Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Jesus’s High Priestly Prayer – John 17:20-24 Submitted by Kay Crumley
Have you prayed for those you love? Perhaps you pray for your family members especially in time of distress or need. Some pray for other people they know as the know about specific needs they have. But do we pray more general prayers for others, even those we don’t know? The verses we are studying today is exactly that. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is near the end of His ministry. He knows that the time for Him to be crucified is near. The thing He does as a result of that anticipation of separation from those He loves, His disciples, it pray to His Father.
In our time of deepest, most stressful circumstances we go to God with our pain, fear, and anxiety knowing that only He has the answers to our situation. Throughout scripture Jesus set the example for us teaching us how to pray and demonstrating that praying is a personal, intimate experience that should be done in private. It is a conversation with us and God. He admonished the Pharisees for praying in public in such a way as to exalt themselves rather than God. John 16 is a conversations Jesus had with His disciples preparing them for His departure and what they would face after His return to the Father in Heaven.
If you read all of Chapter 17, you’ll see that Jesus is speaking to His Father. The first five verses are asking that God be glorified through Jesus. His work on earth is done, God sent Jesus so that we can have eternal life. Jesus summarized His purpose and asked that purpose be completed with His return to glory. Jesus was with the Father in the beginning and returned to Him at His resurrection. This prayer is an example for us to talk to God about our purpose and desire that it be to bring glory to Him and not to us.
The next verses are supplication for His disciples. He is asking God to help, guide, protect, and set them apart for His purpose. Jesus knew what they would face after He was gone. They would be hated, persecuted, and rejected. As His disciples they would face the same things Jesus faced by those who rejected Him. They will be ‘set apart’ for His service. He is asking God to help them in all they would do as they taught others about His way of living. We are to be disciples, to grow like our Father. I am sure we have observed that children develop the same walk, speech patterns, expressions, and attitudes of their parents. That’s because they spend time watching and learning those characteristics. That’s how we should grow like Him, by modifying our life to mirror our Lord Jesus.
Our focus passages, John 17:20-24 is for those who will believe but didn’t live on earth with Him. ‘those who believe in Me through their message’. That’s us! Jesus prayed for every believer who would become His disciple. Did you know that Jesus prayed for you? Stop and think about that for a moment. As He was facing arrest, beating, mockery, and death, Jesus took time to pray for those who would be His future disciples. We were on His mind even then.
20 I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message.
21 May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You.
May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.
22 I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one.
23 I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am.
Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the world’s foundation.
His desire for us, those who have make Him Lord of our lives and are committed to conforming to His example, is to be as one. What does that mean? That we will be in complete unity with God as Jesus is one with Him. To believe that Jesus is who He said He is, to have a common purpose and adopt His character as He demonstrated on earth. Then, the world will believe God sent Jesus to be our Redeemer, our Savior. He, Jesus is in us by the Holy Spirit and since God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one, we are to be one. When we are united with Him, we will see, know, understand His Glory. One definition of His glory is the visible manifestation of His attributes and character. We are to be sanctified, set apart, to show the world by our transformed life the character of God. We must not only know Him as our Savior and Lord, but we must be like little children who learn to walk, talk, and behave like their parents. For that to happen we must spend time in His Word, with His people, and focus on His purpose. We are to be one with Him which means we unite with fellow believers for one purpose, that all will hear the gospel and come to know Him.
