I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
I recall the giddy class president announcing that we were finished and would be graduating within the month. Lacking just a few assignments, one term paper and one final exam, it still felt a little premature to celebrate. My work was not yet done.
In His high priestly prayer Jesus speaks of glorifying the Father by completing the work he had been given to accomplish. What work was Jesus referring to? The past tense clearly speaks of something terminated, completed, accomplished. Yet, we inevitably see this statement as a reference to the cross of Calvary.
Other passages describing the work Jesus fulfilled can be found in John. For example, in John 9:4 Jesus claims to be doing the work of the one who sent him. ´As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no-one can work (John 9:4). Further, he frequently insisted that what he did was according to the Father’s will or by the Father’s empowering (John 5:30, 6:38 and 15:10). In these cases, we normally have little difficulty finding an immediate fulfillment and recognize, only in general terms, Jesus was also focused on fulfilling the work and will of God by going to the cross.
As a devout evangelical I have no difficulty embracing the centrality of the cross in the work of Christ, but I am still left pondering the possibility that Jesus was referring to another work, less significant in the scope of eternity, but tremendously important in the plan of God to reach the world. What work could this be?
Jesus spent three and a half years trekking around the Galilean countryside sometimes surrounded by a throng but usually maintaining a small and dynamic group in tow. These were his students, his protégés. The death of Jesus was the final blow that destroyed the dominion of the devil, ripped apart the divide between man and God and opened the pathway to the throne of grace. Yet, the life of Jesus was dedicated to another cause. Jesus had an intentional plan and it was not merely in precipitation of the cross. His plan was to train the twelve to carry on his mission.
The training of the twelve and seventy-two was the completed work that brought glory to God. The prayer concluding the Upper Room discourse focuses on the disciples. Jesus prayed for his followers and those in the room, and during the introduction of that prayer he states that his work is complete; the work of preparing them to take the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the rest of the world.
Imagine yourself sitting in that room content as you mark the passage of another year and in celebration of the Passover your leader offers a prayer and says the work is completed. You would ask yourself, what work is the master speaking of? Most likely, you would consider the work of the past three years, traveling from town to town. Going out on mission trips two by two; learning to cast out demons, developing skills to proclaim the word of God, and to heal the sick. It is quite possible you would determine that the completed work was your own training.
Naturally, in the shadow of the cross such a singular important act in the work of Christ influences our subsequent interpretation of earlier statements by Jesus. There is little resistance to reading the cross into the meaning of John 17:4. Suddenly, the statement becomes a prophetic utterance prescribing the full and complete work of Jesus. As Leon Morris said, There is a sense in which each stage of His work may be regarded as perfect and complete. And there is a deeper sense in which nothing is complete without the cross. (Morris, 1981). Absolutely, and hearty “amen,” but we should not let the deeper sense cause us to loose site of the immediate.
The stage of work that should be regarded as perfect and complete was the task of equipping the disciples for the challenging ministry of raising up a missional and international Church. Jesus succeeded at this task and we must assume, as others have before us, that he was a master trainer, and did so perfectly, thus bringing glory to the Father. Because his training program and methods were effective we should render them greater scrutiny.
Leon Morris, Leon. NICNT, The Gospel According to John. Eerdmans, 1981.
