Illustration 1: The Arrest of Jesus

by Lane

John Chapter 17

The Trauma Continues

The

High Priestly Prayer

Jesus Prays for Himself

1Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said,"Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.3"This is eternal life, that they may know You,the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.4"I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.5"Now Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

I. Verse 1___It is here we are told that "the hour has come." This is the event that the entire life and ministry of Jesus was about. To "Glorify"

Glorify thy Son (δοξασον σου τον υιον). First aorist active imperative of δοξαζω, the only personal petition in this prayer. Jesus had already used this word δοξαζω for his death (13:31f.). Here it carries us into the very depths of Christ's own consciousness. It is not merely for strength to meet the Cross, but for the power to glorify the Father by his death, resurrection, and ascension, "that the Son may glorify thee" (ινα ο υιος δοξαση σε). Purpose clause with ινα and the first aorist active subjunctive.

Jesus states in a manner that He was devoted to God in this life and now He will be devoted to God in His death. Any and all honor belongs to God the Father and none other.

II. Verse 2___This is a further explanation as to what it means to glorify the Father. The glory of the Father and the Son is expressed in the bestowal of eternal life on all humankind. It is here we find that only Jesus has the authority to convey this gift (eternal life). This redemption and bestowal of eternal life is bound up in a particular group. It is for those to whom the Father gave Jesus.

III. Verse 3___We need to notice the word "know." Eternal life is found by knowing God through the one sent by God__Jesus.

IV. Verse 4___Must be read in light of the petition of verse 5. Jesus is on the way to return to His Father's side in heaven. Jesus is committed to the cross.

V. Verse 5__Jesus prays to the Father for the return of things as they were before the world was founded.

6who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:6-7.

Jesus was equal with God before the world was founded. He voluntarily gave up His position on high and came to the earth in the form of a man. He "divested" (emptied) Himself of His deity and went to the cross as a man. In fact, if we remember, this story line is more or less how we started on the book of John: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

Jesus Prays for the Disciples

6"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7"Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9"I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11"I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 12"While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.13"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world that they may have My joy made full in themselves.14"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.15"I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.16"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.17"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.18"As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.19"For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

I. Verses 6-10___We now return the the theme of "what the Father gave to Jesus." This is assumed in v.2 and now clearly stated in v.6. God gave the "disciples" to Jesus. He chose them out of this world for their mission. Jesus manifested the Word of God and in turn the disciples God gave Him have obeyed that Word. They now know that Jesus is from the Father. They have a new understanding of their role and their mission. Jesus is not praying on behalf of the world, He is praying specifically for the disciples because they belong to God. As God has been glorified by the mission of Christ, now Christ will be glorified by the mission of the disciples.

II. Verse 11__It is precisely because I am leaving that I need your help for them. This is an urgent matter.

"Holy Father" in the address to God is found here alone in the Gospel. This idea combines the "two" characteristics of God. He is holy:

ἅγιος (hagios 40)
1. holy
from ἅζομαι (hazomai) to have veneration and awe. ἅγος (hagos) is reverence and the object of it, hence ἅγιος (hagios 40) is what belongs to the same, and denotes holy, sacred. As that could not be sacred which was polluted, purity becomes part of the meaning. ἅγιος (hagios 40) is that which is sacred, and that only can be sacred which is not unclean. [Holiness was taught to the Jews by a series of comparisons, in which purity pervaded all the ceremonies of the Law.]

2. saint
reverence, and the object thereof; hence, holy, sacred; an attribute belonging to the God of Revelation and Redemption. Also used of men and things in that relation to God required by His revealed character. The Spirit of God, as the organ by which He reveals Himself, it for this reason called ἅγιον (hagion), at every stage of revelation. Then, it is used substantively of angels, or holy ones, and of things which stand in peculiar relation to God; also of men who have, as the ground of their life, Christ as ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ (ho 3588 hagios 40 tou theou) (Mar 1:24. Luk 4:34, etc.) and πνεύμα ἅγιον (pneuma 4151 hagion).

3. pure
the reverence due to such purity, holy.
In phrases:
ἅγια ἁγίων (hagia hagiōn) holiest of all
ἅγια (hagia) holy.
ἁγίων (hagiōn) of holies.
πνεῦμα (pneuma 4151) the wind, the breath breathed forth, the element of life, predicated of man and beast the life-principle springing from God, spirit.
ἅγιόν (hagion)

But even more interesting is this word Father:

πατήρ (patēr 3962)
1. father -s
father [probably to be derived from Hebrew אב, which is the simplest labial sound of the infant. Consequently it recurs in all the cognate tongues — Sanscrit pitri, Latin pater, German vater, English father] (this specific meaning occurs only in Heb 11:23).

2. parent -s
a father. Here, plural, that is to say both father and mother.

