JESUS’ HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER (I)

John 17:1-5

Key Verse 17:1b

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you.”

In this passage Jesus prayed for himself, that he would receive the strength to glorify God’s name during the worst moment of his life. 

First, “Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed” (1a)

Look at v. 1a. After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: What does “looked toward heaven” mean? Heaven is a Biblical idiom for God’s abode. So this expression means that Jesus turned his attention to the Father. 

In addition the author uses three verbs to describe the transition: “said,” “looked,” and “prayed.” He would speak, or “say,” to his disciples. This was how he taught them. Then thanks to his teaching, his disciples finally opened their eyes. They “saw” and understood that Jesus was and is from the Father. Fully satisfied with the result, Jesus was now willing to go to Calvary where the cross was waiting for him. But before taking up this cross, Jesus turned his attention to the Father and “prayed.” 

Why then did Jesus pray at this moment? The answer is obvious. Jesus prayed to ask God for help, especially for the strength to face the impending moment. From this we learn how to take up the cross of mission. When we review Jesus’ life we see that he began his ministry with prayer. Throughout his ministry he prayed continuously. Then as he was faced with the greatest challenge of his life, Jesus turned his attention to God in prayer. Jesus’ habit of prayer then shows us that he served his mission from God through prayer. He did not do anything on his own. He did everything in God, through God, and for God. This prayer was the secret to Jesus fulfilling God’s work in God’s way and through God’s power. 

Once upon a time Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24). We have many crosses to carry, especially the cross of mission to pioneer college campuses across the world. With our own strength and integrity we cannot hope to fulfill this mission. But with prayer we can ask God for help. And we can gain sufficient courage to take up this cross to the end. 

A lot of Christians, gospel workers, evangelists, missionaries, and shepherds say, “This cross is too heavy for me.” Then as they try to carry the cross on their own, they eventually burn out. Then they abandon the life of mission. In this way they forfeit the blessing of carrying the cross to the end. But prayer helps God’s servants carry the cross without ever burning out. No matter how difficult the challenges, trials, temptations, pressures, etc. might be, still, with prayer, one can gain sufficient courage, wisdom, and strength to carry the cross to the end, carrying it with and by God’s grace. 

Second, “the time has come” (1b)

Look at v. 1b. “Father, the time has come.” It is interesting to note that after calling the Father, the first thing Jesus talked about was “the time.” Given the gravity of the situation, what Jesus would soon be facing, it is necessary for us to stop and think about the meaning of Jesus’ statement, “the time has come.” 

First of all what does the word “time” indicate about man’s life under the sun? Genesis 1 answers the question. Time is a created property. Everything that has been created by God has a limit; only God is not limited. Therefore, time itself has a limit. It has both a beginning point and an end point as well. Likewise the time of our own lives has a beginning point and an ending point: we cannot live in this world indefinitely. Whether we like it or not our time will come and is sure to come.

In the past Jesus used to be outside the time domain. He himself was God and with God. In fact Jesus is the everlasting man: the man who was, who is, and who will be. But in order to save the dying world Jesus entered into this world where man’s life is dictated by the rule of time. And we see that in today’s passage Jesus’ life here on earth was quickly coming to an end. 

“Father, the time has come.” What does “the time” mean to Jesus? To Jesus it means that the time has come for him to suffer loss on the cross. It would be the time of the greatest sorrow. It would be the time of ultimate loneliness. Like all of us, Jesus was born to live. But Jesus had to die, and he had to die such a shameful death – the death on the cross, hung, naked and bleeding, like the worst criminal. 

“Father. The time has come.” This statement indicates that, thus far, Jesus had been bracing himself for this moment. Until this moment, Jesus lived before God. He lived in God and for God. The life he lived was not his own. He lived for God and with God. And he was going to go to the cross together with the Father. So he prayed, “Father, the time has come.” This is consistent with what Jesus said in John 16:32, “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home.  You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.” 

Like Jesus, as a human being, particularly as a Christian, and definitely as a man of mission, each of us will have to face “the time” – the time of sorrow and the time of anguish. To one person, the time is a time of separation from a loved one. To another, it is the time to face his or her enemies face to face. But whatever the occasion, together with the Father, one can garner sufficient courage to face “the time,” and go through it with grace. 

