Jesus High Priestly Prayer (Part 1a) Series

JESUS’ HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER

(Part 1a: Jesus’ Prayer For Himself)

John 17:1-5

It is the eve of the Crucifixion; Jesus and His Disciples have spent some time in the Upper Room celebrating the Passover Feast. Following the meal Jesus spent the next few hours giving some final instructions to His closest followers. At some point He transitioned from teaching the Disciples to praying for them.

It is important to note the timing of this prayer. Jesus knew that His hour had come; He knew that He would soon be delivered into the hands of His enemies and ultimately He would endure the wrath of God. In His humanity He was tired and weary, to the point of being physically exhausted. Furthermore, earlier in the evening Jesus had declared that His “soul was troubled” (12:27). Later, upon arriving in Gethsemane Jesus would pray again and “being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Knowing the things that would soon take place, Jesus knew the importance and the urgency of teaching His Disciples and spending time in prayer.

This prayer is divided into three main parts: 1. Jesus’ Prayer For Himself 2. Jesus’ Prayer For His Disciples and 3. Jesus’ Prayer For His Church. We will begin with:

I. JESUS’ PRAYER FOR HIMSELF

v1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,

John says that “Jesus spoke these words”; “these words” could be a reference to the previous chapter, or it could be a reference to the previous four chapters. After observing The Last Supper in the Upper Room Jesus girded Himself with a towel and began to wash His Disciples’ feet and to teach them some very important truths. This discourse continues from chapter 13 through chapter 16 and then in chapter 17 Jesus begins to pray.

There is some debate among scholars as to whether this prayer took place in the Upper Room or en route to the Garden of Gethsemane. The most common belief is that the Savior prayed in the Upper Room after giving His final instructions to His followers and just before they sang the traditional Passover Psalms. Regardless of the location, this is the most beautiful and important prayer that was ever prayed on earth.

Time does not permit us to cover in detail all that Jesus of the “words that Jesus spoke” to His Disciples but I would like briefly survey the main subjects. As He washed their feet, Jesus proclaimed the importance of serving and loving one another (13:12-35). He went on to predict the betrayal of Judas as well as Peter’s denial (13:18-30; 31-35). In John 14 Jesus spoke about Heaven, His eventual return and He proclaimed that He is “the Way, the Truth, & the Life” (14:1-6). He also revealed the Father and promised the arrival of the Holy Spirit (14:7-31). In John 15 Jesus declared that He is the True Vine (15:1-17) and He revealed that the world will hate the followers of Christ (15:18-27). In Chapter 16 He warned them about the persecution that they would soon face (16:1-4). He went on to describe the person and work of the Holy Spirit (16:5-15). Furthermore, He spoke about the impending sorrow and as well as the future joy of the Disciples (16:16-33). After teaching these important truths Jesus “lifted up His eyes to Heaven”.

The Bible tells us that lifting one’s eyes was a common posture for prayer. In Psalm 123:1 the Psalmist said, “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.” When Jesus healed a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment He: “looked up to Heaven, sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened". When describing the contrast between the self-righteous Pharisee and the humble tax collector, Jesus said that the tax collector “standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'” (Luke 18:13)

Here, as Jesus prayed He “lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father”. It is no surprise that Jesus had the ability to speak directly to His Father, but we should be truly humbled by the fact that we have direct access to God’s throne as well. Jesus made this truth abundantly clear in His previous discourse. He said in John 14:13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. Later, John would write “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).