Jesus Prayed for You Before the Cross
Daily Scripture
Matthew 26:36-46, John 17:1-8, 15-21
FYI–
The Final Week series has focused on how Matthew’s gospel told the events of the final week. As we turn to Holy (or Maundy) Thursday, however, John and to a lesser extent Luke added such important material to our understanding of that day that we cannot totally omit them from the GPS readings.
Matthew 26
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. He said to the disciples, “Stay here while I go and pray over there.” 37 When he took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, he began to feel sad and anxious. 38 Then he said to them, “I’m very sad. It’s as if I’m dying. Stay here and keep alert with me.” 39 Then he went a short distance farther and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me. However—not what I want but what you want.”
40 He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you stay alert one hour with me? 41 Stay alert and pray so that you won’t give in to temptation. The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.” 42 A second time he went away and prayed, “My Father, if it’s not possible that this cup be taken away unless I drink it, then let it be what you want.”
43 Again he came and found them sleeping. Their eyes were heavy with sleep. 44 But he left them and again went and prayed the same words for the third time. 45 Then he came to his disciples and said to them, “Will you sleep and rest all night? Look, the time has come for the Human One [or Son of Man] to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up. Let’s go. Look, here comes my betrayer.”
John 17
1 When Jesus finished saying these things, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son can glorify you. 2 You gave him authority over everyone so that he could give eternal life to everyone you gave him. 3 This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. 4 I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I shared with you before the world was created.
6 “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
15 I’m not asking that you take them out of this world but that you keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world. 17 Make them holy in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 I made myself holy on their behalf so that they also would be made holy in the truth.
20 “I’m not praying only for them but also for those who believe in me because of their word. 21 I pray they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Join us next Thursday or Friday for a special service remembering the events we have studied this week. Click here for times and locations.
Matthew wrote that Jesus prayed in Thursday’s final hours. John gave a much fuller account of what Jesus prayed in that somber moment. His teaching and healing ministry was over; the cross was just ahead. He told the Father that he had done his God-given work of making God known to our world. He asked God to “glorify” him—not as we often think of glory, but through the cross! And he prayed for his followers, asking God to guard the disciples (then and ever after) as they faced a hostile world.
- In verse 14, Jesus said that his followers “don’t belong to this world” any more than he did. Where do you most sense the pull between this world’s priorities and God’s kingdom priorities? What habits can you intentionally adopt to shift your guiding loyalty to God’s Kingdom, both as it directs God’s mission in this world and as it gives you the hope of eternity with God beyond this world?
- Jesus asked God to empower “those who believe in me because of their word” to live united in love. In other words, he prayed for Christians through the ages, including you. Before he went to the cross, King Jesus was confident his kingdom would endure, prevail over the world’s hatred, and in time reach you. How does your heart respond when you realize that Jesus prayed for you?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, make me a living, breathing answer to your prayer. I open my heart to the work of your Holy Spirit. Guide me as I seek to share your love and grace with everyone I meet. Amen.
GPS Insights
Leah Swank-Miller
Leah Swank-Miller, who serves as Pastor of Care and Director of Student Ministries at Resurrection Overland Park, wrote today's Insights. A Kansas native, she has been a professional actress for nearly two decades, and she loves to see the vastness of God’s creation through theatre and the arts. Leah graduated with an M. Div. from Saint Paul School of Theology. Leah, Brian, and their two children love to play tennis, golf, soccer, and board games.
There is something deeply personal for me and almost overwhelming in realizing that before the weight of the cross was placed on His shoulders, before the betrayal, before everything went down, Jesus chose to pray. And not just a quick, “God be with everyone” kind of prayer. He got personal. Intentional. He prayed for His disciples. And, incredibly, for us.
We see Jesus in Gethsemane, and honestly, it’s raw. He’s overwhelmed. He knows what’s coming, and He’s not pretending it’s easy. He literally asks, “Is there another way?” But then He follows it with, “Not what I want, but what you want.”
He’s embodying lived-out faith. He’s not pretending things don’t hurt but trusting God anyway. And He invites His disciples into that space, He says, “Stay here and keep watch with me.” I’m struck that even in His deepest distress, He desires friendship.
Then we are given a rare glimpse into what Jesus is praying; it’s specific and full of love. He prays for His disciples’ protection and joy, and then He expands the circle: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…”
That’s us.
Jesus isn’t praying that we’d be perfect, or that this life would be easy. He prayed that we’d stay connected to Him. That we’d live in unity and that we wouldn’t do life alone.
Jesus didn’t just pray for unity as an abstract idea. He prayed for it to be lived out through us. We become the answer when we choose presence over comfort, when we step toward someone instead of away, when we build bridges instead of walls, and when we create spaces where people feel seen, known, and loved.
Every time you reach out, include, forgive, or show up, you are echoing the prayer Jesus prayed in the garden. Sometimes being the answer to Jesus’s prayer looks like: Sitting with the kid who’s alone. Texting someone and actually meaning it, letting someone into your circle instead of keeping it closed, or choosing kindness when it would be easier to ignore.
It’s simple. But it’s powerful. Every time you choose connection over comfort, you’re making Jesus’s prayer real in someone’s life. Because someone out there is hoping they won’t feel alone today. And you might be the answer to a prayer that was prayed over 2,000 years ago.
