The Real Lord’s Prayer
John 17:1-5
17 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
In John 17 we have Jesus’ prayer before he heads off to be arrested and face the cross. This is Jesus’ prayer, not one he taught others to pray, but his prayer. The Prayer divides into three parts. In the section for today, Jesus prays for himself. In the portion we will read tomorrow and the next day, he prays for the disciples who are in the upper room with him. And in the third section he prays for all those who will believe in him because of the witness of the disciples (so that would include us).
In this first section, Jesus knowing that the “hour has come” (see John 13:1 for the same use of “the hour”) that the cross is just around the corner, asks God the Father to glorify the Son so that God the Father will be glorified. Jumping to vs. 4 – Jesus says that he glorified the Father by “finishing the work you gave me to do” (notice John 19:30 – Jesus cried out “It is finished” – his work was finished in his death). Jesus having gloried the Father in being obedient to the plan, being obedient to the cross, asks to be glorified by returning to God the Father. That is consistent with John 16:28 – that Jesus came from the Father and is going back to the Father.
But we jumped vs. 3 – we are given the definition of eternal life – to know God, the only true God – and Jesus Christ who was sent by God the Father. To know, to be in connection with God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – that is the path to eternal life.
PRAYER:
We rejoice, O Lord, that you have glorified Jesus, your Son, and that he in turn has glorified you. We rejoice that he was willing to take up the cross and die in order that your glory would be fully revealed in the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.