The Gospels · Chapter 17 of 21

John 17

Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and prays. He asks the Father to glorify him so that he may glorify the Father, having finished the work he was given. He prays for the disciples the Father gave him, that they would be kept, sanctified in truth, and made one. Then he prays for all who will believe through their word, that they too may be one and behold his glory.

What happens in John 17

This chapter is a single sustained prayer, often called the High Priestly Prayer. Jesus begins by declaring that the hour has come and asks to be glorified with the glory he had before the world was. He reports that he has finished his work and manifested the Father's name to those given him. He then intercedes for the disciples, asking not that they be taken out of the world but kept from evil and sanctified through the truth of God's word.

He notes that one, the son of perdition, was lost as scripture foretold. Widening his prayer, Jesus asks for all future believers, that they may be one as he and the Father are one, so the world may believe. He longs for them to be with him and to see his glory, grounded in the love the Father had for him before the foundation of the world.

John 17 in context

Still in the upper room on the night of his betrayal, Jesus turns from teaching his disciples to praying aloud in their hearing. John places this prayer just before the arrest in the garden.

It gathers the themes of the whole farewell discourse, glory, mission, unity, and love, and it reveals the intimacy between the Son and the Father as Jesus prepares to lay down his life.

Main themes of John 17

John 17 (KJV)

1These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 20Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 24Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Verses to carry from John 17

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”John 17:3

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”John 17:21

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”John 17:24

Reflection

Jesus prayed for you before you were born, asking that you would be kept, made holy, and finally be with him to see his glory. Knowing that his prayer surrounds your life, what fear might loosen its grip today, and what would it mean to live as someone already carried in his intercession?

A prayer from John 17