Jesus Prays for Himself
1 Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said:
Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You, 2 for You gave Him authority over all flesh; so He may give eternal life to all You have given Him. 3 This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent-Jesus Christ. 4 I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.
5 Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed. 1
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 I have revealed Your name to the men You gave Me from the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they know that all things You have given to Me are from You, 8 because the words that You gave Me, I have given them. They have received them
and have known for certain that I came from You. They have believed that You sent Me. 2
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those You have given Me, because they are Yours. 3 10 Everything I have is Yours, and everything You have is Mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You.
Holy Father, protect them by Your name that You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are one. 12 While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. 4 13 Now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy completed in them. 14 I have given them Your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.
15 I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.
18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 I sanctify Myself for them, so they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
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. 5
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.
25 Righteous Father! The world has not known You. However, I have known You,
and these have known that You sent Me. 26 I made Your name known to them and will make it known, so the love You have loved Me with may be in them and I may be in them.
Interesting Facts
- John is the fourth book of the New Testament, and final book of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the others).
- This book is the first of five books John, the “one Jesus loved” (as he referred to himself throughout his book), brother of James and son of Zebedee. The next ones being the three New testament letters that bear his name and the book of Revelation. He wrote all of five books in the A.D. 90s.
- Without question, John’s writing style, like his selection of content and themes, differs noticeably from that of the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). As was perfectly acceptable in his day, he would have written his account of what others said in his own distinctive style, being faithful to their meaning if not to their exact wording.
- Unlike the Synoptics, John includes no parables, few kingdom teachings, no exorcisms, and no pronouncement stories (short debates with hostile questioners ending in climactic pronouncements).
Questions
Don’t know what to talk about? Here are a few questions you can answer to get you started…
- What occupies your prayers? What do you pray about?
- What does it mean to be “in the world but not of the world”? (cf. John 18:36; Rom 12:2; 1 Cor 5:10; 1 John 2:16)
- Jesus prays that we will be sanctified by the word of truth. How does that happen? Can you give some examples of how that has worked in your life?
- Jesus prays for unity. What are the things that make or break Christian unity?
- Discuss anything that comes to your mind!
Footnotes
- Verses 1-5: Isn’t this the height of mutual self-serving behavior–the Father and the Son glorifying each other for eternity? There are deities in the religions of the world who behave that way, but here it is crucial to observe that what brings glory to the Godhead is the opportunity of eternal life for anyone who believes (verse 2)–an opportunity no other religion provides.
- Verses 7-8: Did they really know so much and “for certain”? This verse does not deny the many things the disciples still did not understand. But compared to those who had not followed Jesus, it is true that they had “received” His “words.” The original text of “with certainty” can also be translated “truly.”
- Verse 9: That Jesus was not praying for the world on this specific occasion does not mean that He never prayed for fallen humanity or that we shouldn’t pray for them either. Indeed, He was praying for those who would come to faith through the apostles’ message, that their unity would be a sign to a lost world that would watch what they do (verse 23).
- Verse 12: Judas was not an exception to the principle that Jesus would lose none of those God gave Him (6:39; 10:29), for he was doomed from the outset–never truly one of Christ’s followers (6:70-71). Yet even here predestination never overrides free will and human accountability (Mark 14:20-21). No one scripture is specifically mentioned, though there are echoes of Psalm 41:9 and 109:4-13. If Judas had chosen not to betray Jesus, someone else likely would have stepped forward.
- Verses 21-23: Obviously, believers cannot be one with either the Father or the Son in every way the persons of the Godhead are one with each other, for we are not God. On the other hand, the unity among Christians is more than the invisible oneness of all believers; it is something that demonstrates itself in outward, tangible, loving cooperation for powerful evangelistic purposes and results.