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Apr 3, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 17:1-5

This is one of the most exquisite chapters in the Bible.  Though we are told that Jesus prayed often, this passage is the only long prayer of Jesus recorded in the gospels.  Because these are the words and thoughts of one person of the Godhead (the Son) to another person of the Godhead (the Father), there are depths here that we are not able to fathom.

Even though the prayer in Matthew 5:9-13 is called the Lord's Prayer, this prayer could also be called the Lord's Prayer.  In Matthew the prayer is what Jesus taught us as a pattern.  Here in John, we have a prayer which Jesus voiced for us.

In this prayer, Jesus prayed for Himself (vv 1-5), the disciples with Him (vv 6-19), and the disciples who would come after them (vv 20-26).  The occasion of the prayer is significant.  It was just after the institution of the Lord's Supper … just after the upper room discourse … just before the arrest and crucifixion of Christ … at the end of Jesus' earthly ministry.

The main request in the first five verses of the prayer is that the Father would glorify His Son, which Jesus asks twice (Jn 17:1,5).  This glorification is for Jesus to, again, be clothed in splendor as He returns to heaven following His death, resurrection, and ascension to God the Father.  By means of the Son receiving this glory, the Father will also be glorified.

The Father will be glorified by means of the Son having accomplished the work the Father sent Him to do.  Jesus views the work He came to do as virtually finished and He describes the goal of that work in verse 2, namely to give eternal life to all those whom the Father had given to Him.  The salvation of Christians is an everlasting honor to the Father and the Son (and the Holy Spirit, though He is not mentioned in this passage).