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).
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus made it clear that His people are expected to pray. He said in Matthew 6:6 “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”. Not only did Jesus speak to the fact that His people are expected to pray, He also declared that when they pray they can expect an answer. Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
It is very important for us to grasp the fact that our Savior prayed for Himself. There are times when we are ready, willing and able to pray intercessory prayers on behalf of others. At the same time we may struggle to pray for ourselves; we may even think that doing so would be selfish. However, the scriptures say otherwise. In fact, this passage proves that if Jesus prayed for Himself, we certainly should do the same.
Without a doubt we can pray for ourselves in a selfish manner, but the act of praying for oneself in not inherently selfish. As we unpack this passage we will see that Jesus’ motives for praying for Himself were anything but selfish; ultimately His prayer was that God would be glorified through Him.
When Jesus began His High Priestly prayer He said “Father, the hour has come”. Throughout John’s Gospel account Jesus references “His hour”; this is a reference to His death on the Cross. The first occurrence to “His hour” is recorded in John 2:3-4; at the wedding feast in Cana they ran out of wine and His mother “said to Him, "They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." Later in the Gospel of John there were several occasions when Jesus’ enemies were prevented from seizing Him because “His hour had not come”. This fact proves that everything that happened in the life of Christ was according to God’s divine timeline.
There was an occasion in the Temple when Jesus was teaching that He declared that He had been sent from God. This proclamation infuriated certain Jews who had been sent from Jerusalem and “they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come” (John 7:30). Later as He was teaching in the Temple Treasury the Lord declared that He was the Son of God; though they did not believe and were offended by His words “no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come” (John 8:20). In John 12 some Greeks came to worship at the feast and they desired to see Jesus. Phillip and Andrew took this matter to the Savior and it was then that He declared "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” (John 12:23)
As Jesus and His Disciples observed the Passover meal He “knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Verse 3 of that chapter states that “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God…”
I cannot imagine the heaviness and sorrow that Jesus was experiencing at this moment in time. His long-awaited hour has arrived; He knew that His death was imminent. If any of us knew that within 24 hours we would be killed as a result of our service to the Lord, we would naturally pray that God would deliver us from such a fate. But earlier in the evening Jesus said "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?’ Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." (John 12:27-28)
It is true that later this very night Jesus would pray "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." (Matthew 26:39); However, this prayer was not motivated by fear of death. Quite the contrary, in fact His prayer makes it very clear that Jesus was anticipating the time when He would lay down His life and eventually return to the glory that He had previously experienced. He said in v5 “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
The Savior’s desire is evident in verse 1 when He said "Father…Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You”; Jesus’ ultimate motivation was that through His death He would glorify the Father. Jesus also knew that through His death forgiveness and eternal life would be made available to all who believe in Him. The Father receives glory when lost men and women are converted and manifest the life of the Lord Jesus here on earth.
Concerning this passage Dr. Warren Wiersbe says “Our Lord’s burden was the glory of God, and this glory would be realized in His finished work on the cross. The servant of God has every right to ask his Father for the help needed to glorify His name. “Hallowed be Thy name” is the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9), and it is the first emphasis in this prayer. (Source: Bible Exposition Commentary; Warren Wiersbe)
It is vitally important that the focus of our lives and our prayers is God’s glory. When we face times of great trouble we usually pray for deliverance and relief. But if we are to be like Christ, then our prayer should be that God would receive glory from our circumstances, even those that are difficult to bear. There may be times when we cannot understand how God could ever receive glory from our troubles. Often we are blinded by our grief, sorrow and distress and it seems unfathomable that God could be glorified by our circumstances. It is in these times that we must remember the promise that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
None of us will ever experience anything close to the agony that Jesus endured on the eve of the Crucifixion but each of us will face times of testing and trouble. If we are to successfully endure these times then prayer is essential. Furthermore the primary focus of our prayers should be that God is glorified through them.
How does God receive glory through our troubles? There are serval ways that this can happen: Times of trial, tribulation and testing serve to refine our character, that is, they make us more and more like our Savior. Paul said in - Romans 5:3 “we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” The Apostle Peter said in I Peter 4:12-13 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” There are many other passages that prove that times of trouble serve to refine our character.
Another way that God is glorified through our troubles is that they serve to help us minister to our brothers and sisters who are going through troubles of their own. In 2 Corinthians 1:4 Paul says that God: “comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” This great promise shows us that not only does God comfort us in our tribulation, He uses us to comfort others; in this ministry He is glorified.
Our troubles may also result in leading lost people to Christ. It is easy to profess faith in Christ when things are going good and life is seemingly “trouble free”. But when troubles come there is a natural temptation to become bitter, disillusioned and to even turn from the Lord. Sadly, many who possess a mere superficial faith in the Lord have done just that. But genuine faith endures even in the midst of great tribulation. A byproduct of this kind of endurance is that lost people will observe our response to trials and see the genuineness of our faith.
A great example of this is Stephen; he boldly preached the Gospel of Christ in the presence of his enemies. They were infuriated by his message and responded by stoning him to death. However, in his dying moments “he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:59). The people in that crowd may not have believed the gospel that Stephen proclaimed, but they could not deny that he believed it.
The lost world around us may not believe what we believe about Jesus. But how we respond to times of great trouble will certainly show them whether we truly believe what we say we believe. If we are faithful in the midst of great difficulty they will see that we are sincere in what we profess concerning Jesus Christ. As a result some may be intrigued to the point of listening more intently when we share the Gospel. This has the potential to result in them believing the Gospel, trusting Christ and being born again. When this happens, God will be glorified!
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