John

Introduction
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CHAPTER 17

The Prayer of Jesus.^* 1When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven ^* and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,^a 2 ^* just as you gave him authority over all people,^b so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. 3 ^* Now this is eternal life,^c that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. 5Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.^d

6“I revealed your name ^* to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, 8because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours,^e 10and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them.^f 11And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. 12When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled.^g 13But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.^h 14I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.ⁱ 15 ^* I do not ask that you take them out of the world^j but that you keep them from the evil one. 16They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. 17Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.^k 18As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.^l 19And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.

20“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.^m 22And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. 24Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am ^* they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.ⁿ 25Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me.^o 26I made known to them your name and I will make it known,^* that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

* [17:1–26] Climax of the last discourse(s). Since the sixteenth century, this chapter has been called the “high priestly prayer” of Jesus. He speaks as intercessor, with words addressed directly to the Father and not to the disciples, who supposedly only overhear. Yet the prayer is one of petition, for immediate (Jn 17:6–19) and future (Jn 17:20–21) disciples. Many phrases reminiscent of the Lord’s Prayer occur. Although still in the world (Jn 17:13), Jesus looks on his earthly ministry as a thing of the past (Jn 17:4, 12). Whereas Jesus has up to this time stated that the disciples could follow him (Jn 13:33, 36), now he wishes them to be with him in union with the Father (Jn 17:12–14).

* [17:1] The action of looking up to heaven and the address Father are typical of Jesus at prayer; cf. Jn 11:41 and Lk 11:2.

* [17:2] Another possible interpretation is to treat the first line of the verse as parenthetical and the second as an appositive to the clause that ends v. 1: so that your son may glorify you (just as…all people), so that he may give eternal life….

* [17:3] This verse was clearly added in the editing of the gospel as a reflection on the preceding verse; Jesus nowhere else refers to himself as Jesus Christ.

* [17:6] I revealed your name: perhaps the name I AM; cf. Jn 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19.

* [17:15] Note the resemblance to the petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from the evil one.” Both probably refer to the devil rather than to abstract evil.

* [17:24] Where I am: Jesus prays for the believers ultimately to join him in heaven. Then they will not see his glory as in a mirror but clearly (2 Cor 3:18; 1 Jn 3:2).

* [17:26] I will make it known: through the Advocate.

a. [17:1] 13:31.

b. [17:2] 3:35; Mt 28:18.

c. [17:3] 1:17; Wis 14:7; 15:3; 1 Jn 5:20.

d. [17:5] 1:1, 2; 12:28; Phil 2:6, 9–11.

e. [17:9] 17:20.

f. [17:10] 16:15; 2 Thes 1:10, 12.

g. [17:12] 13:18; 18:9; Ps 41:10; Mt 26:24; Acts 1:16.

h. [17:13] 15:11.

i. [17:14] 15:19.

j. [17:15] Mt 6:13; 2 Thes 3:3; 1 Jn 5:18.

k. [17:17] 1 Pt 1:22