In his final teaching Jesus has told his disciples to pray;
now he turns to pray. The prayer falls into four sections. From 17:1 – 5 Jesus
prays for himself; from 17:6 – 19 Jesus prays for his disciples; and from 17:20
– 24 Jesus prays for those who will come to faith because of the disciples and
then in 17:25 – 26 there is a summing up.
We will look at these sections, but first I want to talk
about a word glory that is at the heart of this prayer.
Look at how the prayer starts in v. 1 v. 1, ‘glorify your
Son, that the Son may glorify you’, v. 4, ‘I glorified you on earth and v. 5,
‘glorify me in your own presence, with the glory I had with you before the
world existed.’
And then at the end of the prayer Jesus comes back to this
subject. Jesus talks about the glory he has given his disciples and then in v.
24, Jesus prays that his followers will see his glory.
Glory is important in this prayer, and glory is a very
important word in John’s Gospel. It appears 23 times, and in this prayer, either
glory or glorify comes 7 times. There is no such emphasis in the synoptics.
The Greek word for glory is ‘doka’, which means full
of honour and visible splendour. In Hebrew it is kaved, which means
heavy. So glory is visible, heavy, splendour.
And as we have seen in this Gospel, Jesus has very strong
views about this subject of glory. Jesus does not accept glory from humans
(5:41), or from another (5:44) or seek his own glory (7;18, 8:50) or glorify
himself (8:54) or love the glory of humans (12:43). Instead he seeks the glory
that only comes from God (5:44), the glory of the one who sent him (7:18). He
sees that the most important thing about Lazarus’s illness is the glory of God
(11:4). Long before we get to this prayer we have learned that there is only
one thing that dominates Jesus’ thinking, there is only one issue that is of
burning importance to him – it is the glory of God.
So, it we were to ask what is Jesus
asking for, this is the answer, he is asking for glory. For the Father, for the
Son – and for us to see this.
Why glory? Because when all glory is
given to God, then everything else falls into place.
Let’s look now at these sections.
17: 1 – 5 Jesus prays for himself
How does Jesus pray physically? He lifts his eyes to heaven.
That’s what he did in front of Lazarus’ tomb.
Prayer starts with Jesus acknowledging that there is another
world, there is another system – of angels and arch angels, and the throne of
God the Father.
And how does he address God? Father. It was the same in front
of Lazarus’ tomb. It is of course the same when Jesus in the synoptics taught
his disciples how to pray, ‘Our Father in heaven’.
The intimacy that Jesus had just been talking about in the
Farewell Discourses, now the disciples see this. It is possible.
Jesus tells the Father that, ‘The hour has come’. We, the
reader, always knew that this hour was coming, now it has come. This was true.
As Jesus was praying, because of Judas’ betrayal, the soldiers are getting
ready to come and arrest him.
Jesus wants to pray about this hour – for himself and then
for his disciples. His concern for himself is that in this hour he is glorified
– because he obeys God – and so this bring glory to the Father.
The Father has commanded that the cross must happen, the
Father has commanded that Christ must be the lamb of God, that He must take the
Father’s wrath for the sins of the world. So here Jesus is asking for help in
prayer for this to happen. That he will be able to bring glory to God through
his suffering.
The prayer starts with great intimacy between the Son and the
Father. That is v.1; but then in v. 2 the scene moves away from this intimacy
to the vastness of Jesus’ authority. It is over all flesh, over all mankind.
Authority comes from intimacy. And how does Jesus use this
authority? To give eternal life to ‘all whom you have given him’. We see that the
issue of suffering is never separated from authority, because it is the giving
of eternal life which is the cause of all of Jesus’ suffering.
Jesus talks here about all that God has given him. We met
this idea in chapter 6 where Jesus talked about those the Father had given him
and in 6:44 he said nobody can even come to him, unless the Father draws him.
Without doubt the Father chooses. However in 6:45 Jesus says
everyone is taught by God, and anyone who learns from the Father comes to me.
And so without doubt our response to God is also important. Here in John 17 we
have God’s initiative here in v. 2, and then again in v. 6, 9, and 24. But
Jesus is also praying, that means our prayer, our response is also important.
In v. 3 we have an important definition of what eternal life
is. It is not just life for the sake of life. It is relationship. It is knowing
God the Father and God the Son.
In v. 4 and v. 5 we are back with Jesus’ concern for glory.
We see it has two sides. There is glory in the work that Jesus has accomplished
on earth – the teaching, the miracles, but especially the suffering that is
going to come. That is one side of glory. But there is another and Jesus wants
that. He wants the glory He had before he was sent to the earth, before even
the world existed. A wonderful heavenly glory. That is what Jesus wants.
Let’s move to the second section.
