John 17: The Lord's Longer Prayer

If I were to inquire any Christian about the Lord’s Prayer, most of them would know immediately what I am asking about. Most of them would probably start rattling it off for me because most of them have it memorized. The “Lord’s Prayer” for Protestants is like the “Hail Mary” for Catholics. A lot of traditional Protestant Christian churches will have the Lord’s Prayer prayed in every church service. Everyone knows that prayer…yet very few people know about another prayer the Lord Jesus spoke. Perhaps Christians don’t know it because it’s too long. Maybe Christians don’t know it because Jesus didn’t teach His disciples to necessarily learn this prayer and pray this prayer. Yet this prayer can teach Christians a lot, so much that some Christians have suggested the prayer in John 17 should be the prayer actually called the “Lord’s Prayer.” In fact, some scholars have called this prayer in John 17 the “High Priestly Prayer” because Jesus talks like a High Priest in this chapter. So to learn from this chapter, I’m going to pick out special spots of interest to explain, then I’m going to use the chapter to paint the bigger picture of Jesus as the Son of God, then conclude with some good application.

Before I start taking note of things, let me remind of the setting and of the debate of the setting. The setting is not clear cut, and there are four places where this prayer could take place. The first possible place is in the Upper Room of the Last Supper, after Judas Iscariot has left. The second possible place is en route from the Upper Room to the Mount of Olives/Garden of Gethsemane, whether it be a “walking and talking” kind of deal to a pit stop outside in Jerusalem. The third possible place is the Mount of Olives, and the fourth possible place is in the Garden of Gethsemane. The first and second possibilities would make us think that it was said in public, in front of the disciples. The fourth possible place would kind of have a private feel. The third place could go either way in terms of publicly or privately. No matter where the location is, I don’t think it changes any interpretation of the prayer.

The first thing I like to note is the order that Jesus prays in. If you’re reading from the New International Version (at least, the 1984 edition), the NIV headlines John17 into 3 sections: Jesus Prays for Himself, Jesus Prays for His Disciples, Jesus Prays for All Believers. Jesus starts by praying for himself, then He prays for those people close to him (His disciples), and then He prays for other people, the ones not as close to Him (All believers). Between Christian middle school, Christian high school, Bible College, and ministry training, I’ve been told to do the opposite. First, you pray for the greater good of all humankind. This would include, but not be limited to, ending world hunger, access to clean drinking water for everyone, clothing the naked, building homes for the homeless, finding orphans loving families, ending child abuse, curing the AIDS epidemic, teaching inner-city kids how to read, bringing about world peace, keeping the earth clean, etc. (and before you know it, this portion of the prayer sounds like you’re competing to be Miss America). Second, you prayer for other people who are close to you with specific requests, or even just the general blessing on your family, relatives and friends (God bless mom, God bless dad, God bless grandma, God bless grandpa, etc.). Then you finally pray for yourself. These two methods are quite opposite. Does that mean that they are contradictory? Is Jesus wrong? Is the church/Christians wrong? I think neither of them is wrong. If you look at both methods, both agree on one thing: God, God’s Will, God’s Plan, God’s Desire, and God’s Glory all come first. All that Christians pray for, whether it is for humankind, close family & friends, or ourselves, it all should come back to God. Everything that Jesus prays for is in order for God the Father to get the glory. As Christians, when we prayer, whether it be for ourselves or others (whether those “others” are close to us or distant to us), we need to keep what God wills and desires in mind. (Also note that when Jesus prays for Himself, it is the shortest part.)

What you might notice through these 3 sections is that they all have the same basic pattern. First, Jesus states: “This is what I have done.” Then Jesus gives His request to His Father: “Now, Father, do this.” It’s almost like Jesus is saying, “I did my part, now you follow through and do your part.” Is this bossing God around or bargaining with God? It is neither. Instead, it opens up our eyes to the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. They are not fully independent of each other, yet at the same time, they are not dependant on each other. Instead, they are interdependent, which is the in-between result of dependency and independency. God the Father and God the Son work together for the greater good and to bring about glory. Ultimately, it is proof that the Father and the Son are one and the same, meaning Jesus is God.

John 17:1-5 is the section where Jesus prays for Himself. Jesus reports to the Father what He did: Jesus completed the work the Father gave Him and provided the people a way for eternal life. Jesus asks His Father to continue to give him glory up to the cross, so that God the Father may continue to the glory. The only other thing I want to point out is in verse 5. Jesus asks the Father for the same glory that Jesus had with God before the world was created. Jesus is stating that He was around before the world even came into existence. This verse shows that Jesus is just as eternal as God the Father, thus making Jesus God.

