WHILE HE WAS ON THE CROSS JESUS PRAYED FOR US

Proclamation:

“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”  Luke 23:34 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, as recorded by Luke, the physician, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After He was arrested, Jesus was taken to Pilate to be judged, then to Herod, and then back to Pilate. (Luke 23:1-12)  Finding no fault in Him, Pilate wanted to release Jesus but the crowd, which included the chief priests, the teachers of the law, the elders, the rulers, and the Jewish people, shouted “Release Barabbas … Crucify Him!” (Luke 23:13-25)  After He had been beaten (Matthew 27:26-31 and Mark 15:15-20) and made to carry His cross across town, they nailed Him to the cross and set Him between two criminals.  While He was on the cross He said, “Father, forgive them …”

Application:

These words were some of the last seven things which Jesus, The Christ, spoke while He was on the cross.  In the midst of His suffering from their mistreatment of Him, He still showed love and compassion for His enemies.  Most Bible scholars believe that when Jesus asked His Heavenly Father to “forgive them,” He was referring not only to the soldiers who crucified Him, but to the crowd and all those who “put Him on the cross with their sins.”  That includes all of us that are alive today, and all who lived and died in the past.  “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)  We had to be forgiven and the price for our sins had to be paid, “For the wages of sin is death ...” (Romans 6:23)  Because of this, we should all thank Him daily for what He went through to pay the price for our sins.

NOT MY WILL BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE

Proclamation:

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”  Luke 22:42 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, as recorded by Luke, the physician, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After Jesus had His last Passover meal with His disciples in the upper room, He told Simon Peter that the devil wanted to use him but He had prayed for him. (Luke 22:31-32)  He also told Peter that he would deny knowing Him three times before the rooster crows. (Luke 22:34)  Then they left and went to the Mount of Olives to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed this prayer.  Jesus prayed that His Heavenly Father’s will would be done and not His will.  Soon afterwards, Judas Iscariot led a group of priests, elders, and solders to the place where Jesus was and betrayed Him with a kiss on the cheek, and He was arrested and taken before Pilate and Herod. (Luke 22:7-71)

Application:

All of us have faced some situations which we did not want to deal with, but none of them was as bad as the one which Jesus was facing.  The “cup” that He was facing and wanted removed was not the cross, but having all of our sins put upon Him.  Being free from sin, He probably found this repulsive.  However, He was willing to do it in order to save us.  Jesus made it clear that what was important was that His Heavenly Father’s will be done and not His will.  We need to be able to sincerely pray, “Thy will be done.”  This is what Jesus taught us in the model prayer. (Matthew 6:9-10 and Luke 11:2)  If what we want, with our selfish desires, conflicts with the will of God, we need to understand that whatever it is that we want is not important.  We are selfish.  We need to humble ourselves and recognize that The Lord God knows everything about everything (1 John 3:20) and He knows what is best for all of us.

JESUS THE CHRIST PRAYED FOR ALL BELIEVERS

Proclamation:

“My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You.  May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”  John 17:20-21 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were spoken by Jesus, The Christ, and recorded by the Apostle John under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  In this chapter, John records the prayer which Jesus prayed for His disciples and for all future believers.  As Jesus neared the end of His earthly ministry, He prayed for His disciples. (John 17:1-3)  He made it clear that He was not praying for all of the people in the world, He was just praying for His people. (John 17:9-10)  Jesus also made it clear that He was not just praying for His disciples alone, but also for all of the people who would hear their message and believe in Him. (John 17:20-21)  He also prayed that they would be with Him where He would be. (John 17:24)

Application:

Once we became a believer, this prayer that Jesus prayed also applied to us.  He prayed that God, The Father, would keep us safe and protected from the evil one. (John 17:15)  He also prayed that The Father would love us as He loved Jesus Himself. (John 17:26)  It is also important to note that He prayed that there would be unity among the believers, and that we would be as one, the unity of the church. (John 17:21)  The more we bicker with other believers, the less likely that the world will see Christ in us.  We need to show more love towards our fellow believers.  Three times Jesus repeated this command for us to love one another. (John 13:34, 15:12, and 15:17)  Jesus prayed for us because He knew that we would need God’s help to make it in this world.  We need to pray for ourselves and for each other that we might be more loving towards one another.