Below are most all of the passage in John that use the word "sent." I have included all those referring to Jesus, with a few that refer to John the Baptist. (Thank you to www.Biblegateway.com for help with this.) Missio means "to send," and thus being missional is about being "sent" into the world to take up the mission of Christ.
Clearly, the sheer number of times "sent" is used in John shows the significance of this concept to this gospel writer. The last reference to "sent" is found in that most seminal of sending passages, John 20:21: "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." Check out these sending passage in John below and see if you can find any pattern or significant themes in these references.
- John 1:6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
- John 1:33
And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
- John 3:28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’
- John 3:34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
- John 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
- John 5:23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
- John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
- John 5:30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
- John 5:36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me.
- John 5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
- John 5:38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.
- John 6:29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
- John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
- John 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
- John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
- John 6:57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
- John 7:16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.
- John 7:18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
- John 7:28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him,
- John 7:29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
- John 7:33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me.
- John 7:32-34 (in Context) John 7 (Whole Chapter)
- John 8:16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.
- John 8:18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
- John 8:26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
- John 8:29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”
- John 8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.
- John 9:4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
- John 9:7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
- John 10:36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?
- John 11:42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.
- John 12:44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.
- John 12:45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.
- John 12:49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.
- John 13:16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
- John 13:20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
- John 14:24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
- John 15:21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.
- John 16:5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
- John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
- John 17:8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
- John 17:18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
- John 17:21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
- John 17:23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
- John 17:25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.
- John 20:21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
What do you think of these references? What is the emphasis here? Do you see any commonalities or trends?
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