“The High Priestly Prayer”

 

BIBLE READING: John 17


This prayer of Jesus is often referred to as Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” similar to those made by the High Priest in the Old Covenant because it is primarily a prayer for intercession for those who are believers.  Jesus begins the prayer by stating that it is the “hour” for him to be “glorified.” (vs.1-7). We are first introduced to these words, in John 2, when Jesus tell his mother at the time of the “turning of water into wine” that it was not the “hour” for him to be “glorified.” These terms appear in connection to many of the signs, most notably in relation to the resurrection of Lazarus. Before that time, these terms were used with the preposition “my,” such as my “hour has not come” or” it is “not time” for me to “be glorified.” Jesus now makes it clear that “the hour for him to be glorified has come. Before this time, the glory of Jesus was hidden in his “humanity,” but now it is time for Jesus to show his “glory” through his obedience to God’s plan by completing the work that God had given him to do. “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (17:4-6).

In the last part of Jesus’ prayer, he prays that God will take care of the apostles and disciples who have followed him until this time. He reminds God that they have followed him and that they will face persecution after he returns to heaven. It is noteworthy that Jesus does not pray that God take them out of the world or that he prevent them from being persecuted. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (17:15-16). Following Jesus can be costly in the mind of the “world,” but persecution may be necessary for the followers of Jesus to be “one” with God and Jesus. Verse 22 ,” 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.” This prayer is not only for those present at that time, but for all who will believe in their word and follow Jesus. (v.21)

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