After meditating over 5 Sundays on Jesus’ high priestly prayer, it is time for us to enter into his journey to the cross. This is a journey that starts with his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. The story is a familiar one. But every Gospel has a different emphasis and a different set of details. But we do know this that the night before he was arrested, Jesus went to an often frequented spot to pray. John tells us it was across the Kidron valley. Mark and Mathew tell us, the place was called the Garden of Gethsemane. This was ..

Earlier in Jesus’ prayer He talked about how disciples are those people who believe, accept and live out or keep God’s word. As they do that they are going to face opposition in the form of sowing disunity in their midst. Of course Jesus prays for protection from disunity for us in the power of His father’s name. In the next part of his prayer, he presents three more characteristics of being a disciple. Being joyful, being holy and being hated by the world. Today we are going to dive into all three and we are going to start with joy.