Although Jesus was about to undergo the sufferings of the Cross, he was still loving his disciples until the end–what an amazing expression of his love.
Where in these five chapters just Jesus even bring up the fact that his own soul is troubled? Where does he even bring up his own suffering? You know what he doesn’t even bring up his own death except in an offhanded way that he’s going to the Father. Do you get my drift here? It’s like out of love–do you know what happens over these five (John 13-17) chapters? If you’re John if you’re James if you’re Peter it’s like wow you feel like you’re the center of the universe. Jesus is seriously enduring this kind of stress this kind of weight is on his shoulders and yet he takes these five chapters and it’s just summed up here he loved them to the end. That’s what we got here just turning his attention solely on these guys I mean how selfless can you get the expressions of his love for his disciples it’s just without equal. Would you think this would just be five chapters of self-pity right? Get the guys to cry on your shoulders with you that this is going to be so bad. Instead, you know what he’s concerned about? He’s concerned about building them up he’s concerned that with the trial he’s going to go through it’s going to be a massive trial for these guys too massive and he’s seeking to prepare them he knows he knows that these guys are going to be tempted to fall away.
From the full sermon: No Fruit Without Death | The Upper Room Discourse, Part 1 – Tim Conway
