This is a copy of a talk I gave on Wednesday 7 June 2023 at the 10.00 am service at Saint Mary Magdalen, Billericay. The Bible Reading was John 17:1-11.
1. Why Does Jesus Pray?
After Jesus was baptised, he went into the wilderness to fast and pray. Prayer was how He began His mission and ministry here on earth. Now, some of you might be asking why does Jesus need to pray if He’s God? Good question! I think there are two reasons, firstly, even though Jesus was God in the flesh, to become human meant taking on human limitations. He became a lot more like us than we imagine. He depended on God the Father and looked to Him for direction, support and comfort – not too unlike us. Secondly, Jesus’s life was to be an example to us of how to be fully human and committed to God’s purposes in our lives.
So, let’s look at the background to what is happening here in John ch17. Jesus has about twelve hours left to live – in ch18, Jesus is arrested in the garden of Gethsemane. However, knowing all that was to take place, Jesus didn’t start a big campaign. He didn’t try to change any laws. He didn’t even try to do any ‘last minute’ public ministry. He spent time praying.
This prayer is often referred to as the ‘High Priestly Prayer’ because in the OT the High Priest would go once a year into the Holiest of Holies and pray for the people before he offered a sacrifice for their sins. Jesus prays, before he lays down his own life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. And in this prayer, we catch a glimpse of the unique and intimate relationship that he had with his heavenly Father; we also learn the deep concerns of his heart for his own mission and for his disciples.
2. Jesus Prays for Himself vs1-5
It has often been said that you can learn much about a person when you hear them pray and that’s so true, isn’t it? We learn about someone’s heart, their vulnerabilities, their faith and trust in God. Right at the beginning of this magnificent prayer, Jesus prays for three things:
Jesus prays for the Father’s glory (vs1): Jesus’ first request to the Father is: ‘Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.’ The glory of Jesus reveals who God really is.
Jesus want’s people to see God’s glory through him. There is no way to honour God, to know who he really is, except through his Son. Jesus knew what would bring glory to God and reveal who he is – the loving, holy, all-powerful, wonderful Creator-God, who has become our salvation.
Jesus prays for his chosen people (vs2-3): ‘For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’
Jesus has been given special authority by the Father to carry out the divine purpose of offering eternal life to those who would trust him. There is a connection between Jesus bringing glory to the Father and his giving eternal life. It begins with a personal relationship with the living God, it means coming to know the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. To know him and to be brought into relationship with him is to have eternal life.
Jesus prays for himself (vs4-5): We have often been taught that it’s wrong to pray for ourselves. Anglican intercessions often cover anything and everything but often omit to pray for ourselves, yet we need prayer just as much as everyone else. Something we’re changing at prayers for R&R.
‘I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.’ Jesus, in vs4, was not only referring to his ministry up until this point but looking forward to the completion of his work. Jesus knew that his obedience, not just through his life on earth, but his obedience to death would reveal the glory of God. And so, he prays (vs5) that the Father would clothe him with glory and splendour and give him back that which was his by right – the divine glory he had shared throughout eternity with the Father in heaven.
3. Jesus Prays for his Disciples vs6-11
It’s a wonderful thought that Jesus prayed for his disciples before they faced the challenges of the first Easter. We easily and naturally focus on the suffering of Jesus. The pain and danger, however, were not exclusively his. The path to the glory Jesus refers to will be one of division, fear, and uncertainty for this band of brothers. They run the very real risk of being dis-banded.
In this prayer, Jesus doesn’t focus on the coming suffering. Rather, his gaze is fixed beyond the events of Good Friday and his Resurrection. Rather he looks to his coming Ascension and heavenly crowning. Jesus prays in the hope of heaven.
Jesus gives thanks to the father for his disciples. First of all, Jesus says they belonged to the Father from eternity (6b). God knows those who are his and has planned their salvation from the beginning of time.
Secondly, not only has God reached out to them, but Jesus has revealed God to them: ‘I have revealed you to those whom you gave to me out of the world’ (17:6). Christianity is not a faith for those who are wiser than others, because by their cleverness they understand ‘the truth.’ Christianity is a revelation faith, where God has taken the initiative to reveal himself to us.
Thirdly, Jesus rescued the disciples from a rebellious and lost world. The disciples may have been bewildered and confused, fearful and troubled, but their faith was real.
Describing them he said: ‘They now know that everything you have given me comes from you. For 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’ (vs7-8). They accepted that Jesus was the Truth. On one occasion, when the crowd could not take what Jesus was teaching and decided to stop following him, he said to the disciples, ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ And Peter replied, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’ (John 6:67-69).
Jesus prayed that the disciples would reveal the glory of God to others through their mission and ministry. That’s our calling to. How many non-Christians do you really know? How many are you making friends with?
Do you need to make any extra special effort to engage with them? I know when I was a young Christian the teaching at the time was to keep a separation from the world. It was the worst thing I ever did … I lost my opportunity to evangelise! I wish I’d been advised otherwise. Nowadays, I have lots of non-Christian friends. Some are alcoholics, drug addicts and some are gay. They are my friends. I spend time with them. We talk about music, sport and God. They enrich my life and keep me rooted in the reality people face in living in today’s world.
The promise of Jesus is that, as we become more involved with people, showing them something of God’s love, sharing with them the good news of the gospel, which is the only answer to the lostness and confusion of our world, we have the assurance of Jesus’ prayers that we might remain distinctively different just as he prayed for the disciples.
But if, there is a danger of monastic withdrawal on the one hand, on the other hand there is a danger of over familiarity with the world, a losing of our distinctiveness and witness, a blurring of the edges, so that we become indistinguishable from the world. Jesus, of course, knew what to pray for. And it is not surprising in the light of this to see what he prayed.
I 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’ (vs11).
Jesus’ concern is not so much for the physical danger that his disciples will face – by the time of the writing of this Gospel, the church will have experienced the full savagery of Rome’s persecution – but for spiritual victory in the face of great trials.
Jesus is praying that they would be protected by being kept faithful to his revelation of the truth. It means being protected when we are faithful to the Word of God. Standing up for the truth of God’s word can make us very unpopular. That might be true of the world, but it’s also true of the church with the current debate around same-sex blessings. Bishop Tom Wright:
The high-priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17, whose texture is so rich that we may choke on it unless we chew it slowly, speaks of God’s word spoken in Jesus, God’s name revealed in Jesus, and God’s glory given through Jesus. Together these constitute the disciples in their inner selves, despite their own muddles and mistakes, as God’s holy people for God’s needy world. Unless they are holy, they will do the world no good.
revPACman 