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.
Jesus prays to His Heavenly Father, "The time has come. Glorify Your Son. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." That work of Jesus is exemplified in these chapters. Jesus was to prepare disciples to spread the Word after He left. Jesus spent time with His disciples so that they might hear God’s Word and learn God’s Word and believe God’s Word. Now Jesus says, "My work has come to an end." The disciples know, they believe, and now the salvation for the world is at hand. The Savior prays: 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. As you listen to those words understand that in the next few moments, Jesus and the disciples are going to leave the protection of the Upper Room. They were going out in that cruel world, the cruel world that was going to betray Jesus and put Him to death. You hear the words of Jesus saying, "Father, give me strength as I hang upon the cross and pour out my blood and my very life. Remember the glory I had at the very beginning of the world. Strengthen me."
Then Jesus says, "I have been given authority that I might give eternal life to all those that you have given me--all the disciples and believers." He explains this eternal life in verse 3: 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. We can put ourselves in that setting when the disciples are hearing this prayer of Jesus, at that moment they know and believe that this Jesus is the Son of God, sent by His Heavenly Father. Then we put ourselves in the place of those disciples, on that very night when they are also in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then they might have begun to wonder as the soldiers are taking Him away whether this truly is the Son of God. Continuing to Good Friday we find Jesus hanging on the cross and the crowds are making fun of Him and mocking Him. The disciples might have wondered, "Is this the Son of God?" They may wonder, "Is God’s Son glorified?" Those could seem to be valid questions.
There are questions that are raised today, questions that the world raises about Christianity. There are people in this world that wonder just how powerful that cross of Christ is. After all, the cross was an instrument of torture and the most demeaning way of putting a person to death. So, many look at the cross as not something on that the Son of Man would be glorified. Many today see the cross as not being very powerful, but just as another decoration or a piece of jewelry that looks nice. So, for some the cross has been emptied of its power. The cross has been emptied of its meaning and of its glory. Our Lord says, "The time has come. Glorify Your Son." On the cross He tells us how: "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (COLOSSIANS 2:15). Yes, Jesus hung on the cross and made a spectacle of those who mocked him. Jesus triumphed on the cross and made a spectacle of the devil who thought he had won. Jesus hung on the cross and made a spectacle of death itself, because He came back to life. Yes, the Lord’s prayer was answered. He says, "The time has come. Glorify Your Son." Even in death the Son was glorified, and His Father was shown glory; because God’s plan was carried out. God’s purpose was not to be thwarted by evil men. God’s determination for the salvation of mankind was not defeated by the devil, instead he was to have the glory.
That is our encouragement today. From time to time we face difficulties, trials and tribulations of all sorts and kinds. The devil tempts us; the world tempts us; and our own sinful flesh may raise doubts in our life. What does the Lord remind us today? He reminds us that we can pray just like Jesus, "Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son. Help us to see Your Son and His glory. Help us to see our Heavenly Father and His glory." After all, the Apostle Paul says, "What is this life compared to what is yet to come?" He says in Romans: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (ROMANS 8:18). No matter the trials that we face, there is a greater glory that each one of us will see. No matter the temptations, no matter the tribulations, they do not compare to God’s great glory in store for each one of us.
So we have to adjust our thinking and think of Jesus as He was ready to be betrayed by one of His own, He said, "Glorify Your Son." We think of Jesus who was on the cross and even there said, "Glorify Your Son so that you may be glorified." Jesus found that there was glory in giving His life for the sins of the world. That helps us to focus our attention beyond ourselves when we think: "Woe is me." Instead we are reminded to see the joy in this life because of eternal life. From Hebrews 12: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (HEBREWS 12:2). Three days ago we celebrated Ascension when Jesus goes back into heaven and sits at God’s right hand after scorning the shame of the cross. He endured that as joy knowing physically it was painful and torturous; but divinely, it meant the world’s salvation that you and I are saved. He faced it and scorned its shame. We fix our eyes on Jesus and look at our tribulations and scorn their shame. We look ahead to eternal life and discover joy.
Jesus shows us the extent of His love in this prayer. As He prays, "Father, glorify Your Son, that you may be glorified," He continues and prays for the disciples. He says, "Protect Your children."
II. Protect your children
There are two reasons for that, of course. We know full well that the disciples would have a very difficult life after Jesus ascended back into heaven. We also know that in those next hours, they also would have a very difficult life facing the fact that their Teacher, their Master, their Savior was being put to death. All this would happen after Jesus spent these hours with them in the Upper Room. Jesus knows that. He uses all of His divine authority, power and intervention to pray for them that they would be strengthened and encouraged. Jesus prays, 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. Speaking of His disciples, Jesus spent His ministry trying to show the disciples that He was sent from God. He spent His ministry preaching and teaching, but He also trained the disciples to understand that He and the Father were one. It took some time, but the disciples were beginning to grasp it bit by bit that Jesus was not just the son of Mary and Joseph. They were beginning to understand that this Jesus was not just a carpenter from Nazareth, a babe born in Bethlehem; but this Jesus was the very promised Messiah.
