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high priestly prayer
life of christ: John 17.1-26
the high priestly prayer
introduction
After Jesus instituted the Lord�s Supper and then pointed out the identity of the traitor, He began to deliver to the other 11 disciples a type of discourse called The Last Discourse or Farewell Discourse (John 13:31-16:33). This Last Discourse served as a type of last will and testament. In it Jesus explains to the disciples the contents of that will. For example, Jesus promises to leave them the Holy Spirit so that they will be able to continue to grow in their knowledge of Him and His Father. Moreover, He bequeaths to them His peace and joy which are beyond the comprehension of the world since they are not affected by circumstances but only by a relationship with the Father through Jesus. After such discourses, it was customary for the one about to die to pray for those he is leaving behind. (Moses follows just this same pattern in Deuteronomy just as he is about to die on Mt. Nebo.). The contents of this prayer are taken from the Farewell Discourse.
jesus' petition for himself (John 17:1-8)
Jesus� prayer can basically be divided up into 3 sections: the first section deals with Jesus� prayer for Himself (17:1-8); the second, with Jesus� prayer for the 11 remaining disciples; and the third, with His prayer for future believers who believe in Jesus because of the witness of the 11 disciples. The first request Jesus makes actually serves as the theme for the entire prayer: "Father, glorify Thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee!" Remember that the word "glory" has 3 components to it. God�s glory first always points to His presence. Anytime God�s glory is present, He Himself is present. Second, anytime God is present, we see something about Him we did not see before, either something entirely new or else something we saw previously but now more clearly. Anytime we see God reveal something about Himself, we come to see how marvelous He is. Throughout the Book of Acts, whenever God is present or does something in the early church, the Christians are in awe of what God is doing. ("Awe" is one of the key words in the Book of Acts for that very reason). The third component to glory is our response to God being present and revealing something about Himself to us. We respond by praising Him, by glorifying Him.
Jesus� glory has 3 stages to it: (1) His crucifixion on the cross which demonstrates God�s love for mankind, (2) His resurrection from the dead which affirms His claims to be God the Son, and (3) His exaltation to the right hand of the Father which establishes Him as the Lord of the universe. Jesus wants us to glorify Him by praising Him for being the kind of God who will die on the cross for His people.
Jesus prays this prayer in order not for His own sake but for the sake of the Father. As the perfect Son, He wants people to praise His Father. I love my dad and am very proud of him. I like to sing his praises so that others will be impressed with him and come to sing his praises also. Sons are like that. Well, as the perfect Son, Jesus wants people to praise His Father. Jesus knows that when God glorifies Him, people will not ultimately give Him the glory but rather the Father who designed this plan and then implemented it. (Throughout this prayer Jesus will reinforce the concept a person�s response to Him constitutes nothing less than that person�s response to God the Father since He stands behind all that is happening to Jesus. Although much of this chapter focuses on the Son, behind the scenes always stands the Father.)
The last element of Jesus� glory concerns His being exalted to the right hand of the Father: "even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind." Because Jesus was the most humble man ever because he was obedient to the point of death on a cross, God the Father has exalted Him to the highest position to the universe, Lord of the universe (Phil. 2: ), only the Father being above Him. Jesus enjoys this position not simply for His own sake though. Jesus has used this authority and power in order to save others, that is, give them eternal life: "that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He may give eternal life." The ultimate glory God wants from us is that we praise Him because He is the kind of God who is not only concerned about people, but the kind of God who saves them even by dying the most ignominious death on the cross. When we clap our hands in praise to God, this is what He wants us to praise Him for!
Just exactly what is the eternal life Jesus gives to us? "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." According to Jesus, eternal life consists of a relationship with God the Father based upon the correct knowledge of Him which we gain ONLY through knowing His Son Jesus Christ. Everything and everybody else may promise life; for example, from the ads on TV, no bald person can really enjoy life unless he is using Rogaine, and no woman can enjoy life without having the proper physical measurements! Well, Jesus says this life comes only by having a relationship with the Father. Moreover, this relationship comes about only by having a relationship with the Father�s Son Jesus. Although this claim may offend modern political sensitivities, Jesus says that eternal life doesn�t come through the exercise of just any religion. It comes about only by having a relationship with Christ.
Jesus next states the reason why the Father should glorify Him: "I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do" (17:4). The Father sent Christ to the earth to perform a specific function, to reveal the Father to the world especially by dying on the cross for the sins of mankind. Although Jesus has not died yet, the deed though is as good as done. It�s not a matter of if but of when Jesus is going to die and be exalted to God�s right hand.
