The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus
John 17:1-27
Excerpt
This prayer is not free-standing; it is intimately connected by themes and link-words with the discourse that precedes it (chs. 14–16), as even the first words of 17:1 (‘After Jesus said this …’) intimate. Indeed, there is ample evidence that prayers of one sort or another were frequently connected with ‘farewell discourses’ in the ancient world, both in Jewish and in hellenistic literature (e.g. Gn. 49;Dt. 32–33; Jubilees 22:7–23).1 What is unique about this prayer rests neither on form nor on literary associations but on him who offers it, and when. He is the incarnate Son of God, and he is returning to his Father by the route of a desperately shameful and painful death. He prays that the course on which he is embarked will bring glory to his Father, and that his followers, in consequence of his own death and exaltation, will be preserved from evil andfor the priceless privilege of seeing Jesus’ glory, all the while imitating in their own relationship the reciprocity of love displayed by the Father and the Son. More
Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991. Print. The Pillar New Testament Commentary.
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