John 17:1-5, Jesus the High Priest

1 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.

In his commentary, John Milne asks two questions of chapter 17, known as “The High Priestly Prayer” or “The Prayer of Consecration”: 1) Why did Jesus pray at this point? And 2) why has the Holy Spirit seen fit to give us such a detailed account of the prayer? His primary answer is that Jesus offers this prayer at this point because he is approaching the cross. The hour, his hour, has come, and the Holy Spirit wants us to know that Jesus goes willingly and sacrificially out of love for the Father and on our behalf—important truths every Christian needs to know.

To lift up one’s eyes to heaven was a customary prayer posture: “To you I lift up my eyes” (Psalm 123:1). Jesus looks to the Father, acknowledging that his time has come and the work he will do on the cross is for the glory of God. He uses the intimate name he always uses in the 21 gospel examples of prayer to God: “Abba”. There is no Old Testament precedent for using this intimate name to pray to God. This use is original to Jesus and belongs to his followers to use. Here we learn Jesus’ deepest concern, to bring glory to God. Jesus seeks the Father’s glory and the Father seeks Jesus’ glory. The two are totally united in their purpose to give eternal life to all the Father brings to the Son. The Father takes the initiative for salvation in bringing followers to Jesus, and Jesus takes the initiative in going to the cross for them.

The mission of Jesus has been to make the Father known to the world as Adam and Eve had known God the Father in the Garden of Eden. Jesus is the face of God come to earth to bring eternal life back to humanity after the first sin was committed. Where Adam failed to be obedient to the Father, Jesus triumphs. As he approaches the Garden of Gethsemane—he is not there yet—he consecrates himself in this prayer to the will of the Father to do the work he has to do on the cross. Jesus prays for himself, acknowledging both his humanity (I glorified you on earth) and his divinity (the glory that I had with you before the world existed).

God our heavenly Father, thank you for the example of your Son in obedient prayer. Thank you that this prayer shows his sacrificial love for us. Help us to live obediently to him that we may love you with all our heart, soul, and mind and our neighbors as ourselves. Amen.