Jesus has fulfilled His part of the agreement; now with complete confidence He expects the Father to fulfill His part of the agreement by glorifying Him: "And now glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I ever had with Thee before the world was" (17:5). The glory Jesus expects to receive from the Father consists of returning to that glorious, divine existence He enjoyed before coming back to earth. The only difference between that first state and the future one is that whereas before His birth Jesus existed only as God, He will now exist as God-Man. The story of the transfiguration showed us what kind of state this would be after Jesus rose from the dead. He would retain His physical body; however, His divine nature would radically transform it. This gives a preview of the kind of existence we will experience when He returns and radically changes our bodies. Moreover, whereas before Jesus existed as only God the Son, now He will exist as the Messiah, the Lord over all creation.
Just exactly what work of God did Jesus accomplish while on earth? "I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world" (17:6). The clause "manifested Thy name" refers to Jesus� work of revealing the Father to the 11 disciples (Judas no longer counts). Contrary to what Shakespeare said ("A rose by any other name is still as sweet"), in the Bible the name of a person refers to more than just the title we give him. The name "Carey Ford" refers to the whole person�husband of Nancy, father of Nathan and Molly, Minister of Education at FBC Corsicana, weight-lifter, etc. Whereas we do see God in creation and in the OT, we see Him most perfectly in the person of Jesus Christ. If you look at the OT and still have any questions about what God is like, just look at Jesus who will clear up those questions perfectly. When we actually see the Father face to face on that last day (Rev. 22:4), what we see of Him will either harmonize or deepen what we have seen of Him in Jesus; however, it will never, no never contradict.
jesus' prayer for the 11 disciples (7:9-19)
Because of lack of time, we will only briefly touch upon the prayer Jesus prayed for the 11 disciples. Jesus� first statement has been seriously misunderstood and even perverted: "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world" (17:9). When some of the godliest men in Christianity claim that this verse teaches that you should not pray for the lost, they show that they have failed to understand this verse. The word "world" here does not refer to the physical universe nor to mankind as a whole (although these are 2 possible uses of the word.) Rather it refers to that force which is hostile to God, energized by Satan, and operating in the hearts of people who do not have God in their lives. Within the next 24 hours, they will crucify Jesus. In Jesus� day the Jewish religious leaders made up part of this world. To pray for the world would be like praying that God give eternal life to Satan or to people while they remain in their rebellion against God and Christ. This Jesus will not do. The world in this sense will always be the world and be hostile against Christ. Our prayer should be that people come out of the world and be God�s people.
Because Jesus is about to leave the earth physically, the first request He makes for the disciples is that His Father keep them in the Father�s name in order that they may be one even as He and the Father are one. By keeping them in the Father�s name, Jesus means that He wants the disciples to continue to follow and obey Jesus who reveals the Father to them perfectly. Every word He speaks comes from the Father. Every action He performs is at the Father�s request. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He claimed that He was doing this in obedience to the Father�s will, not because He necessarily wanted to. As they obey Him, they become exactly like the Father and His Son who are directing their lives.
The result of this will be that the disciples will be one in the same way that Jesus and His Father are one. This verse introduces a theme to which Jesus will return as He later prays for future generations of Christians.
Three other elements in Jesus� prayer for the 11 need to be stressed:
(1) Jesus prays this prayer in order that the disciples may experience the joy of Jesus to the uttermost. Although Jesus� followers may experience tremendous difficulties during their stay upon earth, Jesus nevertheless prays that they experience His joy in the here and now. Too often we equate joy with good circumstances in our lives. As long as the paycheck arrives weekly, our children are in perfect health, and everything basically goes our way, we are joyful; however, let the slightest thing go wrong and we really get angry at God for failing us. As you look though at the Book of Acts, you will see a church which is being flooded with negative circumstances. The 12 apostles are scourged because of their relationship with Christ and yet respond to that scourging by praising God because He considered them worthy to suffer for the sake of Jesus (Acts 5:41)! We should go straight for the Book of Acts when we experience sorrow in our lives. Christians should be joyful no matter the circumstances because Christ has promised to overcome any and every negative circumstance in our lives if we truly belong to Him. The loss of a loved one? We shall see them in heaven with Christ. The loss of a few measly dollars in the stock market do not begin to compare with the riches Christ is going to lavish upon us when we enter the new Jerusalem He is right now in the process of building for us (Rev. 21:5). Deep emotional pain? Christ is going to heal us completely (Rev. 21:4). Although we do not experience this joy completely right now because we still live in the present world, the same Holy Spirit whom Jesus will use to heal us completely lives within us right now to give us a real healthy dose of that joy in the here and now. This is not to deny the reality of suffering and pain in the world; it�s just to affirm the magnitude of salvation which Jesus Christ is going to bring to us.
