Today, I am reading and commenting on John 17-18.
I want to write about Jesus praying for His disciples, and for those who would believe because of the testimony of His disciples (which includes us). However, I am not quite sure how to say what I want to write. So, I am just going to start writing and pray that the Spirit brings it together. Jesus says that the Father took His disciples (and those who believe in Him through their message*) out of the world and gave them to Him. They accepted the words which Jesus spoke and thus gave glory to Jesus. Jesus prayed that God would protect His disciples because the world would hate them. Interestingly, He says that the protection God would give His disciples would make them one (or, perhaps, should unify them). He goes on to say that He made God the Father known to His disciples, and that He would continue to do so. In the middle of this prayer, Jesus asked God to make His disciples saintly by the truth, and that God’s word is the truth. The translators note says that could alternatively be translated as saying that Jesus asked God to make His disciples saintly in order to live according to the truth. Which brings me to what Jesus said when He was before Pilate, and Pilate’s response to Him. Jesus told Pilate that He came into this world to testify to the truth, and that everyone who was on the side of truth listens to Him. To which Pilate replied, “What is truth?” By saying that Pilate implied that he did not believe there was such a thing as truth. Pilate’s lack of belief that there was such a thing as truth led him to give into the crowd and order Jesus’ crucifixion, even though he knew He was not guilty of any crime. Ultimately, we have a choice. Either we accept that there is truth and listen to Jesus, or we give in to the crowd baying for the blood of the innocent.
*this parenthetical applies every time I use “His disciples” in today’s entry unless I specify otherwise.
I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.