Sermon Tone Analysis
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TITLE: Jesus' Motherly Prayer SCRIPTURE: John 17:6-19
Let's all be quiet and listen.
Jesus is at prayer.
He knows that he will die soon -- and violently.
He wouldn't mind if we listened.
Let's do that.
Let's listen to what he says.
But first, stop and think for a moment.
Let's say that you had been convicted of some terrible crime and sentenced to death in the electric chair.
You are scheduled to die next Tuesday -- just a couple of days from now.
All appeals have been exhausted, so you know for certain that you are going to die.
The thought of dying has been with you now for a long time -- ever since the trial -- ever since the judge pronounced the sentence.
Death is on your mind.
You imagine being escorted to the death chamber.
You imagine them strapping your arms and legs to the chair.
You imagine -- well, I'll stop there.
You know what you would imagine.
So you kneel to pray.
People on death row do that, you know.
Not all of them!
Some remain defiant to the end -- but prayer is common on death row.
One thing this experience has taught you is that you are helpless -- that you need help -- God's help.
So you kneel to pray.
What would you say to God in a moment like that?
You might say, "Forgive me, for I have sinned."
You might even pray: "Forgive me for this sin" or "Forgive me for that sin."
Or you might ask, "Help me not to be afraid."
Or you might pray, "God, help my family.
Forgive me for letting them down."
It was that kind of moment for Jesus when he prayed this prayer in John 17 -- shortly before his death.
He knew that he was going to die, and he knew that it would be terrible.
What did Jesus pray?
Did he pray, "Forgive me for my sins"?
No.
He had no sins.
Did he pray, "Help me to die bravely"?
No.
He knew that he would die bravely.
Jesus prayed for his disciples.
They were, after all, like family to him.
In his prayer, Jesus said that he had done what he could for them.
Jesus prayed that the Father would protect his disciples.
He said, "While I was with them, I protected them" (v.
12).
But now he was getting ready to leave them.
Listen to Jesus' prayer.
These are his words:
*"They do not belong to the world,*
*just as I do not belong to the world.*
*I am not asking you to take them out of the world,*
*but I ask you to protect them from the evil one" (vv.
14-15).*
Jesus' prayer doesn't remind me of a man on death row.
It is more like the prayer of a mother on her death bed.
A dying mother would be less concerned about her own death than about the children she would be leaving behind.
Her concern would not be what lies ahead of her -- but what lies ahead for her children.
A mother used to say, "I don't really care to live a long time.
I just pray to live long enough to raise you boys."
God answered that prayer.
That Mother lived to see her two sons grow up.
She didn't get many extra years, but God answered that prayer.
That was all she asked -- all she really wanted -- to live long enough to take care of her two boys through their childhood and their adolescence.
Thank God that she was able to do that.
*TRUE STORY: *
* *
*Speaking of mothers' prayers, Richard Moore's mother prayed for him for many years.
Richard, you see, lost his eyesight as a child.
He grew up in Northern Ireland during the troubled times there, and was hit by a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier.
He was walking home from school -- ten years old.*
* *
*Richard's mother prayed for him.
He remembers waking up to find his mother kneeling beside his bed, pleading with God that her son's eyesight might be restored -- but, as nearly as anyone could tell, nothing happened.*
* *
*Many years later, as a grown man, Richard learned the name of the soldier who shot him.
He located the man's address and asked if he could come to visit.
When the man gave his permission, Richard went to see him and to offer his forgiveness.*
*When he did that, he felt something change deep inside himself.
He discovered a kind of peace that had eluded him throughout his life.
He said:*
*"When I met the soldier and forgave him, *
*I believe my mother's prayers were answered.
*
*I was given a new vision, *
*and my real wound, *
*the one that needed healing more than my eyes, *
*was healed."*
You mothers know what I am talking about -- especially you mothers of young children.
If you were faced with death this coming week, you would be less concerned for your own suffering than for the suffering of your children.
The most terrible thing would not be dying, but leaving your job as mother unfinished.
Your prayers would be for your children -- "I won't be here to watch them grow up.
YOU watch over them, PLEASE!!!" Keep them safe!
Help them to grow up strong and healthy!
Send someone to care for them, PLEASE!"
That was the kind of prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17.
He was praying, not for his own welfare, but for his disciples.
Jesus said something that we need to hear.
He said:
* *
*"I am not asking you to take them out of the world,but I ask you to protect them from the evil one" (v.
15).*
The New Testament was written originally in Greek, and the Greek word was "kosmos."
Jesus prayed, "I am not asking you to take them out of the world -- out of the kosmos."
In the Gospel of John, this word "kosmos" has a special meaning.
Kosmos wasn't Mother Earth.
Kosmos wasn't green trees and pretty flowers.
Kosmos was the part of the world that is opposed to God -- a fallen world -- an evil world.
It doesn't take much imagination to understand the kosmos as the world opposed to God.
Just read your newspaper and you will see an evil world.
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