The Red Prayer of Glory (John 17:1-26)

Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States have spent months trying to persuade Iran to suspend their uranium enrichment and reprocessing. These six nations do not want Iran to become a nuclear power. The negotiations have been going on for months. Imagine, if just before these talks had started, we read in the morning paper: “Diplomats From Six Nations Gather for Prayer.” Imagine the article shared how the senior diplomats of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States wanted to prevent Iran from going nuclear. But their first step was going to be prayer. For a month they would gather and pray.

The Democratic and Republican conventions will happen soon. They’ll be meetings, speeches, lobbying, strategy sessions, and press conferences. Each party will strive to determine the best ticket and the best way to serve the American people. But imagine if at their respective conventions, John McCain and Barak Obama appeared at the opening session and announced, “It’s become clear that the best thing I and my party can do to serve this country and meet the significant issues we face is to pray. We’ve decided to spend the first full day of this convention in prayer.”

Of course, we would never read such lines in a newspaper or hear them on television. Why? Why wouldn’t diplomats from six nations prioritize prayer over negotiation? Why wouldn’t presidential candidates give greater focus to prayer than speech-making? It probably has to do with the way many people view prayer. Most are in favor of prayer. Prayer’s not a bad thing. But generally speaking prayer is what you do if you can’t do anything else. If you’ve exhausted all other options, then you pray. For many, prayer is a kind of last resort.

I confess that I too often treat prayer this way at Highland. For example, we’ve spent the last few months getting ready for an exciting partnership with Agape which you will hear more about in future Sundays. We’ve spent the last two to three months analyzing proposals, working out details, fine-tuning plans, and recruiting volunteers. Finally, we got everything ironed out. It’s ready to launch. And so, last Sunday morning, several of us met one more time—this time to simply pray. What concerns me is that it was only after we ironed out all the details that we finally met to pray. I don’t mean it’s the only time we prayed. At virtually every meeting during this process, we prayed. But it was only once we completed what was humanly possible that we set aside a specific time just to pray about this initiative. And what’s worse, is that I had nothing to do with that recent prayer meeting. A volunteer put it together and invited me to it. I had nothing to do with calling that prayer meeting. Sometimes I act as if prayer is a kind of last resort.

Years ago a friend of mine had been invited to attend a meeting along with several other influential figures within Churches of Christ. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss why Churches of Christ were not reaching non Christians. These leaders sat in a large circle. They began to talk. Theories were suggested. Action plans were proposed. But in the midst of the meeting my friend said something like, “Maybe what we ought to do is just get on our knees and pray.” He was serious. He thought the best thing those leaders could do was pray. But no one took him seriously. The conversation continued as if my friend had not spoken.

This approach to prayer stands in contrast to Jesus’ approach. For the past six weeks we’ve been experiencing the prayers that Jesus prayed. And one of the things that becomes clear about prayer as we listen to Jesus pray is the sheer importance of prayer. It seems that to Jesus nothing was more important than prayer. This lesson becomes crystal clear with this morning’s prayer. It is the longest prayer of Jesus. It is found in Jn. 17.

As I read this prayer, listen intently. What word or phrase do you find significant? Write that down. Reflect on it. What is God saying to you through this word? 1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. 6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17 TNIV).

Volumes have been written on this prayer. We’ll touch on only a few elements in it. Of great significance is where this prayer comes. It’s part of a section that begins in Jn. 13 where John writes: It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. At least three times in John we’ve been told that “the hour had not yet come…” (Jn. 2:4; 7:30; 8:20). We have heard that it’s not yet time for the cross, the tomb, and the ascension. But now we are told that it is time. It is now time for another chapter. This is the chapter we are living in. It is the chapter in which Jesus transfers his mission and his ministry to us. What he has been doing in person he will now do through persons—through us. It is the single most important leadership transition in history. It is the most important succession plan ever attempted. All the compassionate ministry and profound teaching will now be handed from Jesus to us. Jesus has been changing the world. Now we will change the world. The hour has come.

