Jesus Prays For You

Think with me about the people who have prayed for you in your lifetime. Think about your personal times of crisis where you needed someone to pray for you. Now, when you picture this, who is praying for you? For many of you, your mothers and fathers have prayed for you. I imagine many of your grandparents have prayed for you as well. People who carried your name before God when you were too young to even know what prayer meant. Some of them may have prayed daily, quietly, consistently, without ever telling you. But of all the people who have prayed for you, surely knowing Jesus prayed for you is at the top of the list.

Find John 17 with me, if you will.

Jesus is only hours from His death and resurrection. On the eve of Jesus’ painful death, He prays to the Father. Now, the entire chapter 17 is one prayer from Jesus.

Look with me at what is classically known as the High Priestly Prayer. When you are reading John 17, you’re standing on holy ground.

Today’s Scripture

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:1-5).

Many of you know we have been studying the gospel of John, moving verse by verse, starting in Christmas of 2023. We arrive at what is a really important and theologically rich passage here. We are going to spend only one Sunday because I’m attempting to sync up the end of John’s gospel with our celebration of Easter. Yet, we should do so much more than 1 Sunday on this. Oliver Cromwell’s chaplain preached 45 sermons on this one chapter alone.1

Sermon Preview

1. Jesus Prays for Jesus

2. Jesus Prays for the Twelve

3. Jesus Prays for You

1. Jesus Prays for Jesus

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you’” (John 17:1).

1.1 Who Y’all Sitting With?

Have you seen the little game on social media that usually starts out if you’re stuck on a plane for 12 hours, then it gives some choices on who you would choose to sit next to? You choose once, and you don’t get to switch seats. I have seen this meme with Star Wars characters from the films. There’s a political version where various politicians are scattered throughout, and you must choose who you’ll sit with. I have even seen a Christian version of this where famous Christians are scattered throughout the plane, and you must decide who to sit with. But if I were stuck in any place for 12 hours or more, and I had to listen to any two people, I would choose God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is praying, and maybe the simplest way to define prayer is simply talking with God. Wouldn’t you love to eavesdrop on a conversation between Jesus and the Father? You eavesdrop on God talking to God. It’s as if the veil has been pulled back and you’re getting a glimpse of God’s very heart here. Think of this as the Mount Everest of all prayers.

1.2 The Trinity

The teaching of the Trinity is the background in many places in your Bible. The Trinity is that there is one God who eternally exists as three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the Trinity in John 17 is not in the background, instead it’s in the foreground. You cannot miss it. Throughout the prayer, you’ll hear Jesus direct His prayers to the Father (verses 1, 5, 11,21, 24, and 25).

1.3 An Overview

By the way, this prayer isn’t a stand-alone prayer. Instead, this prayer is the capstone to Jesus’ Farewell Discourse. Remember, all of chapters 14 through 16 were the longest continuous message we have of Jesus. Jesus delivers all of this last-minute message just before He is crucified. Now, Jesus prays at this decisive hour. And the Gospel of John offers us the longest recorded prayer Jesus offers in the Bible.

This is a remarkable prayer. Don’t think of Jesus’ thinking in this prayer as linear. Instead, think of it as a spiral. With every step of this prayer, Jesus goes deeper. Jesus is going to circle, where He’s going to add layers of depth along the way.