John Chapter 17

vs 1

Wow, this is a powerful chapter. Now, we have to face the fact that John may not be recording this word for word - after all, could he have remembered every word after hearing this prayer once, perhaps up to 50 years or more before?

I'm not saying it's not possible - God could have granted him the gift of a perfect memory. Or he could have remembered the jist of it, and written it down.

Anyway, onto the verse!

Jesus has said several times before that he was praying for the benefit of those around him. Do you ever feel self conscious about the things you say in public prayer, like you're wanting people to get a message, as well as bringing something to God? I do. Jesus didn't seem to mind doing it though.

God is going to glorify his name through Christ. So he will glorify Christ, so that God can be glorified.

vs 2

Jesus has been glorified - he has been given authority over all people. But Jesus makes it clear that he doesn't save them all. He's got authority over all, but he saves those who God gives him. John doesn't mind this paradox, and so I guess neither should we.

vs 3

See, did Jesus have to tell God that? No, of course not. But then, I guess we don't have to tell God anything. But I think this sentence is peculiarly for us and the disciples to hear.

It's an interesting definition of eternal life. It says that you cannot separate eternal life from the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. They are, by definition, intermingled.

vs 4

Wait, completing the work. What? Don't we all think that the real part of the work is yet to come? And yet Jesus is able to pray that he has completed the work. Ok, he might be looking forward a few hours fully realising that he's going to get completed himself in a moment. But I think it at the very least means that we must value the ministry of Jesus apart from the cross as much as we do the cross itself. And not to even mention the resurrection, which for me is the real important bit.

vs 5

Ok, Jesus had glory with God when he was with him before creation. Fair enough. But when did he lose it? Upon taking a material body? Perhaps. Perhaps simply because he is not in heaven, and you can't be truly glorified until you're in heaven? Perhaps his human frame has limited his god-ness a little (certainly it has ruined his omnipresence). That's a hard one.

vs 6

Part of Jesus' role was to reveal himself to the disciples - who would take the message of Christ crucified and resurrected (and all the other stuff he did, which is also important) to the world. God hand-picked them, and that's cool.

vs 7

The most important thing the disciples had to understand was that Christ gets everything he has from God. That is really important. And it took him until basically now to even get them functionally aware of that.

vs 8

Knowing with certainty and believing have come up several times in John. We seem to think that it's paradoxical to have both, but it seems it isn't. You can believe and know something with certainty. I think anyone with faith would understand this. It's hard to explain though.

Jesus has given them words, and they have accepted them. That is an excellent description of the gospel of John! The other gospels, to a greater of lesser extent, have focused on Jesus and his actions - how they fulfil scripture (Matthew), how they highlight his deity (Mark), and how God worked through Christ to bring about salvation (Luke). John is a theological discourse in comparison - giving us the words that God gave him. Awesome.

vs 9

And now, Jesus prays especially for them. Not for the world, which is under his authority, but for these disciples.