John 17:1-26, theme verse John 17:22
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In this twelfth Sunday after the Pentecost, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. During last few weeks, we looked at the details of His last exhortations in the farewell discourses of the Book of Glory. This week, we would like to learn few lessons by looking at His last high priestly prayer together.
1) The Gospel of John as the last book of Gospels was written by the Apostle John, around AD 90-100 for the Johannes communities who were faced up with the attack of the heresy on Jesus’ divinity and humanity, while experiencing also the growing persecution from the Roman Empire and Jewish communities, in order that they might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God and also that by believing, they might have abundant life in His name even in the midst of persecution as written in John 20:31.
2) And our Lord prayed His last prayer after finishing His farewell discourses, in which He prayed for Himself, for His disciples and also for His future disciples and the Church. In the first prayer for Himself, He prayed that he had accomplished the mission the Father had given Him, that is, to give all people eternal life, that is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He had sent, and that He would glorify the Son so that He could glorify the Father. In the second prayer for His disciples, He prayed that as He was leaving this world, going to the Father, He would protect the disciples with the Father’s name, that is, with His power, so that they would not fall into evil, but would sanctify them with the Father’s word, which is the truth, so that they could become completely one as the Father and the Son are one. And in the third prayer, He prayed for those who believe in the Lord through the gospel testimony of the disciples, that is, you and me, so that they too could see the glory of the Lord and become one.
3) And the reason Jesus prayed this prayer was: First, to prepare for the suffering He would now have to endure, and to gain strength for His own atoning work of the cross, while deeply contemplating the joy and glory promised by the Father. Second, to pray for the safety, joy, and future glory of His disciples. And third, to pray that His future disciples, who would come to believe through the gospel witnessing ministry of His disciples, would know all that the Lord had done and given.
4) By the way, in this prayer, Jesus proclaimed four amazing privileges which make us to win, that are, the life, the name, the word and the glory of the Father. To elaborate on these, first, He said that all of us, the Lord’s disciples, will first share the Father’s life, which is is knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom he sent. Here, the Greek word “γινώσκω(ginosko)” which is translated as “to know” means that a man and a woman sleep together, and it refers to knowing each other through fellowship and experience. Likewise, eternal life can be understood as an eternal intimate loving fellowship with God, through which we can gain strength. Second, our Lord’s disciples come to know the Father’s name. Here the Father’s name can be understood as referring to the Father’s attributes as verse 6 and also as referring to the Father’s power, meaning that we know the Father and are preserved by His power. And thirdly, the Lord's disciples will have the Father's word, which is the truth and through which we are sanctified. And finally, we, the Lord's disciples, will share the Father's glory, which is given by the Lord and this glory will be made more and more perfect through the sufferings we must endure on this earth. Therefore, since we are those who possess the name of the Father's eternal life and power, the holy word, and the amazing glory, I believe we have to think about what kind of heart and attitude we should have in our daily lives today.
5) And He said the reason why He prayed that we may share the Father’s life, name, word and glory is to make us unite in one and love. Here, according to the dictionary, the Greek word “εἷς(heis)” which is translated as oneness means first the unity in contrast to division or separation. I mean, as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are completely united in love, His disciples have to be completely united in love. In other words, Adam and Eve were separated from God, people, themselves, and the environment when they sinned before God, yet now through the salvation in Jesus Christ, it means that those relationships are restored, as Ephesians 1:10 said, that the reason we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of sins is that in Him, all things in heaven and on earth may be united together in one. And secondly this Greek word “heis” also can mean wholeness in contrast to partial, so it can also be understood as that we become complete through our union with each other.
6) Through Today’s text, we would like to learn few things. Firstly, we would like to think about how to be united in one. Jesus said in verses 11, 22 and 23 that we could unite in one through the Father’s habitation in us with His name and glory. In other words, as verse 23 says, we can be united as one since Jesus in Him the Father is in us, with His name, that is, His power as verse 11 says and with His glory which transforms our inner self more and more holy. Secondly, Jesus did not say that when we become perfect, then we can be united in one. We cannot be perfect in this side of the world. Even though His “human nature, both body and soul, was restored to its pristine strength and perfection and even raised to a higher level and also passed into the fulness of heavenly glory and was perfectly adapted to the life of heaven and so He is now publicly inaugurated as God-man, and receives the government of the Church and of heaven and earth, and enters solemnly upon the actual administration of the power in honor and glory, yet as it does not mean that His humanity becomes omni-present and perfect as God, even though we ourselves will be glorified when we enter the heavenly realm, still we cannot be omnipresent and perfect as God. As such, we are still the being with weakness in this side of the world. Therefore, if we have to be perfect, in order to be united as one, it is an impossible story. So rather Jesus prayed that we can achieve the unity in one and that we can become more complete by uniting with others even through our shortcomings. Therefore, I pray that we may all experience this amazing blessing of unity in the grace of the Lord’s cross so that the world will know that the Father loves them and that we all glorify God the Father.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 According to today’s text, Jesus said that since we can enjoy the privileges that we can share the Father’s life, name, word and glory so that we can unite as one in love. So after meditating how these four privileges make us be united as one, I hope you could share your thought with your team members together.
Q2 And also we became to know that we have to unite as one since this union makes us whole and complete paradoxically. So after meditating on this, I hope we could share our thoughts with each other to learn from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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