Readings:
Nahum 1-3
John 16:16-17:26

Nahum 1-3

Today we are starting and completing another one of the minor prophets, this time it’s Nahum’s turn. The minor prophets are distinguished from the major prophets not because they’re authoritative or important, but just based on the size of their writings. The major prophets all have books with a dozen or more chapters, while the minor prophets usually come in at a dozen or less.

Nahum was a prophet in Jerusalem from around the time that the Assyrians laid siege to the city. They had already destroyed and deported the northern kingdom of Israel and now intended to do the same to Judah, but as we read in 2 Kings, God delivers them and Judah ends up outliving the Assyrians by several decades. The book is very focused on the coming destruction of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, which eventually takes place in 612 BC at the hand of a coalition of Babylonians and Persians.

John 16:16-17:26

Jesus tells them, in somewhat of a riddle, that they won’t see him and then they will. They’re kind of confused by this and he clarifies it for them. Kind of. He tells them they’ll be sad and lamenting, but thin have joy. It’s obvious to us thar are reading this, that he’s speaking of his three days in the tomb, but they’re obviously confused. He likens their coming sorrow-turned-to-joy as a woman in labor forgetting the pains when she sees her baby’s face. Once again, I think they’ll look back on this like “ah ha” but in the moment they’re just scratching their heads.

Jesus explains some more about how he comes from the father and they’ll have all things explained soon, and the disciples say they understand perfectly and believe him. It just feels like a child that’s had the same thing said to them several times and just agree to not sound dumb. But Jesus sees this and says they will soon be scattered because of fear, even though if they truly understood they’d have no fear, but they’re on,y human. Jesus closes it with telling them there will be lots of trials to come, but with him they will be fine in the end because he has already overcome it all.

Jesus prays what is sometimes called the “high priestly prayer” in chapter 17. He prays for strength, for faith and most importantly he prays for unity if the believers. This prayer isn’t just for those present with him on the eve of his passion, but for every believer in him from that day until the end of time. That’s me and that’s you! Jesus prays at the hour when he’s to begin his suffering and death in our behalf, and his prayer is directly for us. Isn’t that a mind blowing thing to think about?

For more on this theme of unity, that Jesus repeatedly prays for, see this post Four Marks of The Church; One

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Isaiah 1-2
Proverbs 1
John 18