Jesus Prays for Himself (John 17:1-5)

John 17 is a chapter that stands out by itself, yet it is important to note its context with the teaching of Jesus in the Upper Room (John 13 and 14) and his further teaching in chapters 15 and 16. This prayer is often called The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus and is regarded as a model for his intercession in heaven. It may be, but no one can say for certain that is the case. While he does mention his people in general here, in the main it is a prayer for his apostles as they are about to begin their work, the ones he has been teaching in the previous chapters. An obvious division of the prayer is this:

 

1.     Jesus prays about his glorification by the Father (vv. 1-5)

2.     Jesus prays about his apostles (vv. 6-19)

3.     Jesus prays for those who will yet believe (vv. 20-24)

4.     Jesus prays again for the apostles (vv. 25-26)

 

It is not clear where Jesus made this prayer and it is not mentioned in the other Gospels. The details of the Gospels, when put together, would indicate that he made the prayer before he reached Gethsemane where he offered a very different kind of prayer. He and the disciples had left the Upper Room at the close of chapter 14. His instruction of the disciples had continued as they walked towards Gethsemane, and he made this prayer when he completed the instruction. So he must have made it somewhere along the road to Gethsemane.

 

John records for us the posture that Jesus used as he prayed. ‘He lifted up his eyes to heaven.’ Bodily posture can say a lot about the person praying, although at times it may not mean much. As far as Jesus is concerned, his posture would have fitted with his prayers. He had a very different bodily response in Gethsemane, where he was in such distress that his actions were expressions of extreme agitation. But here he is calm and confident as he prays. His posture is an indication that he knows his petitions will be heard.

 

The title

In the prayer, Jesus addresses God as the Father. Sometimes, he only says Father, and at other times, he adds an adjective such as ‘holy’ and ‘righteous’ to the term ‘Father’. Clearly, while he is speaking as a man, he is also aware of his eternal relationship with the Father. So here we are at the edge of a great mystery, listening to a conversation between eternal persons, one of whom has a human nature, through which sometimes his deity shines through.

 

The time

Jesus begins by saying that ‘the hour has come’. This phrase is used several times by Jesus in the Gospel of John, and it only appears in this gospel. It is a way of referring to the cross. He first uses it in the account of his first miracle when he turned the water into wine. On that occasion he said to his mother, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 

 

Later in John 7:30, John writes: ‘So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Again, in John 8:20, he says, ‘These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.’ In John 12:23, Jesus says. ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’ In 12:27, Jesus prayed, ‘Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.’ 

 

In 13:1, John writes, ‘Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.’ And in 17:1, Jesus prayed, ‘When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.’

 

Those reading the Gospel for the first time would observe that a particular hour is coming for Jesus, and eventually they would see that it was a reference to the cross. The use of ‘hour’ also suggests that there was a timetable, which would be God’s timetable. That timetable had been agreed within the Trinity, and now the divine persons are nearing the moment that has occupied their affections and intentions.

 

The request for glory

Jesus prays initially for himself, although his personal request has consequences for his people. He asks that the Father will glorify him and then he will glorify the Father. He also mentions the basis for his request, which is ‘since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him’. So his request is in line with the eternal agreement made by the Trinity.

 

What does it mean to glorify someone? It means to honour in a suitable way. It means that the one seeking glory should do his best and the one rewarding with glory should provide what is best. An athlete who wants to win a gold medal will want to do his best, but he may not have the ability. An artist with all the gifts may produce an outstanding painting, but those commenting on it may find it impossible to find words that commend the artist. In an ideal world of glory, there must be a competent seeker and a competent rewarder. And in Jesus we have the perfect achiever and in the Father we have the perfect rewarder.

 

As we look at the prayer, we see what we can call four stages of glory:

 

1.     The Father and the Son had glory before creation

2.  The Son glorified the Father when he lived on earth by completing the work given to him by the Father

3.     The Father will glorify the Son at his ascension

4.    The Son then will continue to glorify the Father in two ways: (a) he will be in charge of everything; (b) he will give eternal life to his people.  

 

Jesus asks the Father in verse 5: ‘glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.’ The request implies that he did not possess the glory that he had previously. What was the aspect of the glory he possessed then that he did not have when he was praying? We have to bear in mind that Jesus is praying as a divine person with a human nature. He had not lost anything of his eternal, divine glory. He had not given up any of his divine attributes. He was still worshipped, and only God can be worshipped. He was still in command of angels, and only God is in command of them. He was still in charge of creation, and only God can occupy that place. 

So what does he mean when he asks that he will experience the glory he had in a past eternity? I think the answer is found in thinking about his human nature. His human nature had not yet been in heaven, in the immediate presence of the Father. What would happen when he ascended in his human nature? Where would he go in heaven? Would he go to a high position or would he go to a lower position? We get the answer to that question in Revelation 5. The Lamb ascends to the throne of God. As Rabbi Duncan put it, the dust of the earth is on the throne of the universe. This does not mean that his human nature has become divine, although he will develop in his human nature. We worship a divine person existing in glory with a human nature. The eternal Son, now with a human nature, should be on the throne of God. Where else could the Son of God be? This request of Jesus was answered at his ascension by the Father. It was not a request with various options for an answer.

 

As we saw, Jesus glorified the Father when he was here on earth. This he did by living a perfect life and dying on the cross. The perfect life of Jesus was lived for our benefit, but our benefit was not the primary reason for Jesus living it. His primary reason was for him to bring glory to the Father and the way for Jesus to do this was to do perfectly what the Father wanted. What did the Father want him to do? The Father wanted him to live a perfect life that could be transferred to the account of sinners. Jesus lived and died for the glory of the Father and the good of his people. 

 

Jesus did this because he had received authority from the Father that extends to being over all humans. For some, he will be the Saviour and they will recognise him as Lord. Others will resist his authority over them, but they cannot remove it. This position was given to him by the Father in eternity past and will be worked out in different actions throughout the future.

 

When Jesus ascended, he received glory from the Father. This included his exaltation to the eternal throne. But there are special features connected to this expression of glory, and the special features involve the ingathering of his people. What aspects of glory are involved in this activity? No doubt, there are different ways of describing them. But we can mention the control of providence and the role of the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, Jesus is often described as having them. When he says that he has all power in heaven and on earth, he says that he controls providence. When Paul says that Jesus is head over all things for his body, the church, he is saying that Jesus controls providence. And Jesus also said that when he ascended he would receive the promise of the Father, and that was a reference to receiving the Spirit in a manner that would result in the conversion of sinners. Both those actions – his control of providence and the sending of the Spirit – he does in the presence of the Father.

 

Obviously, when we listen to this prayer, we are hearing a profound conversation. Yet we are hearing only one side of the conversation. It is like being in a room where another person is using the telephone. Sometimes, the person we hear indicates it is a very important question and we would be interested in the responses of the other participant. But we cannot know them. How different it is with Jesus and his prayer! While we do not hear the response of the Father, we do know from elsewhere that Jesus was heard. We have been thinking about a fulfilled request (Jesus being glorified the presence of the Father, highly exalted as Lord) and about an ongoing dedication (Jesus giving eternal life to his people). This is happening today.