the Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:22).
The Jews stumbled over the idea that
God would let His own Son suffer
and die on a cross, rather than sit in
glory on a throne. The Gentiles thought
it foolishness that you could receive
salvation through someone else's
execution.

Jesus prays to His Father to keep
His eleven disciples in His Name.
He is about to leave this world, so
He asks the Father to keep them in
faith, that believing they may share
the one true Gospel, which brings
salvation by God's grace through
faith for Jesus' sake.

The final part of Jesus' prayer
touches us, and all who have heard
and believed the words of the apostles.
May we glorify Him by trusting in
Jesus as our only Savior from our sin
and death, and tell others of His great
and incomparable love.

PRAYER:

Lord God, as You glorified Your
Son Jesus Christ through His death
and resurrection, keep us in Your
Name through this true faith, and
bless us to share it with all those
around us. In Jesus' Name.
Amen.

Lutheran Hour Ministries

Lenten Meditation

Washing an Unclean Disciple

Read John 13:1-20.

TEXT: "... (Jesus said) 'You are clean,
but not every one of you.' ..." (John 13:10b).

Jesus has preached His last message
to the crowds. Now He spends one final
night before His suffering and death with
His disciples in the upper room,
preparing them for what is about to happen.

In the middle of supper Jesus does
something totally unexpected. Taking
off His outer garments He goes around
the table washing the disciples' feet one
by one, the way the lowliest slave in the
household would. It is a demonstration
of His absolute humility, love and care-a
demonstration He will repeat for the whole
world the next day on the cross.

For Peter it is too much. He objects and
receives a firm correction from Jesus:
"If I do not wash you, you have no share
with Me." Then Peter goes to the other
extreme asking Jesus to wash all of him.
Jesus points out that the one who has
had a bath does not need to bathe again,
only to wash the part of him that is unclean.

Jesus is pointing to Judas, the one who
has abandoned his Lord and become
unclean and is even now awaiting the
chance to betray Him. The other eleven
are forgiven, cleansed of their sins because
they still walk in the light by faith; Judas
has rejected that light and walks in darkness.
Very gently Jesus reaches out to His lost
disciple in an unforgettable demonstration
of His love, forgiveness and acceptance. It's
a demonstration He wants Judas to remember
when he is gripped by guilt and remorse for
what he is about to do.

PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, forgive my wandering heart.
Help me to see Your great love for me and
remember what You have done to save me.
Amen.

Lutheran Hour Ministries

Lenten Meditation

Scripture:

Read John 13:21-30.

TEXT: (Jesus said) "... 'Truly, truly,
I say to you, one of you will betray
Me'" (John 13:21b).

"One of you will betray Me." Judas
must be totally shocked by Jesus'
words. One by one the disciples
ask a question that floats around
the table. With rising suspense
Judas watches the question work
its way around the table to him-and
he even joins his voice to theirs: "Is
it I, Lord?"

If Judas' voice didn't give him away,
what Jesus does next will make it
crystal clear. He dips the morsel of
bread and hands it directly to Judas.

Have you ever stopped to think about
how Jesus turned the tables on Judas?
At this moment the betrayer is at the
mercy of the One he was going to
betray. Jesus holds Judas in the palm
of His hand. With a word Jesus can
betray Judas to the other disciples,
who are armed with a few swords.
Jesus is in complete control; He can
betray Judas. Instead, our Lord sends
His betrayer on his way: "What you
are going to do, do quickly." As Judas
rushes out from the danger, the other
disciples have no idea what Jesus
means.

Which one of us hasn't betrayed
another-gossiping secrets that should
never have been shared or exposing
another's shame just to flatter our own
self-righteous pride? How often have we
in effect handed Jesus' over to His
enemies by our sinful actions or our
silence?

Judas walked out into the darkness.
But in this same darkness Jesus will
still reach out to him one last time when
Judas leads the soldiers into the Garden
of Gethsemane to arrest Him. Jesus still
reaches out to you and me with hands
that bear the mark of the nails.

PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, Your steadfast love is
amazing to me. Keep reaching out
to bring me back from my sins.
Amen.

The Lutheran Hour Ministries