Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples

Scripture

By Doug Smith

Lesson Text: John 17:6-19
Related Scriptures: John 6:35-40; 17: 1-5, 20-26

This entire chapter is Jesus’ prayer, in which He prayed the night before He was crucified. Jesus continues to address His disciples, encouraging them to have confidence and hope in the face of His departure from them. Jesus’ prayer was for those given to Him, by the Father was to be kept and sanctified.

We find in John 6:35-40, that Jesus refers to Himself, as the bread of life. We also learned that Jesus’s purpose was to do the will of God, not to satisfy His human desires. Jesus said that He would not lose even one person that the Father had given Him.

John 17:1-5 reveals about Jesus’ claim to have authority over all flesh with the ability to give eternal life.Jesus tells us that by knowing God the Father Himself, through His Son, He was one with God. This passage is known as the High Priestly Prayer. We see Christ Himself asking God the Father to glorify Him so He can glorify the Father.

The final verses in John 17:20-26, shows how Jesus prayed for all who would follow Him, including you and others. He prayed for oneness. Jesus’ great desire for His disciples was that they become one. He wanted them unified as a powerful witness to the reality of God’s love.

Synopsis

By Janice Hall

We see in our lesson today, in the beginning of John 17, Jesus prayed for Himself. When we look at verses 6-19, we read of the final prayer for His eleven faithful disciples. Jesus’ glory and the glory He would bring to the Father was related to the redemption of the people to enter into eternal life. Jesus brought about eternal life through manifesting the Father’s name to people, giving the word, and becoming the sacrifice for their sins.

Jesus’ requests were limited to those whom the Father had given to Jesus. Jesus would pray for the rest later. The disciples did not belong to the Son, but also the Father. He asked the Father to protect them after His departure. His desire was for unity among the disciples.

Jesus prayed that there would be an overflow of joy in the disciples. Even though the departure was near, they could still have joy!, for the Father would fulfill Jesus’ request to guard them and keep them. In the final verses, Jesus prayed that His disciples be set apart (sanctified). Their mission was to make disciples of all nations. They would be commissioned and empowered to accomplish God’s will in the world.

Practical Application

By Charlene Brown

“Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples,” we can extract so many nuggets from the title in itself. Here we are presented with, not just your everyday average person, but we are talking about Jesus the Messiah, the one who became flesh and dwelt amongst us, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the beloved son of God. Jesus felt a desire and was led to pray for His disciples then and He continues to pray for us today. That should give us confidence knowing that Jesus prays for us. What does that tell us about ourselves and what we should be doing?

Jesus also models for us in prayer what is required of us, His called out ones, His disciplined followers. Prayer in itself is so powerful, but when we pray for others it has an influence on how God will move on behalf of those prayed for, it is known as intercessory prayer. 1 Timothy 2:1 says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving thanks be made for all men.” This passage of scriptures reminds us that we are to pray every way we know how and for everyone we know.

Jesus reminds us that we are called to be different from those in the world. He didn’t ask God to take us out of the world but to guard us while in it, from the evil one. We need God’s divine protection as we are constantly faced with temptation. As Christians, we are sanctified and set apart through God’s word and daily we are transformed into Christ likeness. This transformation can only manifest as we surrender our will and yield to God’s will.