John · chapter 17 of 21
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John 17 is Jesus' prayer to the Father on the night before his death, often called the high priestly prayer. He asks to be glorified so that he may give eternal life, pleads for the protection and sanctification of his disciples in the world, and prays for all who will believe through their word, that they may be one and the world may believe.
After the long farewell discourse of chapters 13 to 16, Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and prays. John 17 is the longest prayer of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, and it lets us hear how he speaks with the Father at the hour of the cross. In it we see his concern for his disciples and for all who would later believe in him.
Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and says the hour has come: he asks the Father to glorify the Son so that the Son may glorify the Father. The Father gave him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom he has given him, and eternal life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. Jesus says he has glorified the Father on earth and finished the work given him, and asks to be glorified with the glory he had with the Father before the world existed.
Then he prays for his disciples. He has made the Father's name known to those the Father gave him out of the world; they kept his word and have come to know that everything Jesus has comes from the Father. He is not praying for the world but for them, because they are the Father's. He will no longer be in the world, but they are, and he asks the Father to keep them in his name, that they may be one as the Father and the Son are one. While he was with them he kept them, and none was lost except the son of destruction, that Scripture might be fulfilled. He has given them the word and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world. He does not ask that they be taken out of the world, but that they be kept from the evil one. He asks the Father to sanctify them in the truth, for his word is truth, and he has sent them into the world as he was sent; for their sake he sanctifies himself.
Finally he prays for all who will believe in him through the disciples' word, that they may all be one, as the Father and the Son are one, so that the world may believe that the Father sent him. He asks that they be with him where he is, to see his glory, which the Father gave him because he loved him before the foundation of the world. He ends by saying that he will continue to make the Father's name known, so that the Father's love may be in them.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jesus defines eternal life as knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. It is not merely endless duration but a personal relationship with the Father and the Son.
Jesus does not ask the Father to take his disciples out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. Christians are called to live in the world with a life guarded by God and sent to serve.
Jesus asks the Father to sanctify the disciples in the truth, and states that the Father's word is truth. Sanctification takes place when the Word of God transforms his people.
Jesus prays that all believers be one, as he and the Father are one, so that the world may believe the Father sent him. Unity among Christians is a visible witness to the gospel.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. — John 17:3
Answer: The work the Father gave him to do. — John 17:4
Answer: Not that the Father take them out of the world, but that he keep them from the evil one. — John 17:15
Answer: In the truth; he says the Father's word is truth. — John 17:17
Answer: For those who will believe in him through their word. — John 17:20
Answer: So that the world may believe that the Father sent him. — John 17:21
This prayer lets us know that Jesus prayed for us before going to the cross. In a group you can reflect on how knowing that Christ intercedes for his own changes the way we pray. It also invites us to ask for what he asked: protection from the evil one, sanctification through the Word and unity among believers.
The unity Jesus asks for is a concrete task for churches and groups: caring for relationships, forgiving, working together and avoiding needless divisions. When believers love one another, the world has a reason to believe.
John 17 ends with Jesus' desire that his own be with him and know the Father's love. In John 18 the prayer gives way to events: Jesus crosses the Kidron valley and is arrested in a garden.
It is a traditional name given for centuries because Jesus appears interceding for his people, as the high priest did in Israel. The text does not use that expression, but it describes Jesus presenting himself to the Father for himself and for his own.
It is Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. John says he was lost so that Scripture might be fulfilled, without removing his responsibility for the choice he made.
Jesus compares the unity of believers with the unity of the Father and the Son, which is one of love and full communion. It does not mean everyone thinks alike on everything, but that they be united in truth and love, so that the world sees the gospel.