Jesus prays for his disciples 17: 6 – 19
This is the longest section of the prayer. Before we look at
some of the details it’s important to focus on what the actual requests are.
The first request is in v. 11, Holy Father, keep them in your
name., then the next request is similar, in 15, ‘keep them from the evil one’,
and the third is also similar – ‘Sanctify them in the truth’.
The disciples are to stay in the world and Jesus is praying
that they remain as disciples, they remain loyal and holy to God. We can
summarise the prayer in a few words:
Father, please keep my
disciples as Christians. It is then the faithful, holy Christian who is sent
into the world (v18). First Jesus prays that we remain faithful and holy, then
he sends us.
Before making that first request in v. 11, Jesus explains who
the disciples are and what their situation is. V 6 Jesus again affirms that the
disciples have been given to him by the Father, and Jesus has ‘manifested his
name’ to them. It is possible that Jesus actually taught them the name Yahweh,
the name of God, but most people think that ‘name’ here refers to character.
Jesus has shown the disciples the character of the Father – through the seven
signs, through the teaching, through the washing of feet, and soon through the
cross and resurrection. People ask, what is God like? This Gospel answers – He
is like Jesus.
Jesus then says that these disciples have accepted His word.
Jesus here means they have shown themselves loyal to what Jesus has said. This
was especially true at the end of John 6. Do you remember, when Christ started saying
people had to eat his body and his blood and many disciples said that this was
a hard saying, and they left. But these eleven stayed. They might not have
understood all that Jesus taught, but they had understood the most important
things. They know that Jesus’ words have come from God (v. 7) and that Jesus
has come from God (v. 8)
So it is this group who have shown loyalty that Jesus is
praying for – not the world (9) This does not mean that Jesus is not concerned about the world. John 3:16 tells us that the
Father and the Son love the world. And later in this very prayer, Jesus talks
about these disciples going into the world (v.18), and the world being impacted
by their witness (v. 21). Jesus cares for the world, but right now it is
important for him to pray for his own disciples.
In v. 11 Jesus explains the situation of the disciples. He is
now coming to the Father, but the disciples are staying in the world. Yes, we
have learned that they will have the Holy Spirit, but that is not till after
the crucifixion. And even then, though better, as Jesus explained, still it
will be very different. So – Jesus is praying for the disciples in the specific
background of his trial and execution and all the danger after that. It is a
very specific prayer. It relates back to how he started the prayer – ‘the hour
has come’. That is an hour of suffering for Him, but it is also an hour of
testing for the disciples.
And so he prays the Holy Father will keep them – in your name
(11). The Greek says ‘in the name’ There is discussion over what Jesus meant by
‘in your name’. Some say this means ‘by your name’, i.e. God the Father can
keep the disciples safe by the power of His name. And that name certainly has
power, that is made clear in Psalm 54:1 – ‘O God, save me by your name’. However
others think it means, keep them faithful to your name, to your character. Keep
them loyal. This is what makes more sense to me. Especially because of what
follows, when they are loyal, then there will be unity, oneness, with God and
His Son.
12. Jesus has kept them loyal while on earth, except ‘the son
of perdition’.
But even as Jesus chose his disciples, he knew that betrayal
was going to be a part of the story, the Scripture had to be fulfilled. Jesus
then is saying to His Father – I did my job. With me, these eleven are loyal.
Now I am coming to you – please keep them loyal.
13. The things that Jesus has been speaking about is probably
referring back to the Farewell Discourses and especially the teaching about
abiding in the vine, that is another way of saying, staying loyal. And Jesus
taught this – as he prays now, so they would have joy in themselves. If you
look at 15:11 you will see it’s very similar to this verse. Joy comes from
staying loyal to Jesus. And so Jesus prays that his disciples will know this
joy.
Jesus goes onto explain their situation, which is again
similar to John 15. Because these disciples are loyal to Christ’s word, so, the
world hates them. Their remaining in Christ, means they do not belong to the
world system.
Let’s now take 15 – 19 as one. This is how Jesus ends his
prayer for his own disciples.
They are in a place where they are hated, and where there is
spiritual opposition. Their life is not going to be difficult. The easy answer
would be for Jesus to ask the Father just to remove them from the world.
Escape. (15) But Jesus specifically says that He does not want the Father to
take them out of the world. In fact, just as the Father sent Jesus into the
world, so now Jesus is sending them into the world, the world that is in
rebellion against God. That is where Jesus wants his disciples to be.
But how? How does he want them to be there? He has two
requests.
1. He wants them to be protected from the evil one (15). He
prayed this in the Lord’s prayer, ‘Deliver us from evil’; he prays it now.
