John 17

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

1-5 After speaking to his disciples, Jesus speaks to his Father, asking that the Father glorify him, acknowledging the Son’s power to offer eternal life, which is to know the Father and the Christ. The Son asks for the glory He had before the world was.

6-10 He has taught those God gave to him, and they have kept the word; they know that Jesus has come from God. He prays on the disciples’ behalf, for as they are the Son’s, so are they the Father’s.

11-16 Since Jesus is leaving to go back to the Father, he asks the Father to protect those he leaves behind from the Evil One. He asks that his joy be complete in them. The world will hate them but they are not of the world, just as Jesus is not of this world.

17-19 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” We often emphasize the word truth here, but the word sanctify is also important. Those who see God’s Word as the truth are indeed set apart from the world – it’s not a worldly belief.

20-24 Jesus prays for the unity of not only those disciples set apart to walk with him – his apostles – but all those who believe because of them – which means us today. Our unity as Christians is to be as close as the relationship between the Father and the Son. It’s part of the “glory” he passes on to us.

25-26 Though the world does not know the Father, the Son does, and he passes that knowledge – and love – on to those those who are His.