Recently I got to teach
Sunday school lesson #24 “This is Life Eternal” which covers roles of the Holy
Ghost and the Intercessory Prayer.
One of the questions in the
lesson really made me think and I want to post some of the thoughts I had about
it and what I learned.
Here’s the question:
Even
though Jesus knew that he was about to suffer intensely, for whom did he
pray? (see John 17:6-9, 20)”
Here are the verses referred
to:
6 I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine
they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7 Now
they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8 For I
have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that
thou didst send me.
9 I pray
for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for
they are thine. . . .
20 Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word;
Looking up those scriptures,
the answer was, He prayed for:
--those who believed in Him
--those who would believe on
Christ through His disciples words
Why did He pray for them
(and us, since we are ultimately included in the effects of that prayer)?
Easy answer: Because Jesus
loved His disciples (and us).
But what might He have been
worried about that brought Him to petition the Father so feelingly as is
recorded in John 17?
I admit that I had to think
really hard about this. I admit
that I’m not as caring as I probably should be; I have a hard time remembering
to pray for others, so I had to work hard to imagine why someone else would,
even Jesus.
I think Jesus was profoundly
concerned about how His death would spiritually affect His disciples. Consider that He knew why He’d have to
die, and even though He’d tried to prepare His disciples for a while to accept
the prospect of what had to happen, He must have seen that they were still
clueless and that that they had misconceptions about His role. He was also concerned about how His
prolonged absence after His ascension would affect them, whether they’d be able
to carry on and endure.
What can we learn from
this?
I think that if we follow
Christ’s example, we will care about and pray for those who will be affected by
things that happen to us, especially when our injuries or sicknesses, temporary
absence, or death is likely to put a burden upon others. Jesus reached out to others and prayed
for others when He could have been very self-focused.
I hope I can remember that
the next time something happens to me.
1 comments:
You know Jesus was cool like that. In a previous lesson, where Jesus is confronted by Satan, and challenged unmercifully on an empty stomach and a hot desert. After it's all over the scriptures note that angels came to his aid. But in the Joseph Smith translation, it seems that even though angels did come to his aid, Jesus sent them to minister to John in prison.
It makes sense that he would pray for those that believed on him, why toss pearls of eternity before swine, or people who trample his word under foot.
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