In Prayer, the Truth
The text this week is John 17: 1-11. This sees Jesus deep in prayer for His disciples. It seems mundane but think about it, this is our Savior and Lord, the one whom we worship and praise. Yet here He is praying for us. Jesus does not talk about servant leadership, He lives it, and he did all the way to the Cross.
What Jesus gives voice to in this prayer are the immutable truths of God’s creation. God sent His son to live among us as one of us. Jesus did the work of the Father in all things. He glorified the Father in offering the gift of eternal life to all who believe.
Jesus did this by obeying the will of the Father. Jesus made the Father’s name known and now Jesus’s followers know that everything He was given was given to Him by the Father. Jesus makes it clear that those who follow Him received what Jesus gave them and believe that Jesus came from the Father. In short, the followers of Jesus trust that His word is true.
A Most Humble Request
Jesus after outlining these truths in the opening of His prayer, now turns to the supplication part (asking God for something). He is making this request not on behalf of the whole world but on behalf of those whom the Father gave Jesus, that is His followers. Jesus acknowledges a oneness with the Father in stating in Verse 10 that “all mine are yours, and yours are mine”.
As Jesus is about to leave this world, He graciously asks the Father to look after those who are still in the world, that is, all of us. Jesus asks the Father to protect all His followers “so that they may be one, as we are one” (Verse 11). Again Jesus points to His oneness with the Father and to His dwelling in us as God’s very righteousness. To the end Jesus is always concerned with the humanity He is a part of. He is always giving everything of Himself on our behalf. His entire life is God’s gift of grace upon grace to humanity. Ours is to humbly acknowledge Jesus’s prayer on our behalf, believe in Jesus as Lord, then go out and obey in His name.
Praise Be to God
