Hebrews 5:7-10 "Jesus Prayed for You"

In high school, my senior year, my sister was playing a wild joke on a group of her friends. She had them convinced that a friend of hers, a guy named Kenny, was living with us because something had happened to his parents. She wove this wild story about how he lived with us and shared a room with me and all sorts of things. The way I found out about this was that at the end of the year a couple of her friends came up to me to ask me a question. I didn’t exactly walk in the same circles as my sister and her friends so we didn’t really talk all that much at school. Her friends asked me if Kenny lived with us. I realized that my sister must be playing a joke on her friends, and I thought it’d be fun to play along, so I responded by saying “yes!” at which point they ran over to her and said, “See, Gavin says it’s true, you’re not making it up!”

You see, Kenny and Nichol had been leading her friends on about this for a while and she was trying to tell them all that it had been a joke. They didn’t believe her and figured they’d get the truth from her older brother. I corroborated her story even though she didn’t want me to and it took forever for them to be convinced of the truth.

Now, I’ve got to admit, it’s nice to be known as so honest that my sister’s friends are going to take my word for something over hers. But I have to admit that that’s probably just because she was trying to convince them that she’d been lying to them for months. But this story actually tells us something else as well. It’s good to have someone to vouch for you. When someone who is accepted as honest speaks on your behalf, they can influence how people see you. What does this have to do with today’s scripture? Well, we have someone who vouches for us before God. We have someone who is totally and completely honest and obedient and who comes before God and tells him that we are okay, that we are loved, that we are desired. And, of course, this person who stands up for us and speaks on our behalf before God, is Jesus.

1. A humbling thought

Jesus prayed for you! While he was on this earth, while he was living out his life, while he was ministering to the people of Israel, Jesus prayed for you. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that today’s scripture only hints at this. It talks of Jesus praying hard: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”

Now, it seems at first glance that this passage is about Jesus in Gethsemane. We know the story. On the night before Jesus died, he went to Gethsemane to pray and he prayed so hard that he was crying tears of blood and he asked God to take the cup of his own death from him. But at the same time he told God, “not my will but yours be done.” This seems to be what Hebrews is talking about. After all we have Jesus praying with loud cries and tears and we have him praying to the one who can save him from death. But there are two things that don’t quite fit with this understanding. First it begins by saying that these prayers of Jesus were during the days of his life on earth. We aren’t just talking about a prayer the night before he died. We are talking about prayers he offered up throughout his life. And second, the sentence ends by saying that Jesus’ prayer was heard, and by implication, answered.

So, what is scripture talking about here, then? Perhaps it is talking about all the other times that Jesus went away to pray during his time of ministry. You see, Jesus was regularly running away from his disciples and those who were looking for him so that he could find a quiet place to pray. And here we see that his prayers were answered. The question I then wonder is what did Jesus spend all this time praying about? Prayer was such an important part of his life, what did he pray for? The truth is that we don’t see much of what Jesus prayed for in the gospels. We see him teaching the disciples how to pray and we see him in Gethsemane, but that is about it. But the thing is that when we think of Gethsemane we are usually thinking of the version that we get in Matthew, Mark & Luke. The gospel of John gives us a longer, more complete version of Jesus praying at Gethsemane, and we see in this that Jesus didn’t just pray for himself. He also prayed for his disciples; he also prayed for us.

II. Jesus’ prayers

In John 17 we first see Jesus pray for himself. But instead of praying that the cup might be taken from him, he prays that God will glorify him. But then he goes on and begins to pray for his disciples. In his prayer he tells his Father that he knows that he is going to be leaving the disciples and he knows that it is going to be difficult for them. He prays that God will be with them once he is God. He prays that God will protect them from evil. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of this world even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

Jesus, in his selflessness, prayed for those around him, he prayed for his loved ones, as he knew that what was ahead of him was going to be difficult for him, he also knew it would be difficult for them. And he wanted them to continue on.

But Jesus’ prayer doesn’t end there, either. He next prayed for us. He next prayed for you and me. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,” (that’s you and me) “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me… Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” Jesus prayed for us, that God would save us. Jesus truly acted as a great high priest for us, coming before God on our behalf and vouching for each and every one of us.

You see, that’s what Hebrews is saying when it talks of Jesus as the great high priest. Old Testament theology stated that the high priest needed to come before God on behalf of the people and offer up a sacrifice for those people. The high priest came before God representing the people and sacrificed on behalf of the people so that God would forgive them. Jesus fills this role in the New Testament. But instead of sacrificing an animal like the Old Testament high priest, Jesus sacrifices himself. Now there’s the theology behind this that is pretty deep and pretty powerful, but there’s the relational thing also. The relational component is that Jesus comes to God the Father and says, “Hey, dad, they’re okay, they’re with me!” This is what Jesus does for us in heaven because of what he did for us on the cross. And in John 17 this is what Jesus is praying for us while he is still on earth.

And so we come back to the words I began this message with. Jesus prayed for you. I don’t know why this hits me so very powerfully, but it does. It’s amazing enough to think that Jesus died for you. It’s amazing enough to think that Jesus sacrificed his life so that you can be saved. But this is something that most of us have been taught since earliest childhood and therefore, I think, we take it for granted. But here we see the depth and breadth of Jesus’ love for us, that even while he was on this earth, he took time to pray for us. John 17 is only one example of Jesus’ prayer. Though we don’t have many of Jesus’ prayers recorded in the Bible, it is important to realize that he was regularly praying to his Father. Now, we need to realize that all Jesus’ prayers weren’t requests from his Father. But it is clear that Jesus spent a good part of his earthly life communing with God in prayer, and he must have spent some of that time praying for those he cared about. And the fact is that Jesus cares about you and me. And so Jesus prayed for you and me. And God heard his prayers. God is with us because Jesus prayed for us.

III. What God says about you

This is just another reminder that God loves us, that Jesus loves us. One of many that we find throughout the Bible. One of many that we often choose to ignore or forget because we are so caught up in our own brokenness. This last Wednesday night, in Bible study, I listed a list that comes from Ephesians of things that God says about us, his followers. It’s a hard list to hear. Not because it says we’re bad or evil, but because it says we’re loved. Ephesians 1:3 says that I am blessed. 1:4 says that I am chosen and holy. 1:5 says that I am adopted by God. 1:7 says that I am forgiven. Verses 7 & 8 say that I am favored. 2:13 says that I am close to God 3:17-19 says that I am loved. 3:6 says that God promises me great things. And 5:29 says that I am cherished.

This is truly a powerful list. It is a list of things that God says about each of us. It is a list of things that we are called to believe about ourselves. It is a list of things that it is sometimes hard to believe about ourselves.

But God doesn’t only make claims like this. He backs it up with his actions. He tells us he loves us and then he acts on this love by sending his Son for us. He tells us that we’re adopted into his family and then he actually treats us as his children. He tells us that he will listen to us and then he answers our prayers. He tells us that he cherishes us and then Jesus actually prays for us.

So today’s message is one of good news. It is one that is worth hearing and believing. God cares for you. He loves you. When Jesus was praying for his people he prayed for you. And you are a special creation gifted by God. Why can’t we believe these truths about ourselves and each other? Why can’t we accept the wondrous love of Jesus? We want to wallow in our own sinfulness and pain. We want to think that nobody loves us. We want to focus on our brokenness. But God has a different story for you. He wants to tell you that you are blessed, you are chosen and holy, you are adopted, you are favored you are close to him, you are loved, he has great things planned for you and you are cherished. God loves you so much that he sent his Son so that if you believe in him you will not perish, you will have eternal life. And God’s Son, while he was on this earth, prayed for you. Amen.