(2) The second element is that Jesus prays that the Father keep us from the Evil One while He keeps us in the world. Jesus does not want His people taken out of the world because of the hardships in it. Otherwise, how will the rest of mankind come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior? Many times we attack Roman Catholics because they endorse monasteries; however, Roman Catholic monks aren�t the only ones who withdraw from the world. Withdrawing from the world and just feasting on only the Word and only constantly engaging in prayer contradicts the very essence of Jesus� incarnation. Many Christians by refusing to get involved in the lives of non-Christians proclaim by their lives that Christ never came to earth in the first place in order to get in the trenches with people. The church is not a fortress to keep the world out. Neither is it country club in order to entertain and develop strictly its own members. It�s a hospital which reaches out to a sick world. It�s boot camp which trains the healthy how to further God�s kingdom in the world. It�s an army which launches a full frontal assault against Satan and his hosts. If the Jesus we pray to or study does not send us out to a lost world, then we have not prayed to the Jesus of the Bible but to a Jesus we have concocted.
What Jesus does pray for is that God keep us safe from Satan. Satan is a formidable foe. He knows you and me completely. He�s a master in human affairs because he has had such a long time to study mankind. We cannot defeat Him. Only God through Christ and His Spirit can. The best way to deal with Satan is to avoid him. For this reason, Jesus prays for our protection from Satan by having God remove him from us completely.
(3) The third element is that Jesus consecrates (sanctifies) Himself so that we might be sanctified (consecrated). The word "sanctified" probably refers to Jesus committing Himself to being holy so that we in turn might experience holiness. If Jesus was not holy, then we would have had no chance at all in experiencing holiness, that is, salvation. Because Jesus was holy, God�s Holy Spirit could operate through Him in a wonderful way in the lives of others.
God taught me this principle about 11 years ago. I love movies. Don�t ever get into a movie trivia quiz with me because I will wax you. Well, in my younger years I was indiscriminate in the movies I would go see. In 1990 though God challenged me to give up �R�-rated movies. He informed me that He wanted to do a wonderful work in the youth ministry He had entrusted to me and was being restricted because of the �R�-rated movies I was watching. This was difficult because many of the most prestigious movies coming out of Hollywood are rated �R.� God persisted until I finally yielded. From that point on the youth ministry I was engaged in took off. It was the kind of ministry that you dream of, hear about in some churches but find too rare. Well, a holy God wants to operate through us; however, if we are continuing to inject unholy elements in our lives, we limit God from operating. Our task is to remove those unholy objects in our lives which prevent God from operating through us so that He can work a wonderful work through us. In the same way here, Jesus wants God to use Him so powerfully in the lives of millions that He daily consecrates Himself to God to be the kind of Messiah God wants Him to be, even if it is a Messiah who suffers an ignoble death on the cross.
jesus prays for future generations of believers (17:20-26)
Finally, we come to the passage in which Jesus prays for you and me. On the very night when Jesus is about to die, He is thinking about you and me. The primary request Jesus makes for us is that we be one even as the Father and Jesus are one (17:20-21). Jesus prays that His followers be unified, that is, experience unity in the way same and to the same degree that Jesus and the Father experience unity. Just how one are the Father and Jesus? They are completely one. They are so one that Jesus claimed that the person who sees Him actually sees the Father because He is exactly like His Father (John 14:9).
Several things need to be noted about this unity. First, the Father and Son are unified because they share the same Spirit. Second, humble obedience is a necessary ingredient in Jesus� unity with the Father. Jesus was one with the Father because He was perfectly obedient to Him. Jesus never pressed His own agenda, just the agenda of His Father (John 5:19, 30).
Well, each and every one of us as Christians have the same Holy Spirit within us who creates the unity Christ is speaking about. Second, when God�s people are living lives of humble obedience, they will achieve true unity. When all of God�s people are sincerely pressing His agenda instead of their own, then they will experience true unity.
