John 17 is the Lord’s prayer. The entire chapter is comprised of a fervent, elegant prayer which Jesus prayed in those final hours before His betrayer, Judas, came with a band of soldiers and the Jewish rulers who had sought for this hour for several weeks, perhaps months. They bound Him, tried Him, and killed Him.
It is the Lord’s prayer but not the one most individuals think of when referring to “the Lord’s Prayer.” That prayer, uttered by myriads of people through the ages, and very often uttered in unison in large assemblies of people was the disciples’ prayer. This was a part of the “sermon on the mount” found in Matthew 5-7. It was also a prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray at the request of one who said, “Lord, teach us to pray even as John taught his disciples to pray” (Lk. 11:1). That prayer is:
Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory fo.rever. Amen.
This prayer contains requests that are needed from day to day, save one — “Thy kingdom come.” The kingdom for which Jesus taught His disciples to pray was the kingdom which both John and Jesus said was “nigh,” and the same kingdom Jesus said would come in the lifetime of the apostles (Luke 9:1). That kingdom is His church and is here; there is no need to pray for it to come in the future. And yet, there is a sense in which God’s children might pray for “thy kingdom come.” It is appropriate to pray for heaven to be opened to God’s earthly family. Heaven is said to be God’s eternal kingdom (2 Peter 1:10; Matthew 25:34). However, it was not for heaven Jesus taught His disciples to pray; it was for the church, Christ’s kingdom which now exists and of which Christ is its reigning King.
In His prayer He first mentioned Himself. He said, “Father, glorify thy Son so that Thy Son may glorify thee” (John 17:1). Paul wrote the Philippian brethren that they were to have the mind of Christ who (Paul said) existed first “in the form of God counted not the being on equality a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking on Himself the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man” (Philippians 2:6). Jesus did not cease to be God when He took the form of man and was born of the Virgin Mary. He just took an additional nature upon Himself and therefore took the nature of flesh. He possessed this nature to the death, albeit unjustly, when He died upon the cruel tree. But He longed for the exalted place He once occupied with the Father when He prayed “glorify me with thy own self with the glory I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5). This request the Father later bestowed upon Him just as Paul wrote, “Wherefore God highly exalted him and gave unto him the name which is above every name …” (Philippians 2:9).
Jesus prayed for His apostles. There were now only eleven since Judas was no longer in their number. In vv. 6-19, 24-26 these eleven were the ones He had taught and trained. However, they were still, after all that had been done, weak, faint, and short of what they should be and should do. Peter, bold and confident, would in a few short hours (before the rooster crowed) deny three times that he knew the Lord, even cursing and swearing the third time that he did not know Jesus. Philip trusted in the flesh, saying to Jesus, “Shew us the father and it sufficieth us.” Thomas who earned his name “doubting Thomas” on more than one occasion, said to Jesus, “We know not whither thou goest and how know we the way?” This is right after Jesus said, “I go away and the way ye know.” Of all the others who remained of the eleven, Matthew’s account said, “Then all the disciples left him and fled” (Matthew 26:57). But despite their weakness, through the comfort of the Holy Spirit and strengthening of their faith, they were able to carry the gospel through the whole world in a period of 35-40 years.
There was a third group for whom Jesus prayed that night: those who believed on Him through the Word the apostles proclaimed (John 17:20-26). This included the people in the first centuries and it included those of us today. Jesus prayed, “Neither for these only do I may, but for all them that believe on me through their word, that they may all be one, even as Thou Father art in me and I in thee, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may that thou didst send me” (John 17:20-21).
How long has it been since you have read this prayer of Jesus before He was betrayed? Go back and read it again today (John 17:1-26). And as you read His concern for the disciples that they might be able to inerrantly carry the gospel to the world, and the concern He has for you, breathe your own prayer to Him and thank Him for His matchless love then, and His ever-present watchfulness and care for you now. Thank Him for the gift of life He made possible for all of us.
Jim McDonald