Liam Hungate
Students are still working through the Gospel of John, moving toward the story of the cross. This week's teaching, led by Liam, continued the study of John 17, the long prayer Jesus prayed with His disciples just hours before His arrest. It picks up where Aaron left off before camp.
In the first part of the prayer, Jesus focused on Heaven rather than His own coming suffering, fully committed Himself to God's will, and asked God to protect His disciples' faith after His death. This week's verses continue that same theme: even in His final hours, Jesus's prayer was entirely about others, not Himself.
Passages: John 17:13-26
Liam drew a line between happiness and joy. Happiness rises and falls with your day. Joy is a steady confidence that you are safe in God's hands no matter what your circumstances look like, on the mountaintop or in the valley. Jesus prayed that His disciples would have this kind of full joy even on the worst night of His life, which means He wants that same joy for us too.
Jesus told His disciples plainly that the world would hate them the way it hated Him. Following Jesus was never promised to be easy. But Liam pointed out what Jesus did not pray: He never asked God to remove His disciples from a hard world. He asked God to protect them while they stayed in it. We're called to be in the world without being shaped by it, and joy was never about avoiding hard things. It's about having something solid underneath you while hard things happen.
Jesus asked God to sanctify His disciples, meaning to set them apart for His purposes, through the truth of His Word. Liam explained that reading, understanding, and applying Scripture is what protects believers from being shaped by the world around them. Jesus then prayed that His own holiness would benefit His people, not stay contained to Himself, which Liam pointed to as the heart of Christ: willing to give up everything for those who believe in Him.
At this point in the prayer, Jesus shifts from praying for the twelve disciples in the room to praying for every believer who would ever come to know Him, including students in the room tonight. He prayed for unity among all of them, modeled on the unity of the Trinity. Liam described what that unity actually looks like: not standing out or seeking attention, but building others up and putting others first. How believers treat each other, at church, at school, in friend groups, is meant to be visible proof to the world of what God's love looks like.
Jesus prayed that His people would eventually be with Him forever, and that eternity would center on His glory, meaning we won't run out of reasons to be amazed by Him. Even knowing the cross was coming, Jesus still called God righteous, meaning fully good and right. Liam pointed out that Jesus's coming pain didn't change how good God is. Jesus's last request in the prayer was to be present with His people, something Liam said is fulfilled right now through the Holy Spirit living in every believer.
To open the message, Liam compared this prayer to a moment from the movie Avengers: Endgame, when Tony Stark, in his final seconds, doesn't say anything about his pain or fear. He simply tells his wife he loves her. Liam's point: in someone's true last moments, whatever comes out reflects what they actually care about most. Jesus's last recorded prayer before His arrest was entirely about us. He prayed for our joy, our protection, our holiness, our unity, and that we would be with Him forever.
These are the questions the group discussed:
A few easier openers if you want to start smaller: