After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
John 17:1-5
This
prayer is the theological climax of the Gospel of John. Jesus has said
good-bye to His disciples and now turns to God, praying for Himself, His
disciples, and the church as He prepares for His death and
resurrection. Jesus will experience betrayal, humiliation, scorn, a
painful execution, all God's wrath for the sin of the world piled on Him
and lastly, rejection by God for a time. Yet in John's Gospel, His
prayers are all about glory. In this prayer, Jesus is not focused on His
death, but instead, looks to His resurrection as God's victory over sin
and death. His resurrection will be glorious because it will prove His
place as God's holy Son and will offer eternal life to all who know God
through Him. He will return to His Father to live in the glory that He
had to abandon by coming to earth.
God
tasked Jesus with nothing less than showing humanity the purpose of
their creation. Jesus was incarnated to turn people's eyes back to God
and to teach them how to live within the blessings of their Creator. At
the evening of His betrayal, Jesus takes the cup that God had poured for
Him - a cup full of bitterness and pain, but even more so, a cup of
glory and salvation for the world.
Prayer
- Lord Jesus, thank You for the work You did on earth to glorify the
Father, so that we may all know the one true God. Thank You that You
showed us the purpose for our creation and how to live within God's
blessings. You are amazing and I am so eager for Your return. I love you
Jesus! In Your name, Amen
*Devotions taken from The Sanctuary for Lent 2016 by Sue Mink
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