Day 28: John 17-18. Prayer and Passion
"For God So Loved the World..." says John 3:16, but in John 17, when Jesus prays, I really get the feeling not of Jesus' love for the world, but the separation between the disciples and the world. Jesus isn't praying for the world, but only of the disciples; he's not asking on behalf of the world, but only on behalf of his disciples. I'll be honest, there's something jarring about this, something that sounds exclusive and protective. Perhaps these words come out of the true experience of persecution. Jesus knows his disciples are going to be persecuted by (ahem) the world (even the world that he loves!), so he's praying for his disciples to endure. And, I'll be blunt, it sounds a little like Jesus doesn't mind if the rest of the world goes to hell, as long as his disciples are preserved all right. But what about "God so loved the world?" Perhaps the word "World" has more than one meaning for John -- sometimes the w...