How does Jesus handle this transition? He seems to do three things in chapters 13-17. First, he gives a demonstration. In Jn. 13:2-17 Jesus gives a demonstration of the basic posture we must take if we desire to change the world. Jesus washes the feet of his followers. And he calls them, he calls us, to likewise become feet washers. Jesus gives a demonstration of the spirit of humility and service which alone can change the world.

Second, Jesus gives instruction. In chapters 14-16 Jesus gives lengthy instruction about the mission he has been doing and which we will now do. Much of his instruction has to do with the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants us to anticipate the presence and the power of his Spirit as we carry on Jesus’ ministry.

Third, Jesus makes intercession. That is, Jesus prays. In Jn. 17 Jesus prays. It is the longest prayer we have from the lips of Jesus. And it is significant that this longest of all of Jesus’ prayers focuses primarily on our role as the ones who carry on the ministry of Jesus. When it came to the most important calling in our lives, for Jesus prayer was not an afterthought. It was not something he did when he could not do anything else. It was of greatest priority. Jesus interceded. Jesus prayed. This was the most important page-turning of Jesus’ ministry. If this leadership transition from him to us was not successful then everything Jesus has worked for stops here. It is very significant, therefore, that one of the central things Jesus does is pray. It is not the only thing he does. But it is one of the central things he does. He prays. He prays the longest prayer we have. He prays as if everything hinges on it. He prays.

At a basic level, therefore, this prayer teaches us the critical importance of prayer. Jesus teaches that prayer can never be a last resort, but must always be of first importance. At the Global Missions Conference I attended recently in Arlington, TX the organizers showed a video of Christianity in China. They showed house churches filled to overflowing, standing room only, with people singing and worshiping for hours. Christianity was thriving despite official rejection by Chinese leaders. The video also showed something else: every morning at 5 AM Chinese Christians gather to pray. From peasants to professionals, they gather each morning at 5 AM and pray. As I watched the video I remember connecting those two dots. What is it that explains the stubborn growth of Christianity in a place like China? Perhaps it has something to do with 5 AM prayers. Why is Christianity growing in China under persecution when Christianity is declining in America where we are free to worship? I think it has something to do with the presence of 5 AM prayers in China and the absence of 5 AM prayers in America.

After the end of apartheid in South Africa, Bishop Desmond Tutu took on the enormous task of presiding over the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.[1] For nearly two years he would have to listen to gruesome stories of physical and other kinds of abuse and strive to lead the offenders and those offended toward reconciliation. In the midst of that time he was interviewed. Tutu said that he strives to spend 2-3 hours each day in prayer. When asked how he made such time for prayer, Tutu replied, “What are you talking about? Do you think we’d be able to do this stuff if we didn’t?” That’s what this longest prayer of Jesus teaches. We cannot do the most important stuff in life without prayer. Prayer is no last resort. When it comes continuing today what Jesus began—putting marriages and families back together, bringing relief and compassion to those in poverty, leading people to the truth about God—you cannot do that stuff without prayer.

But what Jesus prays for is just as important as that he prays. This lengthy prayer revolves around five petitions. Here they are:

1. 1 “Glorify your Son…5 glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

2. 11 protect them by the power of your name…so that they may be one as we are one…15 My prayer is…that you protect them from the evil one.

3. 17 Sanctify them by the truth

4. 20 “My prayer is…21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

5. 24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

The prayer begins with a plea for God to restore to Jesus all of that which Jesus gave up when he came to earth. He prays for God to return him to his full stature, his full splendor, his full glory. It’s what Peter, James, and John got a glimpse of at the Transfiguration. It’s what John got a glimpse of on the island of Patmos. In the incarnation Jesus has emptied himself, humbled himself. He prays now that God would exalt him and restore to him his full divine stature.

The prayer moves on to intercede for the eleven disciples still with Jesus—that God would protect them from the evil one. As Jesus hands them the reigns, the evil one will seek to turn them away from this mission. Jesus prays for their protection. And in being protected, he envisions them becoming one. As one team, as one united community, they will stand against evil.

