The Prayer of Jesus
The Teacher prays the longest recorded prayer we have – much longer than what we call The Lord’s Prayer but very similar, really an expansion of that best-known of Jesus Christ’s prayers. He prays so that the eleven disciples can hear the words and learn some dense, mystifying, deep truths that they will remember forever but don’t yet understand as they’re being prayed. Every word is weighty. The finish-line is in sight. The Light of the World is about to be snuffed out… for “a little while” (16.16, 17, 18, 19). Jesus prays for Himself and for His students and for what lies ahead for them.
Back in the last century (1999), I preached SIX sermons in a row on this one prayer (only two this year), but I could see why it took six…could be more! It’s DENSE!
Today I want to look at this heavy prayer in three ways:
1) The View from the Top
2) The View from the Trenches
3) The View of the Race Before US
