The High Priestly Prayer
John 17
After Jesus was finished speaking to His disciples about what was to come on the cross, He turned to God the Father in prayer. This is a pretty unique story in the Bible. It is the only lengthy continuous prayer of Jesus recorded in the gospels. Genuine prayer often reveals a person's innermost being and we get the opportunity to see the heart and nature of Jesus. What a gift this is to us as believers! In this prayer, Jesus reveals his heart to the Father by praying for himself, praying for his disciples, and praying for all believers to come. Even when Jesus went to the cross, He was praying to God with us in mind. What a beautiful God we serve!
Breaking this prayer up into 3 sections might be helpful to fully embrace how Jesus was talking to the Father. This prayer reminds me a lot of a shape we use in our church; the triangle. The triangle is a helpful tool to help us evaluate how our relationships are doing. Our relationship with God is the UP relationship, our relationship with our community is our IN relationship, and our relationships on mission are our OUT relationships. Sometimes in our UP relationship it is easy to pray with only our concerns in mind. Prayers like “help me with this job interview”, or “God can you (fill in the blank).” These are not bad prayers, but Jesus models praying with a heart and mind toward heaven. Here, Jesus is praying for the beautiful glory and mercy of God to be displayed on the cross. His heart and mind were fixed on the highest things, bringing glory to God. Jesus was modeling His heavy dependence on God. Is there an area in your life that you want to trust God with and depend on Him? To bring him glory instead of your own glory? Take a moment and surrender it to the Lord, who cares for you endlessly.
Jesus then prays for His disciples, our IN relationships. He thanks God for what He’s doing in His disciples; that God has saved them! Jesus then asks for God to keep them, to sanctify them, and for the Holy Spirit to guide them in spreading the good news to others. Who in your life can you thank God for? How can you pray for your brother or sister? Shoot them a text or give them a call this week and tell them how they reflect God to you!
Lastly, Jesus prays for the believers to come. He prays for those who will hear the good news. He prays that their hearts would be open and believe that God sent Jesus to save us. Jesus prays that the world will know God sent Him because God loves us. Is there someone in your life who needs to hear the good news?
Jesus then ends the prayer calling God righteous. Even in Jesus’s present and soon to be pain, the pain did not diminish the righteousness of God. The love of God the Father was Jesus’s strength and His sustenance. He prayed these things over us as well. Believer, I pray that you would find strength, beauty, grace, mercy, agape love in the story of the cross; that our debt is washed away in the sacrifice of Jesus. We are forgiven, redeemed, and free. I pray that because of the cross, you have a desire to abide in His love and continue to pour into your relationship with King Jesus. Take some time to take inventory in your UP, IN, & OUT relationships.