The second section is Jesus praying for His disciples, now down to eleven. Jesus starts out by reporting to the Father what He has done with His disciples, and it is quite a hefty list. First, Jesus made Hi disciples aware of God the Father (vs. 6). Second, Jesus taught His disciples the Word and made sure they obeyed it (vs.8). Third, Jesus prayed for the disciples (vs. 9). Fourth, Jesus has protected The Eleven, so they are safe (vs. 12). Fifth, Jesus commissioned them into the world (vs. 18). Sixth and last, Jesus began their process of sanctification (vs. 19). Jesus then pleads to His father on the disciples’ behalf. At least half of Christ’s requests are continuations of what Jesus began. Just as Jesus began sanctification, Jesus then asks God to continue to sanctify the disciples (vs. 17). Just as Jesus protected the disciples and kept them safe, Jesus requests that God should protect the disciples and keep them safe. But Jesus asks God for more than that. First, Jesus prays that the disciples may receive joy. Then Jesus petitions God to unify the disciples. All of these acts I see as only possible through the Holy Spirit. So although Jesus does not say it directly, I believe Jesus is requesting the Holy Spirit from the Father for His Disciples. Jesus didn’t want to break a promise that Jesus made with His disciples in chapters 14-16, so Jesus prays for it one last time to make sure it comes true.

In John 17:12, Jesus mentions he kept everyone safe and protected. In the NIV, Jesus proceeds to say, “None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” This is one of the few times I don’t like the NIV because it doesn’t clearly show the wordplay here. For that, we need to look at a more literal translation. The NASB says, “not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” This is much more helpful to see the wordplay. “Perdition” is pretty much the noun form of “perished.” Indeed, the Greek word for perish (apoleto) and the Greek word for perdition (apoleias) have the same root. Jesus is pretty much saying “the one who perished was the one meant to perish.” Clearly this is talking about Judas Iscariot, even though Jesus does not explicitly call him by name. And that’s the eerie part. The name Jesus gives Judas Iscariot, whether it’s “the one doomed to destruction” or “the son of perdition” (both are translations of the Greek phrase “huios tēs apoleias”), is a name given to Satan Himself, the Antichrist (with a Capital A), as well as antichrists (lowercase a). This is not a name to mess around with. It talks about someone in deep trouble with God. The person with this title is almost like sin incarnate, or something close to it. This person has been destined, even predestined to hell. So yes, Judas Iscariot is in the same camp as Satan and the Antichrist. This really adds on to your views on Judas Iscariot.

Some of your Bibles (like the NIV 1984 ed. or ESV) might have a footnote marked next to the word “sanctify” in John 17:17, in attempts to explain it. If you were to read the Bible in order, starting in Genesis, this would be the first time you’d come across it. The were is not found at all in the Old Testament, and none of the Synoptic Gospels mention it. Verses 17 and 19 in John 17 are the only two verses to have the word in the whole book of John. Yet in the rest of the New Testament, the word will be used 13 more times. Sanctification plays an important role in our salvation. What does it mean? The 1984 edition of the NIV does the best explaining of it. The Greek word for “sanctify” is hagiazo, which means “to set apart for sacred use” or “to make holy.” My 4th grade Sunday School teacher, teaching this term out of Romans, had an easy way to explain the noun form “sanctification”: “Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ.” Now this makes perfect sense for us as Christians. Despite being saved, that does not make us immediately perfect. We still fight the sinful nature, except now we have the Holy Spirit giving us the upper hand. In the Christian life, sanctification is the process of becoming less sinful and become more holy, like God and Jesus. But what did Jesus mean when he says he sanctifies himself? Isn’t he already holy or sacred? Yes, he is. Jesus is using “sanctify” differently when talking about himself. When Christians talk about being sanctified, they are sanctified in their lives, by becoming living sacrifices. When Jesus talked about being sanctified, he’s talking about His death. His death is a holy, sacred act, and it will make sanctification possible to all humankind.

