Sunday 12 May 2024

Psalm 1

Background

This passage – like most of those for the Sundays since Easter – comes from the section of John’s Gospel often called the ‘farewell discourses’ (John 13-17).

It begins with Jesus washing his disciples’ feet (13:1-20) and records Jesus’ final words to them before his crucifixion. Most of the incidents and sayings are not found in the other gospels and they resemble some of the ‘last words’ from leaders found in other parts of scripture (eg Jacob in Genesis 48-49). Today’s verses come from the end of this section, when Jesus prays for his disciples, knowing that 'the hour has come' and he is about to be betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (18:1-11).

Like so much of John’s Gospel, and the farewell discourses in particular, these verses contain a lot of very deep and challenging theology. They also include some important themes that we find repeated throughout the Gospel. Jesus speaks about the importance and power of the 'name' that he bears (17:6,11); the same name in which the disciples have been instructed to pray (14:14). The passage makes explicit the intimate relationship between the human Jesus and the divine God. This is made much clearer in John's Gospel than in the others, as when Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (14:9)

In these verses we also find repeated references to 'the world' (kosmos in Greek) and the often difficult relationship it has with its creator. This is made plain from the first lines of the Gospel, the prologue, in which John tells the reader that Jesus, “was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.” (John 1:10). Finally, the text speaks about the disciples, who have played such a key role in the Gospel from the beginning and are now to be sent out into the world just as Jesus was (17:18).

To Ponder:

• What does ‘the world’ mean to you in this passage? What might it mean for those who seek to follow Jesus?
• There is no Lord’s Prayer recorded in John’s Gospel and many people see this prayer as an equivalent to it. What differences/similarities can you see?
• How should we understand Jesus’ prayer that all his disciples “may be one, as we are one” (17:11)?

Bible notes author: The Revd Geoffrey Farrar
Geoffrey Farrar is the Superintendent Minister of the Richmond & Hounslow Circuit in south-west London. He has pastoral charge of Barnes, Putney and Roehampton churches. He is currently studying for a (very) part-time PhD at the nearby University of Roehampton, looking at the impact of the Maccabean Revolt on responses to Jesus. He lives in Putney with his partner and their adopted son.