This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Luke’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 12 May 2024. The Bible Reading was John 17:6-19.

Prayer

Heavenly Father
I thank You for Your word
By the power of the Holy Spirit
May You speak to my heart
And change my life
In the precious name of Jesus I pray
Amen.

Introduction

In John 17 Jesus is several hours away from being arrested in the garden of Gethsemane. And yet, 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.

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is often referred to as the ‘High Priestly Prayer’ because in the OT the High Priest would enter 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 Jesus experienced with his heavenly Father.

Now, some of you might be asking why does Jesus need to pray if He’s God? It’s a 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 was 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.

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. And in John 17 we gain a greater insight into Jesus’ character and the deep concerns of his heart for his own mission and ministry and for his disciples.

  1. Jesus Begins With Prayer

In Luke 6:12-16, when Jesus was getting ready to select those who would join Him on this mission, Luke wrote: One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles … If that had been me, I might have been tempted to skip the prayer part and just pick the twelve men I liked the most or who seemed to be the most gifted. But Jesus didn’t; He spent the night in prayer before deciding on the twelve He would invest His life in.

It’s interesting to note that the disciples Jesus picked after praying weren’t the obvious choices for starting a new spiritual venture. They were common fisherman, corrupt tax collectors, political revolutionaries and plain nobodies. People we would have certainly ignored or not noticed. But Jesus didn’t. Why/How? Because he began with prayer. In fact, Jesus began with prayer on many occasions:

  • He prayed at His baptism (Luke 3:21);
  • He prayed in the wilderness before he began his public ministry (Matthew 4);
  • He prayed when the disciples asked him to teach them to pray (Matthew 6);
  • He prayed after healing a leper (Luke 5:16); He prayed before calling His apostles (Luke 6:12);
  • He prayed at His transfiguration (Luke 9:28); He prayed for Peter (Luke 22:32);
  • He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was arrested (Matthew 26:36-44);
  • He prayed for those crucifying Him (Luke 23:34);
  • He prayed before His death on the cross (Luke 23:46).
  • No doubt he prayed at home, in the Judean hills and in synagogues and temples.
  1. Jesus Prays For The Father’s Glory vs1

Jesus’ first request to the Father is: ‘Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.’  Jesus is the manifestation of God’s character. The glory of Jesus reveals who God really is and Jesus want’s people to see God’s glory through him.  There is no way to honour God, to know who he really is, to encounter his glory, except through his Son. Jesus knew what would bring glory to God, what would reveal him to be who he is – the loving, holy, all-powerful, wonderful Creator-God, who has become our salvation.

  1. 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 yet often omit to pray for ourselves – yet we need prayer just as much as everyone else. ‘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 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 the glory and splendour had shared throughout eternity with the Father in heaven.

  1. 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. However, the pain and danger weren’t 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 – even Resurrection Sunday. 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 – we call this predestination! 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. Jesus 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).

Jesus prayed that the disciples would reveal the glory of God through their mission and ministry. That’s our calling too. Sometimes Christians don’t have many friends outside of the church. I’ve often asked Christians how many non-Christians they know, and they struggle to name 10 – though I suspect it’s very different in Cyprus.  It can be even worse for clergy! When I was a young Christian in the early 80’s the predominant teaching at the time was to keep separated ‘from the world.’ Looking back, it is some of the worst advice I was ever given. I lost my opportunity to evangelise! Nowadays, I have lots of non-Christian friends. And that’s because, back in the UK, as well as ‘putting myself about’ in the community, I was a registered music promoter and organised monthly gigs.

90% of people who came to my gigs were non-Christians. Some were quite ordinary, but some were alcoholics and drug addicts, but they were, and are, my friends. I spent time with them. We talked about music, sport and God. They enriched my life and kept me rooted in the realities of living in today’s world. I’m thankful for them and I pray they will find Jesus. Have you ever thought that you may be the only Christian your friends know? What kind of witness are you giving?

And 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, of losing our distinctiveness and witness, a blurring of the edges, so that we become indistinguishable from the world.

Jesus is praying that they would be protected by being kept faithful to his revelation of the truth. To be faithful to and standing up for the truth of God’s word – even if it makes us unpopular. This not surprising according to 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.

And it is not surprising in the light of this to see that Jesus prayed for unity in the church. . 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).

Conclusion

I pray your hearts are encouraged as you are reminded of the love God has for you. I pray that Jesus’ prayer brings greater clarity as to how you are to live in this world. And I pray that Jesus’ prayer encourages you to share the Good News of the Kingdom of God with those who don’t yet know Jesus for themselves.

Jesus’ desire for himself and his disciples was to serve God to His glory.  May each one of us, on a daily basis, serve God faithfully to His glory.

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.