THE PRAYER OF JESUS
THE PRAYER OF JESUS John 17:1-26 This prayer is not free-standing; it is intimately connected by themes and link-words with the discourse that precedes it ( chs. John 14–16 ), as even the first words of John 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 p 551 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 and for the priceless privilege of seei...