How do I know when it is God�s agenda that I am pressing and when it is my agenda that I am pressing? First, by looking at the agenda I am pressing. If I am a jock and claim that God wants the church to be involved in an athletic program, I need to be a little suspicious about that person�s motives. If a movie-lover claims that God wants the church to have a movie night each week at the church, I will probably be justified in thinking that person is promoting his own agenda. If I am upset because the church refuses to place me or my friend on a powerful committee in the church, I need to check my motives. Is God upset, or am I just being petty and selfish?
Second, the way I respond when the agenda I press does not get accepted indicates whether or not I am pressing my agenda or God�s.. Do I get angry? Then it is probably my agenda because I am personally insulted because it was not adopted. Or do I go to the Lord in prayer, remind Him that I thought I pressed His agenda, and then commit it to Him? If I can leave it with Him and then maintain a wonderful, positive attitude, then I can be pretty sure that I pressed His agenda and not my own. If I leave the church over the issue, if I withhold my tithes and offerings, etc., then I pressed my own agenda.
Notice the element of obedience in Jesus� unity with the Father. To a certain degree humble obedience and submission is likewise needed if we are going to experience unity as believers. According to our view of the Christian and the church, we believe that the spiritual leader of the church is the pastor and the ultimate authority is the church as a whole, not one or two members in it, not even a committee but the entire church itself. The church does not need 2, 3 ,4 or 5 pastors. It needs the one. If a person wants to do things differently in the church, he needs to get the church to go along with him. If it chooses not to, then that person either needs to get a good attitude or else find another church which will go along with his agenda. To remain in the church and cause disharmony will bring great wrath upon him (1 Cor. 3:16-17).
Note that you cannot achieve this unity on your own. It comes only as a result of relying upon the power and infilling of the Holy Spirit. "Me submit to that man? Why he puts his pants on just like everybody else!" Whereas that may be true, it is also true that God has chosen that person to be the spiritual leader of the church and expects for us to honor him in that position. Rejecting that person�s position of leadership in the church is tantamount to rejecting God�s leadership since He is the once who placed that person in that position of leadership. Since it is probably nearly impossible to submit in my own strength to such a person�especially when I give so much money or time to the church, I need to rely upon the Spirit who is more than strong enough to help me submit.
What is at stake here is the revelation to the world that Jesus Christ is alive. How do you and I demonstrate to the world that Jesus is alive? By living in unity with fellow believers. How does this demonstrate Jesus is alive? The kind of unity we�re speaking about cannot be achieved in human strength. Look at the world apart from Christ; it is so full of hatred and faction. Not only do the Democrats and Republicans dislike each other, they don�t even like themselves. Radical whites battle radical blacks; militia groups target the federal government because of its hostile treatment at Waco. Europe right now is angry at the U.S., not to mention Iraq and Iran. The British don�t trust the Germans, and nobody likes the French. Left to itself, the world is full of anger and faction. A church living together in loving unity has only one explanation for it, the presence of Jesus Christ in her midst. When we grip so tightly to our own agendas, grouse out in public against the church because it did not let us have our own way, etc., then we undermine the witness of the church that her Lord is alive and reaching out to the souls of men. The church then becomes one of Satan�s tools to send a lost world to hell.
Jesus ends this prayer with the request that His people behold His glory. He prays that one day we stand before Him as He sits on His throne in radiant splendor. John promises us that when we see Jesus in that state we will be like Him because only those in that state can behold such a Jesus (1 John 3:2). Jesus then plays His trump to make sure that this request is filled.
My family and I used to love to play spades. In that game the highest card is the Ace of Spades because it trumps every other card in the deck. If I had the Ace of Spades, I would love it if my opponent led off with the Jack of Spades, followed by my partner playing the Queen of Spades, and then my other opponent playing the King of Spades. After those 3 had played their highest cards, I could then trump them all with the Ace and do some real damage in the hand. Well, Jesus has the Ace in His hand: "I ask this on the basis of Your love for Me, Father." It is as if Jesus is saying, "Father, if You love Me (which there is no doubt that You do), then I ask You to let My people be with Me in heaven." If a spouse or child really wants something and if they ask their parent or spouse to give it to them "if you love me," you can be pretty sure that person is going to get what s/he wants. You can�t use this reason often. In fact the less you use it, the more powerful it is when used. Jesus uses it only this once: "Father, if You love Me, then let Carey, B.F., Jeff, Chuck, Kyle, FBC Corsicana, etc., be with Me in glory forever." Because of God�s perfect love for Jesus, you can bet the bank that our salvation is eternally secure.