sermon on john 17:1

Having concluded his extended discussion with the disciples in which he has tried to prepare them for his departure, Jesus now turns to prayer. The prayer which makes up this chapter is very much ‘holy ground’ as we listen in to Jesus addressing his Father. Some feel it wouldn’t be right to preach on the prayer, suggesting rather that we simply read it and reflect upon it.

Whilst there is something attractive about that, I think MLJ had it right when he made the point that, if that was the Lord’s intention, he would not have prayed audibly and caused it to be recorded for us.

Even so, this still feels like a very special piece of scripture. It is profound and profoundly moving – may God bless it to us! As we begin our study of this chapter, I want to begin simply by focussing on v.1 and taking time to ponder what Jesus is doing here and how he does it.

1. Jesus & the act of prayer
The fact that Jesus prays is worth noting, for many reasons. Some would see him praying in front of his disciples and others simply in terms of example – that Jesus himself did not need to pray, that his whole life was one of communion with God that did not need any expression.

As an example they might point to 11:41f where Jesus has clearly been asking God to raise Lazarus even before he speaks openly – “Father, I thank you that you have heard me”. That sounds good but is it true?

I don’t think so and for this reason: Jesus also prayed privately, and often. Of course he prayed as he went along and was ‘in touch’ with his Father at all times but Jesus also devoted time and energy to deliberate and prolonged verbal praying and not just in the hearing of his disciples and others by way of example.

One way of assessing that would be to suggest that it was because he was incarnate and experienced the limitations of the flesh. But there is a difficulty with that view.

Jesus did not sacrifice the reality of his relationship with the Father when he took human flesh to himself; rather, he had the Spirit without measure. What we’re seeing, when we see Jesus praying, and when we get to listen in to those prayers, is not being done simply to teach us lessons in prayer; they are genuine expressions of the reality of the Son’s relationship with his Father.

Jesus’ praying was, then, not an act of accommodation to the limitations of his disciples, nor to the limitations of his incarnation, but was the expression and actualisation of his relationship with the Father.

And on that point we should notice that Jesus did not simply teach the truth here to his disciples, he also prayed the truth. Many of the themes of his discussion with the disciples in ch.13-16 are here taken up in prayer. Why? To make sure the disciples have got the point, kind-of like a second sermon? Not at all! Jesus has taught the truth and now is praying for the truth to be done, for God’s will to be worked out in the lives of his people.

We often pray at the close of the sermon and it is for the same reason, to ask God to help us to apply what we’ve heard, asking him to work out his salvation in and through us. If it was an important ministry of Jesus here then it’s an important part of what we do together also – not just collectively but privately as well.

The disciples didn’t just need Jesus’ instruction, they needed his intercession – and so do we. One of the great encouragements of scripture is that we are expressly told that Jesus does pray for us, that he ever lives to make intercession for us.

2. Jesus & the art of prayer
So, after he had finished speaking to his disciples, Jesus prayed. What John tells us is that “he looked towards heaven and prayed”. I think those words are worth pondering a while.

Jesus looked towards heaven – we can perhaps picture the scene but why did he do so? Why look up? Doesn't he know God doesn't really live in the sky? Wow, how primitive can you get.

But this is the Son of God. His grasp of the reality of God so far exceeds our miniature glimpses it isn't even worthy of a comparison. So what's really going on here?

Perhaps what we're seeing here is the significance of posture as symbol. Posture in prayer is clearly not everything but perhaps we can say that it is not insignificant – Jesus himself seems to teach that in his example here. After all, we are not simply spiritual beings; we were created as physical creatures and need to express ourselves in an integrated way – heart and hands, so to speak.

By looking towards heaven, Jesus is both expressing and teaching by way of symbol. And I think 3 things are evident here.

i) By his posture, Jesus is symbolising, in his upward look, the reality that God is transcendent and reigns supreme. The truth to which the symbol points is found in the prayer he taught his disciples: “Our Father, in heaven”. Prayer to God is prayer that is offered to the great Lord of all, to the one who sees all and knows all, to the one who is in the place of utter and absolute power.

How essential that is at this point when Jesus contemplates his own departure by way of the cross and the experiences of the disciples once he has gone.

ii) It is also a look of unfeigned trust. In Ps. 123 the psalmist likens the upward look to that of a maid looking to the hand of her mistress and the eyes of a servant to the hand of their master. It is a look of expectation and trust. So, too, the look of Jesus – he has come to do his Father’s will, he is committing everything into his Father’s hands – and he is doing so in complete trust and with settled expectation.

Our own praying can and must exhibit the same sense of hope and confidence symbolically expressed by Jesus here.

iii) Jesus raises his eyes – something the tax collector in the temple would not do, because of his felt sense of shame. Only Jesus can by rights look upward into the face of God without any hint of shame, without a shred of arrogance.

Here he models the reality for all who are right with God in him – there is no longer any need to hide our faces but, knowing the mercy of God, we can look upward into the face of our Creator and call him ‘Father’, we can look upward and seek his glory.

3. Jesus and the essence of prayer
As we close, I want to focus for a few moments on the first word and first clause of this great prayer. Here we approach the very heart of prayer – intimate relationship with God: “Father” – and a profound concern for the glory of God: “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”

We will, of course, have much more to say about this next time as we take up these next few verses which are dominated by this theme but, for now, we must simply grasp just how important the theme is, how it grounds true prayer, how it provides its basic framework.

Prayer is not a technique for us to wring out of God the necessities of life or help in difficult times. It is much more about our being lifted into the life of God, sharing his deepest concerns and being eager for his glory. Jesus displays that in an exemplary way in his life and ministry and here in this great prayer.

We start and finish with the glory of God. Nothing is more important that that; nothing is as satisfying as that.

But does that relegate our needs and concerns to the periphery? No; listen to what Jesus said earlier: “if God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself” (13:32). That holds true not only for Jesus but by extension to us too: as we seek God’s glory, we will share in the blessings of that. And remember, too, the whole structure of the Lord’s Prayer and how it encompasses all our needs.

No, we aren’t left out of the picture but are being invited to it in its truest colours and in sharpest focus – and, more, to find our own home and place within that picture. May God grant us grace to do so. Amen.