The Prayer of Jesus Before He Was Betrayed

    Today I studied John 17. A lot of people like to look at Jesus' prayer in the garden as recorded in Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:39-46 as they remember the cross. Jesus' prayer in the garden is a beautiful reminder of Christ's humanity and his unfaltering obedience to the Father and his plan of salvation. I myself have looked Jesus' prayer in the garden in preparation of Easter to remind myself of the great sacrifice made for me, but this year I am doing things differently.
     John 17 is the prayer that Jesus prays after he has finished his speech to the disciples. In the very next chapter, Jesus is betrayed by Judas and begins the final stage of his journey to the cross. Jesus knew what was getting ready to happen and in this chapter we see another dimension of what was on Christ's mind as he headed towards the cross. This is not to negate the prayer recorded in the other gospels, I feel it just gives us more insight into the magnitude of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
     As I read through this prayer today I asked myself three questions which I am going to share with you along with the answers I found.

1. What does Jesus pray for in John 17?

• He prays that all will know eternal life which is in Jesus Christ, who was sent by God
• He is asking that he (Jesus) will be glorified (and thus glorify God) and that he will experience the glory he had with the Father before the world existed.
• He prays for his disciples and all those who believe because they will be left in this world. He prays for their protection, not that they will be removed from this world, but that they will be protected from the evil one, Satan. 
• He prays that the disciples will be sanctified in truth.
• Jesus prays that as he gives himself over to die on the cross that we can be sanctified in the truth
• Jesus prays for us, those who will become Christians because of the apostles teachings
• He prays that we will be unified just as he and the Father are one
• He prays that we will be with Jesus and see him in his glory

2. What does this teach me about my Jesus?

• Jesus is not a passive participant-he goes willingly to the cross knowing full well the extent of the salvation plan. He is not being forced or coerced or manipulated to the cross.
• Jesus is eternal! Multiple times Jesus refers to returning to the Father and experiencing the glory and love that he had with the Father before the world ever existed.
• Jesus' love for us in unimaginable, unfathomable, and never-ending!

3. What does this teach me about me?

• I am chosen!
• I am saved by Christ alone-I do nothing!
• We are called to love each other and be unified!

    The command to love each other and be unified is something that we see all throughout the New Testament. The world will know that we are his disciples by his love (John 13:35). We are to love each other as Christ loved us (John 15:12). Peter, John, and Paul all talk about our command and call to love each other throughout their letters to the church. Loving each other is not a suggestion, it is a command and we are expected to do it. The greatest act of love we can do for another person is to tell them about the salvation that comes only through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As we prepare to remember the crucifixion tomorrow and celebrate the resurrection on Sunday, let us remember that in our call to love one another, we are called to tell the world about Jesus!