Father, I Desire
Thursday of Passion Week is traditionally known as Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word for "command," and refers to Jesus' commandment to the disciples at the Last Supper to "Love one another as I have loved you." Today we remember and celebrate the evening in Passion Week when Jesus shared a Passover meal with His disciples before He was arrested and went to the cross. The somber evening is recorded in John’s gospel in great detail starting in chapter thirteen.
After they finished supper, Jesus laid aside His outer garments and washed the disciples' feet; demonstrating what servant-leadership looks like. He then instructed the disciples to do the same to each other.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him... You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. - John 13:3-5, 13-14
This seemed to be the last straw for Judas who, after seeing Him take the place of a lowly slave and wash the filth off of His followers' feet, decided He had had enough. Jesus then told Peter that he would deny Him three times and turned His attention to another one of the twelve who would betray Him (Jn 13:21-38). Jesus sensing Judas’ disgust, passed the morsel to him and permitted him to leave. Judas left the table with clean feet and a hardened heart.
Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” - John 13:26-27
The mood was somber. The disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying and were greatly distressed. Jesus comforted them with the promise of the New Jerusalem and the promise that He would send another Helper, the Holy Spirit, to be with them and in them forever. This other Helper would comfort us, lead us into all truth, tell us of things to come, convict the world of sin, and take what belongs to Jesus and give it to us.
"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going." ... And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. - John 14:1-4, 16-18
Jesus then shifted into His memorable teaching on the life of abiding in the vine, pruning, and friendship with God (Jn 15:1-17) and ended with a call for them to overcome, just as He was about to overcome.
Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." - John 16:32-33
After Jesus finished speaking, He lifted His eyes to Heaven and began to pray to His Father. We call this the “high priestly prayer” of Jesus. He peered through the veil of the temporary into the eternal realm to “Our Father, who is in Heaven”. Can you imagine this moment? Can you imagine what it was like for the disciples? They were getting a front-row seat to God talking to God about God’s desires, plans, and purposes. All of a sudden, heaven and earth converged around the table, and Jesus, caught up in the glory, uttered five words that catapulted all of created order into a glorious transition (Jn 17:1).
“Father, the hour has come…”
The memory of the glory that He and the Father shared together in eternity before anything created began to touch Jesus. The Man, Christ Jesus, was remembering how the Trinity had dreamed up the plan for the human race, for the earth, and for all things, together before the foundation of the world.
“And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” - John 17:5
As He boldly approached the throne, Jesus began to pray for His friends around the table. (17:9-19) The farther He went up in prayer, the farther He began to look out over the mountain range of time. Jesus, lost in supplication, looked down the halls of time and began to pour out His heart, before the Father, as He prayed for all who believe in Him through the apostles’ witness. He was praying for you and He was praying for me.
"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” – John 17:20-23
Jesus looked ahead at the glory of His Church, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit and in love for one another. He was looking at what all we would gain from His sacrifice. He began to gaze upon her as she shone in brilliant beauty amid the darkness through the ages and how she would overcome at the end of the age. The more He looked, the more His divine heart swelled with love and passion until He was overwhelmed and erupted in an emotional cry,
“Father, I desire…”
An explosion happened in the heart of Jesus and it became a groan of intercession! The same desire that spoke creation into existence was about to bring a new creation out of His own body. These last words in prayer, before His betrayal in the garden, reveal the motivation of His heart in everything that will transpire over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” - John 17:23-24
Jesus pointedly asked His Father in verses 24- 26, that through the work He would accomplish, we, weak and broken people, would be with Him where He is and we would behold His glory.
Jesus was asking the Father to close the gap between Him and the ones made in His image. That we would be joined to Him forever and “that they would see my glory”. Jesus asked that the redeemed of the human race would experience the highest possible pleasure, to behold the unparalleled brilliance of His glory. To gaze upon Him with unveiled face and experience the brightness of His face. If that was not enough, He goes on…
He asked in v26 that the same love that His Father has for Him would be in us, His church. That we would feel the same way about Him that the Father does. Can you hear the heart of the Bridegroom? What He was about to do, He would do for love. What He would accomplish through that weekend was fueled by His desire for us. He wanted your heart to flow like a river with love and affection for Him forever.
“I made known to them Your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them." – John 17:26
Jesus has done the unthinkable. He asked the Father to give the redeemed of the human race the highest pleasure possible, to behold the unparalleled splendor of God in the face of Jesus, and to feel the same love that the Father has for His Son. God’s intentions are not to simply give us the right set of Gospel facts for us to pass the test to get into Heaven. He has dreamt up something far more magnificent. He wants us to see and experience the pleasure of holy love for the glorious Son. He died to make it possible.
How is this prophetic, you may ask? Simply because of this. This is the prayer of the Son of God and the Second Person of the Trinity. The Father is going to give His Son everything He asked for. This means we are going to see the full answer to Jesus’ request mature on the earth as we approach the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:6-10). But this is not only a promise for the global Church; it is a personal promise for you, dear reader. Jesus asked these things for you personally as one who believes in Him. If you continue to walk with Him and participate in the grace of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life, this prayer in John 17 is not only a look into the room with Jesus and disciples at the Last Supper, it is also a look into your destiny.
So this Passion Week, let your prayers agree with Jesus’. Let your ask meet His ask. Ask the Holy Spirit to draw you closer into the presence of Jesus, to open the eyes of your heart to see His glory, and to awaken divine love in your heart for the Son of God.