Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 18.7-9

John 18:7-9 “Therefore He again asked them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ And they said, ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’ Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,’ to fulfill the word which He spoke, ‘Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.’” In verses 7-8, it seems as if the entire crowd, after having fallen to the ground were like patients waking from an anesthetic sleep, grasping to reorient themselves to the real world. Once Jesus saw that they were recovered, He restated the original question. Do you wonder with me if all of them were afraid of another retreat and fall? If in their minds they were saying, “Oh no, here we go again.” But this question had a different purpose than the first one. Rather than setting the stage for a stunning revelation of who He is, it was asked for the purpose of clarifying that they were not after His disciples. John inserts the comment that Jesus was aware of what He had said to His Father only minutes before. It’s recorded in John 17:12, “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” John summarized Jesus’ prayer. “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.” It’s amazing to think that in the enormity and stress of this moment, Jesus remembered what He had prayed. We can be eternally grateful for Jesus’ intercession and care for us. He made sure that His disciples were not to be swept up with Him. The suffering which He was to endure was to be His alone. May this serve as a reminder to us to keep our purpose to live to love with Jesus in the forefront of our minds so that we can think of others when we are in trying circumstances. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com