"I Pray for Them" -- John 17:6-12

Introduction

One of the favorite hymns is “In the Garden.” It tells of a quiet, peaceful place of fellowship with Jesus. It evokes the idea of Jesus as our friend, and it speaks of the sweet fellowship we enjoy with Him each day. It reminds us that we can and should fellowship with Him each day through prayer and meditation.

In 1 John 2:1, the Bible tells us that Jesus acts as an intercessor on our behalf. The promise is a comfort to us as we live our lives, struggling with temptation and, as John tells us, when we sin. John’s promise is a comfort to us for those times when we fall short of His will, when we fail Him. The promise is what brings us back into that garden walk with Him.

Imagine if we could literally hear Jesus praying for us, talking to the Father on our behalf. In today’s passage, we are able to read the intercessory prayer of Jesus for the disciples who are with Him in that upper room prior to His betrayal and crucifixion. We’ll spend the next three weeks looking more closely at Jesus’ intercession for the disciples and for us.

Today, as we look at the first part of Jesus’ prayer for the disciples, we need to keep this in mind:

Central Truth: Jesus shows His concern for His disciples in what He asks the Father.

Jesus’ prayer for the disciples reflects:

1. His revelation to them (6-8)

At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked the disciples first what others were saying about Him, and, secondly, what they personally said about Jesus. “Who do you say that I am?” is His question to them. When Peter responds that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God, Jesus affirms his answer and tells him, “. . . this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven. . . . and on this rock I will build My church” (Matthew 16:17-18). The church is not built upon Peter’s statement of faith, but upon the revelation of the Father to His people, who then receive it by faith.

I am reminded of this affirmation when I read Jesus’ words in John 17:6: “I have revealed You to those whom You gave to Me out of the world.” Jesus’ revelation of the Father is through both Christ’s words and Christ’s actions. This revelation has resulted in those whom God the Father has given to the Son, the disciples who have received Him by faith. As a result, we have been given eternal life (cf. vs. 2-3), a close fellowship with God the Father through the indwelling Holy Spirit given. We enjoy this eternal life now as we walk and live our lives. We have a Helper, a Counselor, who guides us as we walk, bringing to our remembrance the revealing words of Jesus.

Look how Jesus describes the disciples. In v. 6, He calls them obedient. The obedience is the act of love and faith that tells Jesus we believe He alone has the word of God. As Peter said to Jesus, “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). The confidence in Jesus and His words makes the disciples, and us, believe that Jesus’ way is the best and only way, and that is why we obey Him. It’s not legalism; it is an act of faith and love.

Second, in v. 7, Jesus describes the disciples as being confident in Jesus’ relationship with the Father. They “know.” There is a certainty that what Jesus said was directly from the Father, that when they see Jesus, they see the Father. There is a firm belief that Jesus truly is the Way because He comes from the Father.

Third, in v. 8, Jesus asserts that the disciples are men of faith. “They believed You have sent Me.” When asked by the crowd what God wanted of us, Jesus responded that God’s will is that we believe in the One whom He has sent (cf. John 6:29). The belief—the faith—in Jesus is demonstrated in the way we respond to His words, as we embrace those words and make them a part of our lives. That faith is the one that knows we seek God’s direction through the Holy Spirit, allowing ourselves to be transformed by our relationship with God through Jesus. We are changed by the eternal life we experience by our relationship with God as we accept His word.

1. Their relationship to the Father (9-11a)

In v. 9, Jesus makes it clear what He is doing. His prayer is specifically for these men with Him in the upper room, His disciples.

Throughout the prayer, Jesus refers to the disciples as “the ones You have given Me.” The term is to remind us of their special relationship to Jesus and to the Father. Their special relationship almost demands that this prayer is specifically for them.

The reason Jesus is praying for them is that Jesus is leaving the disciples. He will no longer be in the world, returning to the Father. But the return means that the disciples will be left behind. If they had to fend for themselves, they would not be able to make it. The temptations of Satan and the hatred of the world would combine to defeat these disciples.

But it was never the plan that the disciples should be on their own. That has been the whole reason for the words in John 13-16, to reassure them of the coming Holy Spirit. Jesus’ words that they would do greater things than He has done is because the Holy Spirit will spread throughout the world in the disciples and the Spirit will continue Jesus’ work in the world.

Still, the disciples are in need of prayer. They are young in their faith. Even though they have had the best teacher, there is still much they need to learn. And so Jesus prays for the disciples, and Jesus restates the relationship between the disciples and the Father. They are His. They have eternal life because of the Father’s grace and mercy. They have their calling because of the Father’s will. They are God’s ambassadors of reconciliation, called to preach the Good News that God sent His Son into the world to bring salvation and fellowship with God, the forgiveness of sins and the authority to be called the children of God.

And so Jesus prays specifically for the men with Him in the upper room as He prays.

1. His concern for their wellbeing (11b-12)

The reason Jesus prays for His disciples is because they need protection, and the protection Jesus asks for is the Father’s name.

This prayer reminds me of Moses’ prayer when God told Moses He was not going with the nation of Israel any longer, that He would send an angel to lead them. After the golden calf incident, God would no longer go with the people. Moses’ prayer was that God could not abandon them, because they traveled in His name. It was understood by the surrounding nations that Israel was the nation of God. It was God who had led them victoriously out of Egypt. It was God who had provided for their well-being as they travelled to Sinai. It was God who was leading them into the Promised Land. Moses reminded God that if He did not go with them, then the people would fail and the nations would think God incapable of delivering His people into the Promised Land.

Now, Jesus is reminding the Father that these men who belong to Him need His specific and special protection.

The protection is two-fold. First, it is that they may be united in their devotion to the Father, just as Jesus and the Father were united during Jesus’ earthly ministry. The message of the Gospel needed to be protected from the possibility of fragmentation that might be done simply because the message is being told by 11 distinctively different men. Each would seek to be faithful to the message, but it’s not unusual for each person to take away their own interpretation of the message. And so Jesus prays that the message will be protected as the disciples are kept in unity by the Father’s name.

The second reason for the prayer of protection is to keep the disciples strong in their faith. Jesus’ words in v. 12 reminds us that Jesus’ protection kept all but Judas safe. They have all stayed true to the word throughout Jesus’ ministry, even when things seems difficult to understand or all seemed hopeless. Now they are about to be tested as never before. Over the next three days, the disciples will fear for their very lives, they will question the validity of the message once Christ is handed over and crucified.

And their testing will only intensify as they are filled with the Spirit and bring the Gospel to the masses. They will be challenged by religious and political authorities threatened by their new message. They will be persecuted as their words begin to change the world. The Father needs to ensure these men stay true to the message as the message begins to take root and grow.

Conclusion

When the night began, the Bible tells us that Jesus wanted to show His disciples the full extent of His love. One of His greatest acts of love is to pray for them, to ask God to enable and to protect them. His love wanted to remind His disciples that they were special men, called by God for a special mission and brought into a special relationship in order to fulfill that mission.

This prayer reminds us that Jesus is the Intercessor, the One who sits beside the Father, making entreaties for those He has been given. That includes us. Just as the disciples need protection and reminding, so, too, do we. Take Jesus’ words to heart. Walk in the eternal life that is our because of our relationship the Father through the Son.