Jesus' Prayer

May 27

I Samuel 29-31

Psalm 66:10-15

Proverbs 14:22-23

John 17

Jesus’ Prayer

“Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.  And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  I glorified You on earth, having finished the work which You have given Me to do.  Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”  John 17:1-5 LSB

Jesus knew this was the last time He was going to see His disciples before His death.  As they shared the Passover meal, Jesus explained to them how this long-held tradition pointed to Him and the sacrifice He was about to make.  He washed their feet encouraging them to humble themselves and serve others.  And He gave them some final instructions to prepare them for what was about to happen.  They didn’t understand, but He hoped they would remember His words in the coming days.  Finally, He spent time in prayer with them.  He began the prayer asking God to glorify Him.  He acknowledged that His work was done, He had accomplished what God sent Him to do and now it was time to bring it to completion.  He said these words to reiterate to the disciples that He was the Messiah.  He had done what He was supposed to do and now they were going to carry on His mission. 

Jesus then prayed for His disciples.  He expressed faith in them, that they truly believed in Him, understood who He was and belonged to Him.  He asked God to protect them from the world and from the evil one, to give them joy, sanctify them by the truth and to unify them as one body.  He then extended His prayer beyond the disciples that were in the room with Him to all those who believed in Him through the disciple’s teaching.  That includes all believers from that moment until He returns again at the end of the age.  As He prepared to go to the cross, He was thinking about these men that He had spent the last several years discipling, but He was also thinking about us, the body of Christ.  The focus of the prayer is on love and unity so that the world might believe in Him.  He prayed for protection and power demonstrated by truth and love.  He knew exactly how the next 2,000 years of history would unfold.  He understood that His disciples were responsible for spreading the good news about Him throughout the world so that it could be passed down from generation to generation giving everyone an opportunity to come to faith.  The mission was great, but He also knew that He was giving them the Holy Spirit who was going to empower them to carry it out.  We can take comfort in knowing that Jesus prayed for us in the last moments before His death, burial and resurrection, but it is even more encouraging to know that He is interceding to His Father on our behalf now.  (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25)  I John 2:1 describes Jesus as our Advocate with the Father.  He loves us, desires what is best for us and is seated at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf.  If God is for us, who can be against us?