Woven

For the first time in my life of studying the Bible (particularly these sections between Jesus and the disciples), I’m reading the words between Jesus and His closest friends like I’m sitting in on their precious time together. Sometimes, I wonder what I’d be doing or saying differently if I knew my time on Earth was ending. Jesus knew! And these are the words He chose to speak. I think we should pay very close attention.

Angie recommended that we look at John 13 through 17 to read Jesus’ words to the disciples leading up to the crucifixion. We’ve covered John 13. Now, let’s look ahead.

In John 14, Jesus comforted his confused and grieving disciples. Bless their sweet hearts. They just didn't get it. All they knew was that something was changing and that change was causing them grief. Jesus was there for it! Throughout this chapter, He showed them and us that He doesn’t want His followers ignoring grief. He does want us to know that He is the answer to for grief. The Father has made a way for even sadness to be covered by our Savior.

John 15 is a famous passage and one that I wish we had time for. If you have a moment, read through it. I absolutely love thinking of our Heavenly Father as a Gardener cleaning and cutting and pruning me to be a beautiful garden bearing much fruit and pointing the world back to Him.

Today, I want us to read John 16 together. Let’s start with the first four verses. Read verses 1 through 4 carefully in your translation. Then, read The Passion Translation below,

I have told you this so that you would not surrender to confusion or doubt. For you will be excommunicated from the synagogues, and a time is coming when you will be put to death by misguided ones who will presume to be doing God a great service by putting you to death. And, they will do these things because they don’t know anything about the Father or me. I’m telling you this now so that when their time comes you will remember that I foretold it. I didn’t tell you this in the beginning because I was still with you. (verses 1-4)

What a hard message this must have been for Jesus to give the ones He loved and lived life with. Here’s what I want you and I to see…. The people that would harm and even kill the disciples once Jesus is gone actually thought they were doing God’s work. I know it’s jumping ahead, but this is the story of Saul/Paul. Prior to his conversion, Saul was a highly esteemed Jew following the Old Testament Law (he thought). It’s so easy to demonize the NT characters that persecuted and killed Jesus followers in the first century. I just think we need to pay very close attention to the reality that they honestly thought they were doing God’s work. However, as Jesus said in John 16, they didn't even know God and so missed Jesus. We need to see this so that we don’t join the cruel, the misinformed, the confused, or the arrogant that hurt and slander others in the name of what they’ve called Truth.

Now, read all of John 16. In your journal, take note of anything Jesus said about the Spirit. These are the verses that make me think we’ve not given the Holy Spirit nearly the space He deserves in our teaching and in our hearts. Jesus called the Spirit our Helper and said that His coming is to our advantage. He has come to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. But, He’s also come to help us, to instruct us in Truth, and to glorify Jesus in us. We need more of the Spirit, ladies. We don’t have to be scared of the Spirit. We don’t have to guard against the very thing that Jesus said is better than Him being here in Person.

Since that is true (Jesus said it, so it’s true), doesn’t it make sense that Satan would take this area and use it as a source to divide God’s people? Different denominations will read these scriptures and determine different things. We can disagree, but let’s not let it divide us. God sent us the Spirit, Helper, our Gift. Let’s choose to be unified in that Truth.

In closing, I want to ask you to do something for me/for us. Turn in your Bible to John 17. The whole chapter is a prayer. It’s Jesus’ prayer to the Father. He was praying for His disciples, present and future. That’s us girls. As our prayer today, please pray all the words of John 17 out loud. You’ll be praying the words of Jesus for all His followers. What an experience!