The Great Sending, Chapter 15

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.
– John 17:20

STUDY 15: Prayer Drives the Mission

pp. 101-104

References: John 17

by Reverand Dr. Dean Nadasdy

This prayer of Jesus, often called his high-priestly prayer, is the capstone of his upper room discourses spoken the night before his crucifixion. The movement of this visionary prayer captures the expanding mission of God. It begins with a focus on Jesus’s relationship with the Father and the glory that would be His in the cross (vs. 1-5). Jesus sees His cross as a moment of being “lifted up” and glorified to draw people to Himself (John 12:32). The mission of the church begins with “Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23). No cross, no mission.

The mission expands further as Jesus prays for his disciples (vs. 6-19). Sent by Jesus (v. 18), this little band of followers will now carry his words and acts into the world. Jesus prays that the Father will keep them in the world, lest the world perish for their lack of witness. He prays for their unity, their joy, their protection from evil, and their sacred commitment to the truth. Jesus’s followers are chosen and sent for their mission in the world.

Though Jesus says, “I am not praying for the world” (v. 9), His thoughts are very much on the world in which His disciples will witness. In John’s gospel, “the world” (Greek, kosmos) opposes God. The world does not know God (v. 25). The world cannot save itself. Left to itself, the world will perish. Its future, Jesus recognizes, is in the truth the disciples carry. You can hear it throughout the prayer: despite the world’s opposition, “God so loved the world” (John 3:16).
Finally, as the mission circle expands, Jesus prays for those who will come after His first disciples (vs. 20-26). As his crucifixion approaches, the world is still on His mind and heart. He prays for the unity of His future followers “so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (v. 21). As Jesus prays, the widening circle of God’s mission moves from the cross to His first followers, to His disciples in future generations, and to the world.

Gleanings from Jesus’s visionary prayer for the mission of God are many. Here are just three:

1. Unity matters in the mission. Repeatedly Jesus prays that His disciples will be one (vs. 11, 21, 22, 23). Disunity among disciples will present a tarnished witness to the unity of God – Father, Son, and Spirit. Conflict among disciples will take their eyes off the one who sent them. Division and competition will leave the church looking too much like the world to make a difference.
2. Disciples must stay in the world.. You can hear it in Jesus’s prayer – His concern that His disciples not escape the world (vs. 11, 15, 18). They have good reason for escapism, since the world hates them (v. 14). Disciples throughout time have considered running, hiding, and protecting themselves. Jesus is not praying for an institution here, but for a movement of courageous Christians sent into the world to witness, no matter the cost.
3. Prayer drives the mission. How fitting that the climax of Jesus’s upper room discourses is prayer. Jesus goes to the cross speaking to His Father, certain of His Father’s love. He prays “that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (v. 26). The mission is utterly relational and motivated by unconditional, sacrificial love (agape). So literally, Jesus prays on the edge of tomorrow. Prayer drives the mission.

Questions to ponder with
yourself and others

• Where in the church today do you see disunity and competition? What pathways do you see toward reconciliation?
• What motivates a Christian congregation to “circle the wagons” and escape from its culture? On the other hand, what pushes a church into its mission field?
• What can be done practically in a congregation’s life to keep its mission embraced in prayer?

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