When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2
since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
John 17 concludes Jesus’ time with His disciples in the upper room. We have in this chapter what is really ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, in that, this is the prayer that the
Lord prayed. What we call ‘the Lord’s Prayer’ is Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray. Perhaps we should call that prayer ‘the Disciple’s prayer’. Although it would seem that Jesus would have prayed similarly to the prayer He taught His disciples,
He probably would not have prayed that prayer exactly. Afterall, He had no sins to confess so He wouldn’t have prayed, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” Interestingly, in the Bible we never find Jesus praying with
His disciples. We find Him praying for them, teaching them how to pray and spending whole nights in prayer by Himself.
This prayer has three sections: one in which he prays for himself, one in which he prays for his disciples, and one in which he prays for believers yet to be. The
Scripture teaches us that Jesus ever lives to pray or make intercession for his people and this prayer seems to be a type of prayer that Jesus continues to pray for His people and for the world. The entire prayer is something of a summation of the Gospel of
John to this point. Its themes include Jesus’ obedience to his Father, the glorification of the Father through the death and exaltation of the Son, the revelation of God to the world and to His people through Jesus Christ, the choosing of the disciples from
out of the world, the mission of the Gospel still to come and others still to be brought to faith in Christ, and the final destiny of believers to behold the glory of God and to share fellowship with the Father and the Son in heaven. All of this is in the
Lord’s prayer to his Father and all of it was obviously on his heart that night as His death was looming.
There are all kinds of fascinating details in this prayer. For example: Did you notice that the text says, “…He looked toward heaven and prayed…”? We read that Moses
raised his hands and eyes heavenward; Daniel knelt toward Jerusalem and prayer. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with bowed heads and closed eyes, but the Biblical posture of prayer is interesting.
Of course, many religions teach people to pray. Prayer is a widely practiced discipline by people who have no love for Jesus or knowledge of the Lord. So, what is
it that makes Christian prayer distinctive? That might be the same thing as asking, what is unique about Christianity among the religions of the world? And I think the answer to
that question is found in these verses that show us prayer as a personal conversation between the soul and the living God. Christian prayer is the outworking of an
actual relationship of persons. It is the conversation that persons who know one another have with one another. It is purposefully
not a religious exercise; it is not a formula for success to curry the favor of the Divine. It is not a religious technology; it is not merely religious duty or the obligation of pious people.
Rather, it is
knowing God and acting as those who know Him. We are always tempted to turn it into something less than this, to depersonalize our prayer, to offer it to God as an act of obedience rather than to look up to God in faith, love, and dependence and talk
to him as Someone we have come to know.
There is nothing of this kind in the religions of the world. Neither Buddhism or Islam have a relationship with a personal, living, infinite God whom you have come
to know, trust, and love. These religions have no such God and no such relationship is possible in them; instead, God is distant and unknown. And, of course, nominal Christianity and all forms of civil religion similarly call folks to prayer, but prayer that
is nothing remotely like the conversation exchanged by two persons, nothing like a child addressing a father whom he or she loves and trusts and needs. Only in Christianity is there the promise that an individual human being can know God, can know him really,
individually, privately, affectionately, seriously, can talk to him and ask him for things and be heard. Only in Christianity is there the promise that the living God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, would stoop to be known by us.
We see so clearly the character of true Christianity and of true Christian prayer in Jesus’ prayer. For example, we see intimacy and reverence. Jesus called out to
God as Father and more amazingly teaches us to do the same! Sons are of course called to respect and honor their fathers and Jesus did that always! But it is the nature of the relationship that the son knows the father, he counts on him, he receives the father’s
love, kindness, direction and pleasure. That is who our God is to us…Father…and a perfect Father, One with whom we have intimacy and reverence, trust and One who finds pleasure in His children.
We also find Jesus praying for the glory of God the Father. Jesus asks that the Father would glorify Him, but He prays this so thatJesus might glorify the Father!
The Lord wants the Father to glorify Him but for the Father’s sake! Jesus knew that all of this was to come to pass, He was absolutely sure of it. Why does someone pray for things that are certain to come to pass? Because prayer is not a formula, not a duty,
it is an act of love, it is a conversation with someone we love and trust, it is a declaration of our love and trust. You men tell your wives that you love them and your children that you love them not because they don’t know it, but because you need to say
it as much as they need to hear it. Because that is what love is. And that is very much what prayer is. It is not all that prayer is, to be sure, but it is a great part of what prayer is, the conversation of true relationship, of true personal engagement
with someone you love, you trust, and you revere.
Let us pray, in private and together in these odd days that we live in. But not as a formula or some kind of religious performance, and certainly not to check a box
and think God is in our debt. Let us pray as those who know, love, revere and want above all things to honor our Father, so that He might find pleasure in us.
Prayer: Father, what a joy, what an impossible joy to call You Father and to know with certainty that You love me as your child. Help me to enter more deeply into
the relationship that You have made possible by adopting me as a true child through the work of my elder Brother, Jesus Christ. Increase my heart’s affection for all that brings You pleasure and may I walk as a pleasing child of the God of heaven and earth,
through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: The Lord’s Prayer