The Hour Has Come

Lesson #272

With this lesson we begin chapter 17, which is one major section in the ESV translation and is titled, “The High Priestly Prayer”. Jesus has been preparing his disciples, or at least trying to, for the traumatic experience they were about to have when Jesus is taken from them. Jesus now turns his focus from his disciples to his Father in heaven. Looking at verse 1, we read: “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (John 17:1 ESV). “When Jesus had spoken these words,” refers back to the previous chapters where Jesus gave words of comfort, advice, direction, and instruction to his disciples, preparing them for his time of suffering and death. We can assume that Jesus and the disciples are on their way towards Gethsemane since they have not yet crossed the Kidron Valley (John 18:1).

Jesus assumes a position of prayer (Luke 18:13) of lifting up his eyes to heaven. Some suggest that he is outdoors, after being in the upper room, and looks up to the starry sky and prays. Some suggest other things it might mean. The only thing we know for sure is that he feels the need to spend time with his Father in prayer. There are many times I also feel this way. Again and again I must stop what I am doing and pray. It is part of my assignment from God, to listen and know when to pray and for what. In the same way thoughts come from God’s word and I must stop and take notes or I will forget and I will lose something very special. Jesus says: “Father, the hour has come.” His Father had sent his only Son into the world in fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies. It was the hour when the true Passover would be sacrificed, when he would bruise the head of Satan and accomplish the purchase of our salvation.

Jesus then says: “glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” By saying this, Jesus is claiming deity because Isaiah 42:8 and 48:11 affirm that God will not give his glory to another. For a touch of this glory we can go to Mark 9:2 – 8 and read the transfiguration account in which Jesus was transfigured, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white. We then turn to Galatians 3:13, we find it written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on tree (the cross).” The holy one of God being cursed in our place is the epitome of shame. Jesus is asking that once he bears such intense shame as a cursed man, that he be raised back up to his former position of glory. Through the work Jesus will accomplish on the cross in obtaining victory over sin and death, the Father will be glorified.

Prayer

Father, as I think about this verse I can’t help but think about those who are giving their lives for being a witness, or having a Bible, or simply being a Christian. They are being persecuted as the scum of the earth; pollution to be eliminated, but yet they stand firm in their faith because they know who they are in Jesus Christ and the worth they are to you. They suffer or die as trash to be destroyed and as they pray for their persecutors, they look forward to the glory they will receive in heaven. What an example Jesus is for us.