Jesus Shows Us His Love In Prayer

JESUS REVEALS HIS LOVE IN PRAYER

John 17:1-11 - May 23, 2004 - Easter 7

JOHN 17:1-11

1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

6"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8For 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. 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

In this section of Scripture which we have been looking at for quite a few Sundays already, we see the close relationship of Jesus with his disciples. For in this section beginning at chapter 13 through chapter 17, Jesus is in the Upper Room with his disciples. Jesus is there on that Maundy Thursday before His crucifixion and death. In the upper room Jesus encourages His disciples. There He comforts them. There He strengthens them for what is about to take place. That is Jesus’ specific purpose during these chapters to show the full extent of His love. The fact is beginning in chapter 13, where this all starts, we are told the very purpose of Jesus. In John 13: "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love" (JOHN 13:1). From that time on, Jesus encourages his disciples. He institutes the Lord’s Supper. As Jesus gets to the last chapter of this section in chapter 17, He shows them the seriousness of the matter by praying for Himself and praying for His disciples. This is what we will look at this morning, the comforting encouragement we have today, because Jesus shows us the full extent of His love.

JESUS SHOWS US HIS LOVE IN PRAYER. He prays to His Heavenly Father

I. Glorify your only Son

II. Protect your children.

I. Glorify your only Son

There is no other account in Scripture that gives us the intimate details of Jesus with His disciples in this Upper Room. We have chapter 13, 14, 15, 16 and all of chapter 17 where Jesus spends time to show the disciples the full extent of His love. Chapter 17 begins: 1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Following this prayer the time would indeed come. They went out to Gethsemane. Judas betrayed Him. Jesus was arrested. He faced the trial, was tortured and then placed on the cross to finally die.

Then what does the Lord Jesus pray for? In the midst of this which is going to be the most dreadful spectacle in human history, Jesus comes before His Heavenly Father and says: Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. Jesus was praying to His heavenly Father that all glory would be given to Him, in order that the world and especially the disciples, God’s children, would see even in the midst of death that this was for the glory of God. Jesus explains why: 2For you granted him (God’s Son) authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Jesus in the midst of death would not seem very powerful. Jesus, as He breathes His last on the cross, would not seem to be the Creator of the world. He would not seem to be given all power, but yet He was. Through His death Jesus gives eternal life to those He loves.