Why Jesus?…

In his own words (part 25)

Working backwards through John 17:2, the last part of the verse has the Father “giving” people to his Son (covered in part 23). So it’s on the Father’s initiative that Jesus has disciples. 

Then working backwards through verse 2 again, the Father’s purpose for giving disciples to Jesus was to give them eternal life (covered in part 24) – eternal life being defined in verse 3 as knowing the Father and Jesus Christ. And what Jesus meant by “knowing” he defined in John 14:21 as a relationship of love his disciples could have with both the Father and himself. 

The disciples could experience what Jesus meant by “eternal life,” therefore, in their lifetimes. Jesus’ focus on eternal life wasn’t about going to heaven after they died; eternal life was to be experienced while they were still alive. And obviously so too, because how could they know if eternal life was something to look forward to forever if they hadn’t tasted it already before they died?   

Which takes us to the first part of John 17:2, in which Jesus explains how his disciples would get a taste of this “eternal life” relationship with his Father and himself in their lifetimes: it’s by the Father “granting him power over all flesh.” 

So, whatever hinders our experience of eternal life now – our “fleshly” frailties, fears, doubts, worries, emotions, etc., Jesus has power over all of them, amply demonstrated during his lifetime in the remarkable physical and mental healings he did (John 14:11) – which, as Jesus went on to say in verse 12, would now be available to his disciples too.

Which is an amazing promise, because here we are in a humourless world of hate, bitterness, hopelessness, fear, outright lies by those in office, judging and blaming one another, and crying the blues over the tiniest of offences making life miserable for us all – and yet Jesus has a small group of people to whom he’s giving power over that obnoxious, destructive nonsense, enabling them to experience his lovely promises of love, joy and peace, and a taste of eternal life instead. 

And the Father’s given him a “glorified” position now too (John 17:1), so Jesus has all the power he needs to make his promises come true in the lives of his disciples.