Jesus Prays for His Disciples

Jesus prays for us. In His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus reveals His deepest desire for His church: that we would be sanctified by His truth, perfectly united in His love, and ultimately brought into His eternal glory. We respond by giving him the glory he is due, but dwelling in the Word of Truth, by committing to unity in His name, and anticipating His Kingdom come.

Pray For Me

I love our prayer time together. There is a great comfort in knowing that folks are praying for you.

If you could call one person, text one person, you only have time to contact one… to pray for you… who would it be?

There are certain people in my life, it’s like their mouth is just a bit closer to God’s ear. Some of that might be a kind of “magical” thinking… but James tells us the “the prayer of a righteous man has great power!”

Imagine this, you have Jesus on speed dial. When you have a prayer request, Jesus himself if praying for you. That is what is happening today. Jesus is praying for us.

Recap

Jesus has been teaching his disciples, alst night before the cross, the final syllabus.

He has taught them about the Holy Spirit. (God is moving in).

He has stressed again and again: Loving abiding obedience.

And he has warned them: The world will hate you (but only if you look like Jesus).

In this world you will have trouble, but take courage, Jesus has won!

Jesus offers free refills on joy. AND Shalom, peace. Despite every and all circumstances. s

Closing Prayer

Now, his closing prayer.

There is a lot of truth in Jesus’ prayer. Theological truths in there, things we can learn from, about the Father and the Son, about the relationship between them from before creation. “Before there was a world.”

There is summary of the abiding obedient love, the unity, drawing in the main points of his sermon into the closing prayer. I love it when the pastor does that! ;)

There is a Commission snuck into the middle of the prayer. Not the first time, not the last time, but Jesus reminds them He has a Mission!

There is a structure to Jesus’ Prayer. They call this the High Priestly Prayer and it walks through the 3-part ministry of the Priest.

He first prays for Himself, as the priest would make atonement for himself first. Jesus’ needs no atonement, it is only glory.

He then prays for the Disciples, as a priest would make atonement for his household next. For their well being, their unity, protection from Satan.

Then a priest would make atonement for all Israel, and Jesus prays for Future Believers. For us. To participate in the eternal, glorious love that Jesus Himself experiences with the Father.

There is a lot of truth here we could dig into and pull apart and explain.

Jesus speaking to the Father on behalf of his disciples, not just the apostles, but extending explicitly to all of us.

How cool is it that we have Jesus himself praying for us!

So we are going to take each section in pieces, and just hear Jesus’ prayer. Hear it, soak in it, and respond to it in worship.

Glorify Jesus

Hear Jesus, praying before you:

John 17:1–5 ESV

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

John 17:1–5 MSG

1 Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said: Father, it’s time. Display the bright splendor of your Son So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor. 2 You put him in charge of everything human So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge. 3 And this is the real and eternal life: That they know you, The one and only true God, And Jesus Christ, whom you sent. 4 I glorified you on earth By completing down to the last detail What you assigned me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor, The very splendor I had in your presence Before there was a world.

The Father answered that prayer, first raising Jesus in Resurrection glory… then raising Him ascension glory, and even now his name being made famous in every corner of the earth… and one day every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Our response: to know Jesus and give him glory.

Prayer for the Apostles

Hear Jesus, praying for you:

John 17:6–19 ESV

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Hear it again:

John 17:6–19 MSG

6 I spelled out your character in detail To the men and women you gave me. They were yours in the first place; Then you gave them to me, And they have now done what you said. 7 They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, That everything you gave me is firsthand from you, 8 For the message you gave me, I gave them; And they took it, and were convinced That I came from you. They believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world But for those you gave me, For they are yours by right. 10 Everything mine is yours, and yours mine, And my life is on display in them. 11 For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world; They’ll continue in the world While I return to you. Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life That you conferred as a gift through me, So they can be one heart and mind 12 As we are one heart and mind. As long as I was with them, I guarded them In the pursuit of the life you gave through me; I even posted a night watch. And not one of them got away, Except for the rebel bent on destruction (the exception that proved the rule of Scripture). 13 Now I’m returning to you. I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing So my people can experience My joy completed in them. 14 I gave them your word; The godless world hated them because of it, Because they didn’t join the world’s ways, 15 Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One. 16 They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world. 17 Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. 18 In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. 19 I’m consecrating myself for their sakes So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

There is a note of unity here already, Jesus praying for the disciples to be unified. We will lean into that next.

But again and again, hear him say “Sanctify them in the Truth” and “Your Word is Truth.”

This is what sets us apart: Jesus’ disciples hear and know and live the Word, the Logos, the Truth… and it sets us free.

Worship response: Sanctify us in the Word of Truth.

Jesus Prays for Unity

Jesus expressly extends his prayer, looking forward in time beyond the room of apostles, to see you and I as his disciples. Those who will believe:

Hear Jesus, praying for you:

John 17:20–23 ESV

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

John 17:20–23 MSG

20 I’m praying not only for them But also for those who will believe in me Because of them and their witness about me. 21 The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind— Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. 22 The same glory you gave me, I gave them, So they’ll be as unified and together as we are— 23 I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this one-ness, And give the godless world evidence That you’ve sent me and loved them In the same way you’ve loved me.

Echoing already what he said of all the apostles, he says of all of us. Perhaps knowing the division that will plague the church over the coming centuries, he prays this over us: may they be United, perfectly One.

Worship response: May we be One Church, as Jesus is One with the Father.

Longing for Glory

John 17:24–26 ESV

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

John 17:24–26 MSG

24 Father, I want those you gave me To be with me, right where I am, So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, Having loved me Long before there ever was a world. 25 Righteous Father, the world has never known you, But I have known you, and these disciples know That you sent me on this mission. 26 I have made your very being known to them— Who you are and what you do— And continue to make it known, So that your love for me Might be in them Exactly as I am in them.

Jesus prays that we could be with him in glory, to see his glory. And that glory is known in this: that the love that the Father has for Jesus may be in us.

We look forward to this fulfillment, this glory: the Father’s love perfected in us and we behold Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father in glory, to reign in His Kingdom forever.