Look at Hebrews 11:23 for the use of the word father:

23By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

In this verse it is translated "parents."

But what did Jesus mean when He asked "to keep them in Your name." NEB marginal reading: "keep them in loyalty to thee." Or, more exactly "keep then in adherence to Your Word." Then disciples then should be and were one with the Father and the Son.

III. Verse 12___ The petition of v.12 is referenced by the impending departure of Jesus. Since Jesus will depart the disciples need special aid from the Father. Jesus maintains that He has not lost any of these that the Father gave Him, except Judas, the "Son of perdition" (one after the nature of evil). This loss was not the fault of Jesus and Scripture based on the foreknowledge of God had to be fulfilled as relating to Judas. This is referred to in 13:18 which is a reference to Psalms 41:9.

IV. Verses 13-15__"These Things" Jesus spoke in the world will not bear fruit. Things are reaching a climax and the completion of the saving work of Christ is at hand. Jesus wants the disciples to realize His joy in them. Jesus has given the Word of God to the disciples and the disciples are hated for that. Jesus renews His prayer of v.11 in that the disciples are to be kept out of the clutches of the "evil one."

V. Verse 16__The hostility of the world toward the disciples as to Jesus is the subject.

VI. Verse 17___"Consecrate them in truth" deepens and develops the petition of v. 11b, which was "keep them in your name." If we remember our comments on that subject to keep them in "your name" is the same as saying to keep them in adherence. Here we have the idea of them being consecrated:

ἁγιάζω (hagiazō 37)

1. sanctify -ied, -eth

to make ἅγιος (hagios 40) to set in a state opposed to κοινόν (koinon) (common, unclean); or to deliver from that state, if already κοινόν (koinon), and put into a state corresponding to the nature of God.

2. hallow -ed

to make holy, sanctify; that is to say, to set something into a state opposed to κοινόν (koinon) (common); or, where the something is already κοινόν (koinon) to deliver it from that state and put it into a state corresponding to the revealed nature of God.

To be "consecrated in truth" means that the words of the disciples are to be "not common" and delivered from the state of the world. Their words are to correspond the the revealed nature of God.

VII. Verse 18__Precisely because the consecration of the disciples is for the service of God in the discipleship of Jesus, they are sent into the world and Jesus was sent by the Father. The parallel between His sending and their sending is to be observed. The community of believers is to take over Jesus' assault on the world.

VII. Verse 19__This verse brings this line of thinking to a logical conclusion. Jesus has already related the significance of His death in what we know as the Lord's Supper. In Lk. 22:19, Jesus said that He was giving His "body on your behalf." In 1st Cor. 11:24 it is "His blood on behalf of many (also Mark 14:24)." It is here as no other place that we learn of the mind of Christ. As Jesus was devoted to His mission to the point of death now those very same disciples take up the truth of that mission. That truth is the world is lost and without the saving work of Christ proclaimed throughout the world all men will perish.

Jesus Prays for the Commnity of Believers

.20"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;21that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22"The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.24"Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.25"O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;26and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.

I. Verse 20-21__This section is an expansion of v11 b for the unity of the disciples. It is here that we are able to extrapolate the meaning and mission of Christ directly to the church (congregations). It is only here that Jesus tells us that we are the logical outcome of His work, that the disciples are sent into the world and Jesus prays for their converts. This assumes the success of the disciples mission. "That they may be one" is defined in the words that follow. "Just as you Father are in me, and I in You." The unity of Christian believers is a fundamental concept and rooted in the ontological existence of God. As Jesus and God are one so are the community of believers.

II. Verses 22-23___The mission of the unity of believers is here expanded. We are again reminded of the "glory" given Jesus. Here we are told that glory is to be passed on to all believers in Christ. If we consider the larger context of the book, the glory Jesus is speaking of here is His mission on earth and His work for the Father even to death. It is a strange thing that suffering and dying may be considered 'glory' but that is precisely how Jesus chose to honor the Father by saving those whom God loves (us). That mission of glory has been passed on to the community of believers. Now we are to be in complete unity with Jesus and the Father so that through us, the world will know Jesus and the Father.

III. Verse 24___The prayer of Jesus is uttered not on a sickbed but at the close of the Last Supper with the prospect of death, suffering, and salvation in the balance. As already mentioned, we cannot read v.19 without being reminded of the Lord's Supper and the self consecration that Jesus spoke of in "my body" and "my blood." Jesus desires unity for all, but in specific, unity with those whom God has given Him in the final stop (heaven). At that final stop we will be able to see the Glory of Jesus as it was before the foundations of the world.

IV. Verse 25-26___Now the disciples and the world are to know that Jesus is one with the Father and that the Father Sent Jesus. To be continued.

by Lane Rogers