What would do if you were about to be executed? – John 17:1-5, Preview

Imagine you are on vacation, sightseeing in a country where Christianity is illegal.  You might think, “Joel, I wouldn’t travel there in the first place.”  Maybe you wouldn’t.  Maybe you just might.  I did.  There are plenty of places where Christianity is illegal but there are amazing sites, and Christians are allowed to travel there to visit.  Christians just have to be guarded about the practice of their faith.

When my wife and I visited her sister and brother-in-law in Malaysia in 2016, we experienced something like that.  It is illegal for Malaysians to be Christian, so my pastor brother-in-law had to post a sign at the front door of their church saying that it was illegal for Malaysians to enter there.  But as non-Malaysians, it was okay to participate in a church.  Christians could not, however, openly share Christian faith and try to invite or convince Malaysians to become followers of Jesus.

So let’s go back to my opening sentence.  Imagine you’re in a country like that.  For whatever reason the authorities decide to go the extra mile, in a bad way, and they arrest you, accusing you of proselytizing, meaning they are charging you with the crime of sharing your faith.  They imprison you, try you and convict you.  They declare you guilty of sharing an illegal faith. The punishment is death, and they set your execution date for 24 hours from now.

I know this story sounds like a stretch, and of course I hope you don’t have to experience anything remotely like facing an execution for being a Christian. But try to place yourself in that position for a moment.  Here’s why I want you to attempt to feel the emotions of being on the brink of execution: as we read what he says in John 17, that’s the situation Jesus found himself in.

This is the final chapter of his long teaching that took place on the night of his arrest.  We’ve been studying John chapters 13-17 for a few months now. First we learned about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.  We then watched as Jesus predicted Judas would betray him, and as Judas left the room.  We heard Jesus declare the Peter would deny him three times before morning.  We listened as Jesus taught about leaving the disciples and about sending the Spirit in his place.  We followed the disciples and Jesus as they left the room and walked to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus teaching them about peace, joy, love and obedience, even when the world might seem to be against them.  Now the end is near.  What will Jesus say in his final words before their world turns upside down?

He stops teaching, and he prays.  In fact, John chapter 17 is one long prayer.  This is what Jesus does on the eve of his execution.  He prays, and his prayer is very instructive for us.  Take a look at John 17 ahead of time, and then on the blog next week we’ll study verses 1-5.

Photo by Ye Jinghan on Unsplash