Beyond the Weekend: Parables
The stories Jesus told and what they mean for your life today.
Why did Jesus teach in stories? Because the deepest truths about God are often found in the ordinary moments of life.
In the parables, Jesus takes everyday things, a lost sheep, a dinner party, a farmer planting seeds and uses them to show us what God is really like and what it means to follow him.
This summer, we’re spending seven weeks in the parables from Luke’s gospel. Whether you’ve heard these stories a hundred times or this is your first time, you’re invited to come and hear them fresh.
June 27/28–August 8/9
Jesus’s Prayer of Worship
Read: John 17:1–5 | Listen: John 17
This year in Beyond the Weekend, journey through different biblical models of prayer—one each month. July’s focus is Worship.
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” John 17:1
His death is only hours away. By the morning, Jesus will be nailed to a Roman cross. Gripped with urgency, he gives his disciples final words of encouragement. He tells them to remain in him. He promises to send a helper, the Holy Spirit, to remind them of his words. He assures them that their grief will be turned to joy (John 15–16). Now, he turns to heaven to pray. He worships God the Father and asks for his death to bring glory to him. Jesus worships God for his plan to bring eternal life through his death and resurrection. He exalts him for making a way through the impossible canyon of sin and death. Knowing that God will be glorified and reunited with his creation allows him to worship in the face of insurmountable suffering.
Jesus’s decision to worship when facing death reminds us that we, too, can glorify God in our own suffering. Worship reorients our hearts toward God’s promises. When we worship God in prayer, we remember he is in control and that his purposes will happen. He desires to be known through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. His suffering and ultimate victory over sin and death can turn our sorrow into joy and our pain into triumphant endurance. Not even death can swallow up the eternal victory of Christ.
TODAY: Pray this over your circumstances: “Father, thank you for loving me by sending your Son Jesus to die for my sins. I ask for your glory to be revealed in my current situation. Though I am weary, I know that enduring can lead others to praise you.”
