Jesus Prays
What does Jesus ask for on the last night of His life?
John 17:1-26
Read the whole passage before anything else. Everything below exists to help you understand what you just read.
1Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
4I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
6I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
7Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,
8for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
9I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
14I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
16They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
17Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
18As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
19For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
20Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,
21that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
22The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
23I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.
24Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
26I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
What just happened?
For four chapters, Jesus has been talking to his disciples. He washed their feet. He predicted Judas would betray him and Peter would deny him. He promised to send the Holy Spirit. He warned them that the world would hate them. All of this happened over a final meal in a borrowed upper room in Jerusalem. Now, the teaching is over. The meal is finished. The betrayal is already in motion.
In John 17, Jesus stops talking to his men and starts talking to his Father. He lifts his eyes to heaven. What follows is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus in the entire Bible. Historically, the church has called this the High Priestly Prayer. In the ancient world, a departing leader's final words were considered their most important. This is Jesus' last will and testament, spoken as a prayer.
He prays in three concentric circles. First, he prays for himself, asking to be restored to the glory he had before the universe existed. Second, he prays for his eleven remaining disciples, asking God to protect them from the evil one as they are sent out into a hostile world. Third, he prays for everyone who will ever believe in him down the centuries. He is praying for the church. He is praying for you.
The Definition of Eternal Life
If you ask the average person on the street to define eternal life, they will talk about time. They will describe a timeline that stretches forward into infinity. Living forever. A never-ending existence in a place called heaven after you die. But when Jesus defines eternal life in verse 3, he does not mention time or geography. He defines it as a relationship.
'This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent.' Jesus uses a specific Greek word for knowledge here. It is not about possessing mental facts, like knowing the capital of France or the atomic weight of carbon. It is experiential, relational knowledge. It is the way a husband knows a wife. Eternal life is not just infinite duration; it is infinite depth of relationship with the Creator.
Then Jesus makes a claim that shatters any idea that he was merely a good moral teacher. He asks the Father to glorify him 'with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.' A mortal prophet cannot say this. A first-century rabbi cannot say this without committing blasphemy. Jesus is claiming to be pre-existent. He is claiming that before the first star was formed, he existed in perfect glory with God the Father.
The Tension of the World
Jesus introduces a massive tension for anyone who follows him. He notes that the world hates his disciples because they are not 'of' the world. The natural human reaction to hostility is retreat. If the world hates us, the logical move is to build a fortress, pull up the drawbridge, and hide. This is the root of monasticism and isolationist religious communities.
But Jesus explicitly forbids this. 'I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.' He wants his followers fully immersed in the culture, yet entirely insulated from its spiritual decay. He does not want a holy huddle. He wants a deployed special forces unit.
This creates the famous framework of being 'in the world but not of it.' You are to eat with tax collectors, engage in the marketplace, and love your neighbors. But your value system, your ethics, and your ultimate allegiance belong to a different kingdom. You do not withdraw, but you do not assimilate either. You remain distinct, and you rely on the Father's protection to survive the friction.
The Apologetic of Unity
In verse 20, the lens widens. Jesus looks past the men sitting in front of him and prays for 'those also who will believe in me through their word.' He prays for the subsequent generations of Christians. His primary request for these future believers is not that they would be rich, comfortable, or even safe. His primary request is that they would be one.
He roots this unity in the Trinity. 'Even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.' This is not a superficial agreement on a committee. It is a profound, relational cohesion. But the most striking part is the reason Jesus gives for wanting this unity. He wants them to be one 'that the world may believe that you sent me.'
Christian unity is the ultimate apologetic. It is the proof that Jesus is who he claims to be. When people from different races, economic brackets, and political backgrounds love each other sacrificially, the world takes notice. Sociologically, it makes no sense. The tragic reverse is also true. When Christians fracture, bite, and divide, the apologetic fails. The world looks at a divided church and assumes Jesus is a fraud.
The Final Request
As the prayer comes to a close, Jesus makes his final demand. He says, 'Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory.' This is the ultimate goal of the Christian faith. It is not merely getting your sins forgiven so you avoid punishment. It is about presence. Jesus wants his people with him.
He wants them to see his glory. For thirty-three years, Jesus' glory was veiled in human flesh. His disciples saw flashes of it—on the Mount of Transfiguration, in the healing of the blind, in the raising of Lazarus. But Jesus is asking that one day, the veil will be fully lifted. He wants his friends to see him as he truly is, blazing with the unborrowed light of the cosmos.
He ends with a promise. He has made the Father's name known, so 'that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.' This is staggering. The exact, infinite, perfect love that God the Father has for God the Son is going to be placed inside human beings. You are not just tolerated by God. If you are in Christ, you are loved with the very love the Father has for Jesus.
What is Jesus actually saying?
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
- What it meant there
- Eternal life is defined by a relationship with God, beginning now, rather than merely an infinite span of time beginning after death.
- What people often think it means
- Eternal life is a golden ticket to a cloudy paradise where you live forever.
- What it does not mean
- That intellectual knowledge or theological trivia about God is what saves you.
I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me...
- What it meant there
- Jesus is acting as the High Priest for his specific people, interceding for their spiritual protection and success in their upcoming mission.
