John 17:6-19
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
Verse 6 begins the second part of Jesus’ prayer after His final sermon to the 11. Jesus first prayed for Himself, that He would bear up under what was to come. But this is parayer meant to be heard by the disciples as well. The disciple when facing opposition and extreme dange needs to learn that he must pray for himself first. Then he or she will be in a position to be able to pray for others. If Jesus who was God the Son and perfect man prayed for Himself, then we being imperfect should all the more pray. Jesus also teaches His disciples when He pray for Himself. This is why He refers to Himself in the third person and uses “and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” rather than the simple “Me who You sent.” Jesus knew who He was and saying this also helped remind the disciples who He was too.
The sixth verse changes to Jesus praying for the eleven. He reminds them that the Father had chosen them and appointed the Son over them. They had come from the world, and Jesus had given them the words the father had instructed them to be taught. He tells the Father that they had accepted and kept this word. He also says that they had surely believed that Jesus had been sent by the Father.
This seems to be rather odd words for Jesus to be speaking about the disciples, particularly because they were about to utterly fail Him in His moment of crisis. And as Jesus predicted, Peter denied Him three times. These words seem too glowing for such a bunch of cowards. They were troubled and confused about what Jesus had been saying. Even we, who have the rest of the story in front of us sometimes have difficulty following what Jesus says here. So why does Jesus treat them as though they were faithful soldiers?
Perhaps one way to look at this is that Jesus does not just see us where we are. He sees us also after He has finished working with us. God calls us to be perfect like the Father in heaven is perfect. How is this possible considering that we are so prone to wander off. Perfect certainly does not describe me, at least now. But God makes everything perfect in His time as the Scripture says. The disciples would emerge from this crisis scarred, but Jesus would rise from the dead to bolster them. He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit to guide them. They would become bold witnesses who would lay down their lives for Jesus and for their brothers and sisters in Christ. So Jesus calls us what we shall become. The failures will pass. Later on, Paul could call the Corinthians “saints” even though their behavior was hardly “saintly.” This should give us hope as well. We have the promise that the One who began a good work in us will finish it in the day of Jesus Christ.” Jesus had said about Himself that His work was successfully finished, even before the cross. It was finished before it was finished. This is the way God works in us. He sees the end of our journey.
Jesus directs His prayer directly to the eleven whom the Father had called out of the world and not for the world itself. He isn’t praying directly here for us either. He will pray for those who come to believe in Jesus through their ministry later in verses 20 an following. These eleven would give both the Father and the Son glory through the ministry they were about to undertake. Jesus said that the Father was glorified by the Son. When we think that this refers to Jesus’ death on the cross bringing the Father glory through an instrument of what the world was called the deepest shame, we realize that thee eleven would glorify God through the sufferings they would undertake for the gospel.
Jesus is now overhead saying that He was about to leave this world and Jesus prays that the eleven might be kept afterwards. The eleven had been give to Him to care for, and now He returns their care back to the Father. We must note the perfect sharing between the Father and the Son. The Father’s belongs to the Son, and the Son’s belongs to the Father. This is perfect unity. This example is to be the example in the church also. We see a glimpse of this in the early church where the believers pooled their resources to help those in need out. None of them, it is said, believed that anything was exclusively their own. Barnabas became the example when he sold a field and brought the proceeds to the feet of the apostles to share. In this God was glorified. It was a spectacular witness to the unbelievers of the truth of Christianity. It reflected this sharing among the Triune God when these things are done. And even here where Jesus is praying directly for the eleven, we also get to overhear what is being said. This is to be the example in the church today as well.
Jesus reminds the Father that He had been totally faithful to His charge. He says that except for Judas, He had not lost any of them. When we consider that it would soon seem to human eyes that He had lost all of them when they forsook and denied Him, they would be gathered back together after the resurrection. Again Jesus looks beyond their upcoming fault and sees what they will become. As far as Judas was concerned, Jesus had not lost Him because of some fault on Jesus’ part. It says that Scripture had to be fulfilled. John reminds us from very early in Jesus’ ministry that Judas was “a devil” if not “the devil.” Jesus’ ministry was subordinate to the Scripture, so this betrayal was ordained to happen. It could be argued that Jesus back in John 6 was calling Judas by what he was to become. But he was a thief all along. Satan entered Him at the Last Supper, and Judas went out to betray Jesus. It should become clear from this that Judas did not betray him out of mistaken motives, but deliberately. For this He stands eternally condemned.