Third, Jesus prays that they would be sanctified. The word “sanctified” means to be set apart or devoted to God’s purposes. Jesus is praying that they would be set apart or devoted to God’s purposes. In the surrounding verses, Jesus talks about how God has sent him into the world and how Jesus is now sending them into the world. Thus, he prays that God would sanctify them, enable them to be genuinely devoted to this mission. He prays that they would be set apart for God’s purposes in the world.

Fourth, the prayer moves to those who will be reached through the ministry of the eleven—that these new Christians would be one. Jesus prays that they would experience rich and deep community. He believes that kind of community will become a witness to the world. That is, the world will look at this loving and serving community and conclude that the only way such a community could exist is if a god created it. The church will become proof of God’s existence and of Jesus’ deity.

Finally, the prayer returns to the theme it began with. Jesus prays that those who have engaged in this mission will see this glory. He prays that those who have joined in this great mission will glimpse a vision of the true identity and nature of Jesus.

One way of understanding the importance of this content is to view these five petitions as a kind of circle.

· The circle begins with God glorifying Jesus—allowing all of who Jesus is to shine as clearly and brightly as possible.

· Second, the prayer moves to a small group of Christians who have seen this glorified Jesus. Because they share the common experience of seeing this glorified Jesus, they become companions. And as they are drawn together in companionship, they are protected from dark spiritual powers. These powers seek to isolate them from one another and keep them from the strength that will come from serving together as companions.

· Third, with these companions joined together by a common vision of Jesus, they are now consecrated for a mission. Having seen the glorified Jesus they go out into the world replicating the ministry they’ve seen in Jesus.

· Fourth, those they serve and save are made into a new community. This community lives and loves just as Jesus did. And the more it lives and loves like Jesus, the more it becomes a witness. It stands as proof that God is behind this movement.

· Finally, we come full circle. We return to God glorifying Jesus. All of those now living and loving in community are given a clearer glimpse of the one who has made them one. They see Jesus for who he truly is. And seeing him ever the more clearly, the process starts over. Some more of them are drawn into companionship with one another, are consecrated for a mission, forming new communities, and these communities in turn glimpse Jesus himself.

Notice how the whole mission begins and ends with God providing a clearer vision of Jesus. I’m going to use the word contemplation for this. The process begins and ends with us contemplating Jesus—focusing on who Jesus is. And this reveals what ought to be our greatest prayer as we pursue of God’s mission on this earth. This cycle suggests that our greatest prayer should be this: Let us see Jesus. Show us your glory. Open the eyes of our heart. Let us see Jesus. Our mission on earth begins, is sustained by, and ends with this simple prayer: Let us see Jesus. The more deeply we see Jesus, the more we are drawn into companionship with others who have seen this Jesus, are then consecrated and sent out to carry on the mission of Jesus, and form new communities who live and love like Jesus. It begins, is sustained by, and ends with this prayer: let us see Jesus. That simple prayer is what leads to earth changing ministry. That simple prayer is what begins the transformation of us from self-centered and scared individuals into a self-less and courageous community that makes the world a better place. Prayer is no last resort. It is of first importance. And perhaps the most important prayer we can pray is inspired by this prayer of Jesus: Let us see Jesus.
For the Link

Notes:

1. This phrase/word catches my attention in this text: ________________________________________

2. ­­­In the transition from Jesus as world changer to us as world changers, Jesus focuses on three things: _______________, _____________________, and __________________.

3. Jesus teaches that prayer is not a last __________ but of first __________________.

4. Jesus’ prayer moves through four elements: ______________, __________________, ________________________, ________________________.

5. Jesus’ prayer urges us to pray this simple prayer: Let us see _____________.

· Questions/comments about this lesson? Email chris@chrisaltrock.com.

· (www.highlandcc.org provides sermon audio and manuscripts; www.chrisaltrock.com provides sermon manuscripts and other spiritual resources)

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[1] Yancey, 123-124.