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Caleb Woodrum John 19:16-27 Love Bears the Weight of Sacrifice ( John 19:17–18 ) “Carrying His own cross, He went out to the place of the Skull… There they crucified Him.” Jesus carried the literal weight of the cross, but more importantly, He carried the spiritual burden of humanity’s sin. His love…

In John 19:1-17, Jesus trial continues, but there is more on trial than merely Jesus the man. The very nature of truth, power, and authority are put on trial. Jesus is the king they need, the king who was promised, and yet, then -- as now -- so many reject him, and choose to follow others. At the end of it all, the people are faced with a very simple question -- Will they crucify their king?

Christian creeds affirm the truth that Jesus "was crucified for us, under Pontius Pilate". This truth, historical and factual, grounds the Christian faith and gospel narrative not in the realms of mythology, but history. In John 18:28-40, we read about this time when Jesus stands trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, at the request of the Jewish authorities. However, instead of a discussion of his alleged crimes, their discussion quickly turns to the very nature of truth itself. So, we are forced to ask ourselves, what is truth?

In John 18:15-27, the disciple Peter denies Jesus, not once, but three times. This betrayal marks a pivotal moment in Jesus' final days as even those closest to him begin to turn on him, and betray their master. But Jesus knew this was coming -- he even tells Peter this is going to happen in John 13. And unlike Judas, this isn't the end of Peter's story as a follower of Jesus. In the middle of one of the most painful and poignant parts of Jesus' story, how can we avoid falling into the same pitfalls as Peter? And what can we learn about the power of redemption, and restoration?

Betrayal is always one of the most painful feelings a person can experience, and it can be hard to see how this could ever be part of some bigger plan. Yet scripture reminds us that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”. In John 18:1-9, Jesus is betrayed by one of his closest friends. Yet we are reminded that this betrayal was a necessary part of his plan to redeem his people from the power of Sin. So, as we seek to follow Jesus example, we explore what we can learn from this pivotal moment in the life of our saviour.

In John 17:20-27, Jesus personally prays for the believers that will follow on account of his message, and his disciples who shared it -- that's us! And what he prays for is our unity! But right now, to the outside world, the church really doesn’t look very united. So what is happening? Did Jesus prayer fail? Or are we missing something about what true unity looks like? We unpack this prayer, and seek to understand how Jesus expects his people to embody the kind of unity he prayed for.

In John 17, Jesus prays what is perhaps his most powerful prayer in all of scripture. While perhaps less known than the model prayer He teaches his disciples when they ask him -- the prayer we often call the "Lord's Prayer" -- the prayer he prays here is far more personal, and powerful even than that! This morning, we look at the first 5 verses of John 17, where Jesus speaks to the Father in a way quite unlike anything else we see in scripture. We see Jesus praying not merely as a man, but the divine second person of the Trinity, and what he asks for is something God has vowed never to share -- his glory! We unpack the significance of these words, and think about what this means for both our conception of Jesus, and God's glory itself.

Sometimes what looks like defeat can actually be victory, and what appears to be a vicrory may be a defeat. But how do we respond when we don’t see the full picturr? Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”. But how did he prepare his disciples for the grief and sorrow that they would experience following his death? Without negating the reality of the pain of the moment, he also reminds them to forward to the joy that would come after, but what does that mean for us?