Jesus continues: 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. They understood by God’s grace that Jesus and the Father one. That was a great leap of faith. It is a great leap of faith for anyone but especially for these disciples who lived with all the Old Testament mentality and the idea of offering sacrifices. This was new to have someone come and offer himself as the perfect sacrifice. How did the disciples come to believe all this? Jesus says in verse 8: 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. Jesus taught them the Word of God. He preached to them and they listened. He educated them and they were encouraged. By the power of God’s word the disciples believed. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. Jesus shared everything that He had from the Father with his disciples. We know it was to encourage them. Then they would share that with the rest of the world.
Now Jesus continues with his divine intervention: 9I pray for them. Jesus gets very, very specific in His prayer. He says, 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. This does not mean that Jesus does not care about the world; but here on this Maundy Thursday night before Jesus is betrayed, before Good Friday when He was put to death, Jesus says, "I pray for these disciples. They need to be strengthened." He needed to pray for those disciples, because one of them would betray Him. You can imagine how the other disciples felt when one of their own betrayed Jesus.
Jesus goes on to pray: 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father. Jesus prayed very specifically for the disciples on that evening that they would be strengthened and that Satan would not lead another one of them astray. Jesus prays for their protection after His resurrection and ascension. Now you can almost hear the relief in Jesus’ voice and in his words when Jesus says, "I am returning to You, Holy Father. This will soon be all over. I will die on the cross, but I am coming back to life. I am leaving this sinful world, but my disciples, my children, will be left behind. I pray for them." His prayer for them: Protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. Jesus asks His Father to keep them safe. The disciples would face much opposition. Even the scribes and Pharisees did not have the same understanding as the disciples did of who Jesus really was. The scribes and Pharisees were the leaders of the church, so the church would be opposed to this message. It would change quickly, of course. On Pentecost many would believe. No one could have defeated the power of Satan. But here Jesus prays for His children, His disciples. He says to His Heavenly Father, "Protect them by the power of Your Name and the power of Your Word."
This is our Savior, Jesus praying for God’s children. This is Jesus praying for you and I. Day after day, Jesus sits at God’s right hand in all glory and power and majesty and honor. This is something that we know and believe, not on our own, but by God’s grace. The Lord reminds us this morning of the importance of hearing God’s Word that is able to change our lives. He says to each one of us: "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 PETER 1:23). Like the disciples we can gather close to the Lord Jesus and hear His words and know that by the power of His Word we are God’s children. Jesus prays for us, "Protect my children."
Now we think of Jesus in heaven pleading our case on our behalf. We sang in our last hymn, that He intercedes for us. Here on earth we feel the effect of Jesus providing for His church. Jesus says that even the gates of hell shall not overcome this church until He returns on the Last Day. His church is going to stand until the Last Day as it remains faithful to His Word. Sometimes we might forget that importance of the simple message of salvation and the power, the protection of God’s Word. Listen to this from the Psalm: "And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever. The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men"(PSALM 12:6-8). This is written a long time ago, but it sounds like today. As we watch or hear or read the news, we hear the wicked who strut about thinking they have gotten the victory, have gotten their way, and all is right with the world in their opinion. You and I as Christians might ring our hands and wonder to ourselves, "What next? The Lord is surely going to return." We would say, "Amen, Lord, come quickly." But until He comes, the Lord says, "Hold fast to My Word." His Word always remains pure and flawless like refined silver. Even though the world around us, and it seems to be a majority although it really is not, revels in wickedness and aberrations that go against God. God’s Word still is true. God still protects His children. He has us again fix our eyes on Jesus and look to Him and His prayer. Jesus prayed first of all for Himself, but not for long. He needed strength, because He knew He was going to die within 24 hours. Then Jesus prays for His disciples. He reminds us to pray. At times we may forget that great power you and I have to pray. We can pray to God anytime, all of the time, anywhere. In Thessalonians: "And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one" (2 THESSALONIANS 3:2,3). Our gracious God says pray for protection, for protection from the wickedness of the world; and there is even strength and deliverance from the Satan himself. He tells us today, "You have to pray, because not everyone has faith." The Lord does not listen to the prayers of unfaithful people. As the world grows more wicked, it would appear there are less faithful people. So our prayers are needed even more. Pray for the fellow saints in this world, God’s children everywhere; because you and I know there are many more believers who suffer greater than you and I. They need our prayers. In that way we show our love for one another, just as Jesus today has shown the extent of His love, the extent of His love in praying to His Father.
Jesus prayed to His Father, "Father, glorify your only Son that you may be glorified." He did not pray that His glory would shine, but that His Heavenly Father’s glory would shine. Jesus then showed the extent of His love by praying, "and protect Your children, Your believers, Your disciples." Our heavenly Father does all of this, because God’s Word is true. His Word reminds us: "God’s grace...has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 TIMOTHY 1:10). This life, this immortality, this light really glorifies our Heavenly Father. This life and immortality protects us reminding us there is eternal life for each one of us. We say with Jesus, "The time has come. Glorify Your Son, and Your Heavenly Father. Protect Your children unto eternity." Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
