Saturday
Saturday
The Lord’s Prayer for His Own
Jesus … looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come.”
John 17:1
John 17 is one of the profoundest chapters of the Bible. Whole books have been written to expound it. Thomas Manton, for example, at one time Oliver Cromwell’s chaplain, preached forty-five sermons on it. When published as a book, it ran to more than 450 pages. So what can we hope to accomplish in a mere 350 words? After praying for himself, that he might be glorified on the cross, Jesus prays for his own people.
Firstly, Jesus prays for the truth of the church, literally that the Father would keep his people in his name or, better, “true to his name” (v. 12 JB). It is a prayer that his people will be faithful to the revelation that he has given them.
Secondly, Jesus prays for the holiness of the church. His prayer is not that we will withdraw from the world but that, while remaining in the world, we will be kept from the evil one (v. 15).
Thirdly, Jesus prays for the mission of the church. “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (v. 18). Moreover, he makes his mission the model of ours. For as he entered our world, so we are to enter other people’s worlds. Authentic mission is incarnational mission.
Fourthly, Jesus prays for the unity of the church, and this unity has two aspects. (1) It is unity with the apostles. “I pray not only for these [the apostles], but for those also who through their words will believe in me. May they all be one” (vv. 20–21 JB, emphasis added). “All” must be a combination of “these” and “those.” It is a prayer that there will be a historical continuity between the apostles and the postapostolic church, that the church in every age will be truly apostolic, loyal to the teaching of the New Testament. (2) It is a unity with the Father and the Son (v. 21).
Here, then, is the double unity for which Jesus prayed. It is a unity with the apostles (a common truth) and a unity with the Father and the Son (a common life). Structures are important. But more important still is a unity of truth and life.
For further reading: John 17