- What it does not mean
- That Jesus hates the world or does not want the rest of the world to be saved. John 3:16 clearly states his love for the world.
...that they may all be one... that the world may believe that you sent me.
- What it meant there
- The visible, relational unity of diverse believers is the primary evidence to a watching world that the gospel is true.
What are we supposed to see?
- 1IDENTITY
He claims pre-existence. He states he shared glory with the Father before the world was even created.
- 2MISSION
He has accomplished the specific work the Father gave him on earth, which was to reveal the Father's name and give the words of truth to his disciples.
- 3WHAT HE VALUES
He intensely values unity among his followers, seeing it as a reflection of the Trinity and the engine of evangelism.
Where this sits in the whole Bible
Exodus 33:18 → John 17:24
In Exodus, Moses boldly asks God, 'Please show me your glory.' God tells him no human can see his face and live. In John 17, Jesus asks the Father that his followers will eventually be with him to see his unfiltered glory. What was denied to Moses will be granted to the church.
Daniel 7:13-14 → John 17:2
Daniel prophesies about a 'son of man' who is given authority, glory, and sovereign power over all peoples and nations. Jesus directly claims this authority, stating the Father gave him 'authority over all flesh.'
Psalm 41:9 → John 13:18 → John 17:12
Jesus notes that none of his disciples are lost except the 'son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.' This points back to his earlier quotation of Psalm 41 about a close friend eating bread and lifting his heel in betrayal.
In verse 20, Jesus explicitly looks down the corridor of history and prays for you. Before you were born, before the church was built, Jesus interceded for your faith, your unity, and your protection.
Don't rush past this
Verse 9 lands harshly on modern ears: 'I don't pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me.' In a culture that values universal inclusivity above all else, Jesus drawing a hard line of exclusivity feels offensive. Why would the Savior of the world refuse to pray for the world?
You have to understand his role in this exact moment. He is functioning as a High Priest. In ancient Israel, the High Priest did not go into the Holy of Holies to pray for the Babylonians or the Romans. He wore a breastplate with twelve stones, representing the twelve tribes. He prayed specifically for the covenant people of God. Jesus is doing the same. He is about to bleed for the world, but right now, he is interceding specifically for the protection and unity of his new family.
Turn it inward
Three questions from this passage. Answer them or just sit with them — nothing here is required to finish the lesson.
Father, keep me from the evil one. Give me the courage to live distinctly in the world without isolating myself from the people you love. Make me an agent of unity among believers, so that the world might look at our love and know that Jesus is real.
Identify one believer with whom you have a fractured relationship or hold a grudge, and initiate a conversation this week to clear the air.
History, language, objections and sources. None of it is needed to understand the passage.
Did Jesus actually say these exact words, or did the author invent this prayer decades later to make Jesus sound divine?
Skeptics often point out that John's Gospel was written later than the others (around 85-90 AD) and contains the highest 'Christology'—meaning Jesus sounds the most like God. They argue a historical rabbi wouldn't claim to exist before the world (v. 5).
However, the belief in Jesus' pre-existence was not a late invention by John. The Apostle Paul wrote about Jesus existing in the 'form of God' before taking on human likeness in Philippians 2, a letter written around 50-60 AD—decades before John's Gospel. The early church worshipped Jesus as divine from the very beginning. John is recording the theological reality of what Jesus prayed, likely seared into his memory because of the sheer weight of the claims.
If Jesus prayed for Christian unity so the world would believe, doesn't the existence of thousands of denominations prove his prayer failed?
This is a devastating question. The historic fracture of the church—Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and thousands of subgroups—is widely recognized by theologians as a tragic failure of believers to live up to this chapter.
But the text does not say unity will be automatic or easy. Jesus prays for it precisely because he knows human pride will fight against it. Historically, orthodox Christians agree that true unity is not necessarily institutional (everyone belonging to one global megachurch) but relational and theological—agreeing on the core tenets of the gospel and loving each other across secondary differences. When the church fails at this, evangelism stalls, exactly as Jesus warned.
The Greek Concept of 'Knowing'
In John 17:3, Jesus says eternal life is to 'know' the only true God. The Greek verb used here is 'ginosko'. In ancient Greek thought, there were different ways to know something. You could know a fact objectively ('oida'), like knowing a math equation. But 'ginosko' implies an active, developing, experiential relationship.
It is the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for physical intimacy between a husband and wife. It implies vulnerability, closeness, and firsthand experience. Jesus is entirely reshaping religion. He is moving it from a ledger of rule-keeping and intellectual assent into a dynamic, living relationship.
The Son of Destruction
In verse 12, Jesus refers to Judas Iscariot as the 'son of destruction' (in some translations, 'son of perdition'). The Greek word is 'apoleia', which means ruin, waste, or eternal loss.
It is a Hebrew idiom. To be a 'son of' something meant your character was entirely characterized by that thing. Barnabas was the 'son of encouragement.' Judas is the 'son of ruin.' The tragic irony is that Judas walked with the author of life for three years, yet his choices entirely consumed him in ruin. Jesus notes this did not derail God's plan, but rather fulfilled the Scriptures, showing God's sovereign hand even over human betrayal.
More this passage reveals
WHAT HE OFFERS: He offers protection from the evil one, sanctification through truth, and a share in his own joy and ultimate glory.