The third section is Jesus praying all believers, both the present believers and the future believers. This would include the future believers his present believers will make. Jesus only reports two things that He has done for all his believers: Jesus has made God known to the believers (vs. 26) and Jesus has given the believers God’s glory (vs. 22). Yet Christ’s list of prayer requests for them is much longer. First, Jesus prays that all believers may have unity (vs. 20-23). Second, Jesus petitions God to give the believers His love, so that the believers may pass on that love to other people (vs. 23-26). Third, Jesus requests that God will continue to give the believers glory, just as Jesus gave them glory (vs. 24). Willmington’s Bible Handbook reminds everyone that these prayer requests were answered. They began at the First Coming of Jesus Christ, and they will end, fully completed, at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Now the question that might have arisen from both the section praying for the disciples and the section praying for all believers is the topic of unity. What does Jesus mean when He is praying for unity? The obvious answer would be that the disciples and believers would be unified to one another. That would seem like the most literal understanding of the topic, and some scholars do understand that’s what unity is being prayed for. Yet other scholars will shy away from. These other scholars will think about the Great Schism in 1054, the Reformation in the 1500s, and all the denominations that have resulted from both events in history. It would seem like Christ’s prayer was not answer, or was not fulfilled. So other scholars will say that Jesus is praying that the disciples and believers will be unified with God, just like Jesus is unified with God. So which one is right? Well, it all depends on how you are seeing the relationship between God and Jesus in this passage. Do you see the relation between Yahweh and Jesus as the relationship between God the Father and God the Son? If so, it would be an equal relationship, or equal unity. Then Jesus is praying that the disciples and believers would be unified with one another, for Jesus would not be praying for humans to be equal to God, but for humans to be equal with fellow humans. Do you see the relationship between Yahweh and Jesus as a relationship between God and man, or a relationship between a lord/master and his servant? If so, it would be hierarchy relationship, or a hierarchy unity. Then Jesus is praying for unity between God and believers, for believers are just as much His servants as they are His friends and His children (and even children are below their parents). It’s hard to say which view of the relationship is right, for Jesus filled both roles: He is equal to God, yet He submits to God. If you were to ask me, I would go back to the overall picture John is trying to portray for us. John is trying to show the reader that Jesus is God’s Son. A son is not above his father, but the father is above the son. Thus, the relationship is not seen as equal, but as one submitting. Therefore, the better interpretation is Jesus is asking God for His disciples and His believers to be united with God. Yet this does not mean we can throw the idea of unity between Christians out the window. Paul constantly begs in his epistles for the church to reach unity. So Christians need to pray for and seek after unity with one another, just like they are unified with God. (And some scholars will say that if Jesus was praying for believers to be united with other believers, it still hasn’t gone unanswered. There are still some orthodox doctrine that all Christians believe in, no matter what denomination they are a part of. In this way, Christians are united.)

So how does John 17 add to the whole Gospel of John? What new insight does John 17 give the reader to demonstrate to the reader that Jesus is God the Son? Count the number of times you see Jesus pray “Father” in John 17. I counted 6 times. Furthermore, it is used 122 times in the Gospel of John, 53 times in John 13-17 alone! This is new for prayer. Old Testament Jews would rarely call God their Father in prayer. When Jesus prays, He is obviously talking to God. In John 17, Jesus is calling God directly His Father (as opposed to earlier in the chapter, where Jesus references God as “Father” in the 3rd person). For a Jew to do this, this would be bold, maybe even blasphemous. Jesus sees no problem in this, for He is the Son of God, He is God, and He is equal with God.

So what can Christians learn from all this? First of all, it gives Christians good ideas about what to pray for in our daily prayers. Christians should pray for God’s glory to be revealed. Christians should pray for God to shower down love on His people, so we as Christians can pass on the love. Christians need to pray for unity between God and Christians, as well as between fellow Christians. Christians need to pray for safety, both physically and spiritually. Second, prayer can happen anywhere and be just as effective. It doesn’t matter where Jesus prayed this prayer, and it shouldn’t matter where we as Christians lift up prayers to our God. Third, we need to keep God and His Will at the center of our prayers. I remember one time my friends and I got together to pray for a common friend whose non-Christian mom was facing death. While we went around in a circle, all my friends simply prayed that God would heal her, but I felt led to pray differently. So when it came my turn, I prayed, “Lord, may she not die until she has received you as Lord and Savior.” My friend’s mom would fight off death and live. So whose prayer was answered? Obvious the former prayers were answered, but I continue to pray that the latter prayer might be answered as well. My point is when praying, even for other people’s well-being, pray with God at the center. And when God is in the center, there is no such thing as a selfish prayer.

If there is anything that this prayer in John 17 and the Lord’s Prayer has in common, it would be that both pray for God’s Kingdom to come and God’s Will to be done. May we truthfully and honestly be able to pray that every time, and allow whatever it takes for it to come true.