Jesus who again lets His disciples overhear that Jesus was going back to the Father and petitions that the Father would keep them safe again reminds them that they cannot follow Him there, at least not yet. They were not to be taken out of the world. This was not to be like the Sinai exodus where Israel was separated (sanctified) from the Egyptians through the barrier of the Red Sea into the desert. Instead, they would by kept as a sort of Goshen in Egypt land. They would still suffer at the hands of the world’s taskmasters. The time for them to cross over would have to wait until Jesus returns. Moses had left Egypt for the desert and stayed there forty years until all was prepared. The other Israelites remained in Egypt making bricks for Pharaoh. Even though life was harsh for them, they had not been forgotten of God. God would soon remember them and meet Moses at the burning bush. He had heard the cries of distressed Israel all along.
In like matter, we will go through difficult times and ask why. We might feel abandonment in our suffering. Even Jesus recites the beginning of the 22nd Psalm in His distress. He felt forsaken. We must also realize the 22nd Psalm does not end in death but joy and eternal life. We would do well to read all of the Psalm. In like matter, we shall be rescued from the dust of death to eternal life. This is because we have been chosen by the Father and given eternal life. Who can keep the will of God from becoming reality? Even in our suffering we realize we are His.
Jesus prayed for His disciple’s sanctification. As we have seen, this sanctification is not the setting apart from the world, although “to sanctify” has that idea. We are not being taken out of the world, at least unto the present time. We are still in this world. If then, we are not being segregated from the world but still live in it, how are we then being sanctified? Jesus lets them hear that they are sanctified by the Word of God which is the truth. John lets us know that the Father is “the only true God.” The Son is the “way, the truth, and the life.” The Holy Spirit is the “the truth.” And not the “Word is the truth. There can only be one absolute truth and all three members of the Trinity plus the Word are all absolute truth. This can only be if they all share the same truth. There is perfect agreement in all of these. The Word which God speaks is absolutely true because God has spoken it. This tells us that we are maintained by our study of Scripture. We have the dual witness of the Holy Spirit and of Scripture to encourage us in our journey. So we are given the remedy to fear and uncertainty. It is also what restores us when we lapse. It is easy enough to stray, knowing God’s Word and the Spirit. How much more considering the ignorance many Christians have of God’s word will people fall? What makes this worse is that it is willful ignorance. It is not like the Middle Ages where the Scripture was kept from the masses upon pain of death. Scripture is available everywhere including the Internet. It cries out “take up and read!” but too many in the church seem deaf. These disciples were about to completely fall apart even though they had been diligently taught by Jesus. The Devil today makes short work of ignorant Christians.
Jesus then reminds us that the Father had sent the Son and in like matter, the Son the disciples. He who has been given authority over all flesh send out His witnesses. It is for this reason the Son sanctifies Himself. The Greek here is quite emphatic that Jesus deliberately sanctified himself. As the Son of God and perfect, it might seem unnecessary in our eyes for any need of Jesus sanctifying Himself. But in the very Incarnation, Jesus had been set apart and sent from the Father. This is in a sense sanctification in reverse. It is like being set apart from heavenly glory to come to a sinful earth. Jesus would have to undergo real worldly temptations like any human being. He is driven out into the wilderness for this purpose. When He is tempted, He quotes Scripture. Here Jesus maintains sanctification from the world by the Word of truth, the Word of God itself. His reply is “it is written” to all three temptations. He did not yield here or at any other time. His life was dedicated to the fulfillment of Scripture. His life is an example of how to be sanctified by the truth. He also demonstrated the sanctified life by His being led by the Spirit. He showed His sanctification by His regular pattern of prayer. By living the sanctified life in this world, He demonstrates how we should then live in this world.
Jesus was going away. He wasn’t going to leave them without the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit who would lead them into all truth. He was not going away forever but to prepare the final abiding place of the believer. Jesus had lived the life He wanted His disciples to live. It was time to say, “it’s now your turn boys.” Of course these disciples would finish the work God had given them. As far as we can tell, all of them except perhaps John suffered violent deaths as their means of finishing their work. Peter, someday would literally carry His cross after Jesus and glorify God in that fashion. They told another generation, it’s your turn now.” And so this calling has passed down to this very day where we too are called to proclaim the wonderful works of God. Are we listening?
