I have always liked John 17 and referred to it as Jesus' prayer where he prays for himself, for His disciples, and for all who come to believe in Him. But as we studied this chapter in our Bible study, the words and the prayer became so much more. It is true, that the prayer is broken into the three parts mentioned, but the totality is where I was moved. Chapter 17 is a summation and a close to Jesus human walk, which He willingly lived and surrendered for us.
Verses 1-5 give us a clear picture of His relationship with His Father as it was and as it is after His resurrection. Jesus prays to God in His humanity and acknowledging the sovereignty and glory of God, which He gave up when He came to earth. He is worshipping His Father.
Verses 6-19 are the verses where He prays for the disciples. These verses reveal His love and acknowledges God's love for them. Christ's prayer tells us that He received the disciples as a gift from God... They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. Do we treat our families and friends as a gift from God? Do acknowledge our appreciation and devotion of this gift by sharing His Word...the Gospel? Do we know that if we want to protect our loved ones, then we must put our faith in God , because this world will not provided for us or them.
He also states that when the disciples came to belief in Him, that they were no longer of the world...14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. This is also true of us when we come to know Jesus...we are "born again"...set apart from the world.
Verses 20- 26 reveal that Jesus' prayer is for us as well as His disciples. We who come to believe through His word are included in His prayer and the oneness He has with His Father is the oneness he wants for us. Jesus looks at us as He looks at the disciples...a gift from His Father.
Jesus knows our human condition and He lived it and lives it every day with us through His Spirit. He has prayed for us and I have no doubt that God received His prayer and is answering it daily. We are set apart and we have words to share that the world needs to hear. The words are God's, the time is now, and the place is where God has put us and the words are for the people God has given us.
Discover and Proclaim the Truth of The Bible which is: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life." (John 3:16 NRSV). Jesus came to humanity to proclaim and give evidence to that love and He has commanded us to do the same. We, who believe, must not merely be followers, but we must be proclaimers of the Gospel Message and we can only do that by being filled with the love of God.
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