Third, “Father glorify your son, that he may glorify you” (1c)

Look at v. 1c. “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” This was Jesus’ first prayer topic for himself. “Glorify your son that your son may glorify you.” What does “glorify” mean? It means to reveal (make known) the essential attributes of a person. Personally, this was the most difficult, trying moment for Jesus, for Jesus had to prove himself by living what he taught, and teaching people such a noble teaching as the call to love even one’s enemies. And he had to prove himself as the Son of God by loving his enemies, even when his enemies drove nails through his body. But Jesus was going to make it “through” prayer, just as Jesus had already said in John 8:28, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the Son of God].” If you want to know a person’s true character, go and give him a hard time. Do something to hurt his pride, for example. Try to get his raw nerves to come forth. Spit on him or slap him on the face, not physically but verbally, for if you do so physically, you will go to jail.  Or criticize him unjustly. Then see how he responds. What kind of a response will he show? Will he show you an armed response? Will he come back to you “tooth for tooth” and “eye for an eye”? What will be his response? Now Jesus had to face such a time – a time when his enemies would throw a lot of garbage at him. In fact, by God’s providence, all of his enemies were going to throw all the garbage of the past, present, and future at and on him, the garbage generated by all peoples of all time, and all in a single big, powerful dump. Indeed, when Jesus would bear the cross was also when Jesus would reveal his true colors. 

At the same time, because Jesus is God’s Son, through revealing his true personality as the Son of God, Jesus prayed to demonstrate to the world who God really is, the God who sent his Son to die for the sins of the world. 

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you.” This prayer then is Jesus’ prayer to ask God for help, that Jesus would reveal God’s loving grace, especially the grace that forgives men of their sins. 

A person felt that one of his friends had treated him unjustly. In fact, his friend had not treated him unjustly. He had treated him fairly, even bearing his friend’s weaknesses. But this man misunderstood his friend. Then one day in his message, he subtly attacked his friend. Why do people do this? Why does this happen so often? And when these things happen, the result is always ugly – the division of the church fellowship. When we think about it, these things happen to us because we do not learn to pray as much as we should. Through prayer we strive to perfect our relationships with one another, despite our weaknesses. And we must be able to do it, with grace. In Jesus’ case, like all of us, he must have felt the difficulty of facing up to the moment, for the cross he was facing was the most extreme moment of injustice. He could have thought that his Heavenly Father was being unfair to him, as his son. But in prayer, he confirmed his Father’s love. With absolute faith in his Father’s love, he prayed to the Father, asking the Father to give him enough courage, wisdom, strength, and especially the insight to see through his enemy’s tactics, and to thus reveal God’s character, particularly his selfless love, the love that not only bears others’ weaknesses and sin problems, but also chooses to get punishment on their behalf. 

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you.” Perhaps this is the most important prayer topic for every Christian to imitate. A good Christian is not only a person who has many sheep, but also a person who exhibits God’s character, especially in time of inner agony. But no one is born with a godly character. However, in prayer one can ask God for enough strength and power to overcome oneself, and thus render glory to God. 

Fourth, “that he might give eternal life to all” (2)

Look at v. 2. “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” Here the word “granted” indicates that a transaction was taken place between the Father and the Son prior to the coming of “the time.” What then did the Father grant Jesus? He granted Jesus authority over all people so that Jesus could do whatever he wanted to do with this authority, either saving all people or destroying all people. But Jesus was not going to use his authority to destroy sinners. Rather, he was going to use his authority to give eternal life to all that God the Father had given him. This transaction then tells us that Jesus is the only Savior from God. 

After rising from the dead, Jesus granted his disciples the authority to serve God’s flock in Jesus’ name. From Jesus’ example we learn that we must use all the resources that the Lord God has made available for our own use, not to please ourselves, but to save others, so that they may have eternal life in the Lord.