2. He wants them to be sanctified in truth (17). Sanctified
means set apart, consecrated, completely loyal to God, separated. But that
separation must no happen in a vacuum. That will not work. The world will come
in. For there to be separation there has to be this constant living in truth,
Christ’s words. And this does not just mean reading the Bible; this means
living the Bible, for truth is teaching in action. The truth is not knowing
that Jesus washed feet, the truth is washing feet. Christ’s truth in us
separates us from the world.
The prayer for the disciples ends in v. 19. Here Jesus
explains that the sanctification of the disciples in truth this will happen
because of his own consecration This surely refers to the cross. Jesus – like a
consecrated sacrifice, set apart to be killed – will soon be facing death. Because
his death that will bring the Holy Spirit who will work to bring about this
sanctification of these first disciples.
What a prayer for the eleven for this hour – that the Father
keeps them, that they are protected (mohafezat), and kept separate, to then be
sent into the world.
Now let’s move to the last part of the prayer, when Jesus
prays for those – like us – who have believed because of the witness of those
first disciples.
Jesus prays for other disciples 17: 20 – 26
Jesus is confident that his prayers will be heard and that
these first disciples will be a faithful witness, and so there will be future
disciples. There indeed are. Today there nearly two and a half billion people
call themselves Christians.
What is Jesus’ prayer for these others, for us? Unity. This
does not mean that everyone dresses the same and says the same sorts of things.
That is a static unity. Everyone the same. This is not static unity. This is
unity because we are in a relationship both with each other and with the Father
and the Son. That’s what the repetition of the ‘in’ is all about. The Father in
the Son, the Son in the Father, the believer in both the Son and the Father. This
is a dynamic unity.
The impact of this relating with God and each other on the
world will be massive. It will result in people in the world saying – God is
with these Christians.
There is much discussion over what Jesus means in v. 22 about
the glory he has given to his disciples, which will help them in this
relationship. Probably the best way to understand this is that he has revealed
his glory to them – through his miracles, through his teaching – and especially
– in the future – in the cross and resurrection. That is why this author says –
we have seen his glory, in the prologue. This revelation of Christ’s glory has
a purpose – it is to bring them – us – into this relationship which makes this
unity, this oneness. And again Jesus says that this will have an impact on the
world. When they see the church in relation with the Father and the Son, that
is when they will believe that Jesus is divine, that He has been sent by God –
and here he adds something, v. 23 – that they are loved by Jesus, as the Father
loves the Son. People in the unbelieving world will respond when they see that
Christians know they are loved.
So far Jesus has just prayed for that these believers may
have this unity in relationship with God and other believers– it’s in v. 21,
22, and 23.
Now in 24 we have a different request. So again we read,
Father.
Father – there’s
something else. And that is that Jesus wants his disciples – past and present –
to be with him where he is, i.e. with the Father in heaven, and to see the
glory that Jesus had before the creation of the world – and to see that this
glory rests on the love of the Father for the Son. Jesus wants us to share in
the glory and love of his relationship with the Father.
It’s important to see that this for Jesus is the most
important thing. Yes, he is concerned about our journey – that we are kept from
the evil one, that we have unity – but he also keeps the focus on the
destination. And the destination is seeing God’s glory.
The prayer ends with v. 25 – 26. It is a summary
Jesus proclaims the most important thing about the disciples.
Because of what Jesus has done, they know that the Father has sent Jesus. They
know that Jesus is from God. The world does not know, but these eleven do.
And then in v.26, this is deepened. This knowledge is for a
purpose. It is so the disciples – all disciples – can experience the love that
God has for the Son, in them.
They experience the love of God. Sharing the revelation of
God, and experiencing the love of God, are intimately connected. Put simply –
it is all about relationship.
And that is what Jesus prays for all of us, that this loving
relationship will be with us – and that is how we will make God known.
We have reached the end of chapter 17, which ends the
Farewell Discourses. This was a very intimate time Jesus had with the eleven.
Chapter 18 will be very different.
Let me leave you with three thoughts from Jesus’ wonderful
prayer.
First of all there is the importance of prayer for Jesus.
When he had the opportunity to teach these eleven on the last night on this
life there was an emphasis on prayer.
Four times Christ says that the disciples can ask anything
and it will be given 14:13, 15:7, 16, 16:23. So, he wants them to pray. He
wants us to pray. Things will happen. This is followed by chapter 17, a whole
chapter recording Jesus’ prayer before the storm comes. Surely there is an
example here.
Secondly remember what Jesus is asking for his disciples– he
is asking that the Father keeps them so they stay loyal. That is what Christ is
asking for – loyalty, separation from the world, and that will then bring
oneness. The most important thing we can do is to be loyal and faithful to
Christ.
And then thirdly – it is from prayer, and from this loyalty,
that we are sent into the world. Mission comes from prayer. Mission comes from
a relationship. Mission says, come and see the love God has for me. And good
things happen.
After the quiet, the storm. See you soon for Chapter 18.
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