Fifth, “glory” and “eternal life” (1c-2)

Let us read v. 2 again. “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” Let us compare this transaction to Jesus’ prayer request in v. 1c, “Glorify your son that your son may glorify you.” How are the two related? We find the answer to this question from the word “for.” The word “for” connects the two statements: “Glorify your son that your son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” This comparison shows us that the latter is the purpose and the former is the means. In other words, revealing God’s glory is the means by which God chose to give eternal life to all those the Father had given him. So, simply stated, we can say, “Revelation is the key to salvation.” By Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and thereby revealing God’s glory, especially God’s sin-forgiving love, Jesus opened the way for all sinners to understand and accept God’s love, and thereby be saved into a fellowship with God and Jesus the Son. Does this remind you of anything? The cross of Jesus is God’s secret but all-powerful weapon – the weapon to destroy all of Satan’s tactics, and thereby to save men from bondage to the power of sin and Satan. In Genesis 3 Satan also known as the ancient serpent caused the first family to fall by causing them to misrepresent God’s character, which is totally sacrificial and all loving. God sent Jesus to destroy the work of Satan. He came to let the world know of God’s true character, which is good and perfectly good, and good all the time. This is the key to not sinning. This is the key to loving the Lord God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This is the key to loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. And this is the key to inheriting the perfect kingdom of God and keeping it forever.

Sixth, “this is eternal life” (3)

What then is eternal life? Look at v. 3. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Eternal life is to know God the Father and Jesus whom God has sent. Here “know” means not superficial knowledge but real knowledge based on personal experience. Actually, as used in the Bible, the word ”know” has to do with intimate fellowship resulting in a perfect union between the two, just as a husband and a wife are united into one flesh through marriage. 

This eternal life is different from a long life. Many try to attain eternal life by prolonging their physical life, for example, through taking some mysterious medicine. But eternal life is a spirit-dominated life where man’s flesh is fully subjected to the rule of God’s Spirit, and then sanctified fully in the fellowship with the Father and the Son. 

Seventh, “the work you gave me to do” (4-5)

Look at vs. 4-5. “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.”  This is Jesus’ world-mission report. As he was about to depart from this world for his Father’s house, Jesus made a report to the Father concerning the work he came to do.

What does Jesus then mean by “the work”? Characteristically speaking, it was to reveal God to people in and through his words and actions. In John’s gospel we see Jesus performing many miracles, like the miracle of transforming water into wine, the miracle of feeding the five thousand, the miracle of opening the eyes of a man born blind, the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, etc. and so forth. These miracles were designed to reveal God’s character, such as his life-changing power, his power to feed and provide, his power to open both physical eyes as well as spiritual eyes, his power to raise the dead, etc. and so forth. But the best and highest way to reveal God’s character was though Jesus’ death on the cross. 

In our case, we too are called to render glory to God by completing the work God gave us to do. What is the work we are called to finish while on earth? The work is to reveal God’s glory in our daily lives. On our own we cannot reveal God’s glory in our lives. Rather we only reveal our sinful characters, especially when the going gets tough; thus, instead of revealing God’s glory, we end up blocking God’s glory. In order to reveal God’s glory in all circumstances, then, each and every day we must confess our sins before God, deeply accept his sin-forgiving and sin-cleansing love, and then share with others how the Lord God had mercy on us, and how he has enabled us to become what we are today. Then daily, as we deny ourselves, take up the cross of mission, and follow Jesus, Jesus will help us reveal God’s glory in our lives. 

As he closed his life of mission, Jesus prayed to the Father, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” What does Jesus mean by “the glory he had before the world began”? In view of Philippians 2:1-11, it means the glory he had as God before his incarnation into this world. Characteristically speaking, it means restoring Jesus back to God’s freedom – free from the limitations of the flesh. The expression “the glory I had with you before the world began” then indicates that Jesus is God who existed before the world came into being. 

Overall, we learn that Jesus’ purpose of life was to glorify God, from the beginning to the end. He lived to reveal God’s glory. Even in facing the dreadful cross, Jesus prayed to reveal God’s glory in his life. When bad things happen to us, we easily complain and try to attack others. But Jesus did not do that. In good times and bad, he always prayed that God’s glory would be revealed in and through his life. This must be our prayer topic as well. 

One word: “Glorify your son that your son may glorify you.”