John 17:1-26 — The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus

John 17:1-26 — The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus

As the Upper Room Discourse concludes in John 16, the reminder of Jesus private ministry before the Cross in His high priestly prayer recorded in John 17. The similarities between this prayer and the Upper Room Discourse, in addition to the Apostle John's notation at its end (18:1), tells us that Jesus prayed this before He went to Gethsemane on His way there from the Upper Room. Although calling it "Jesus' high priestly prayer" is a bit misleading—since Jesus had not yet entered into His high priestly ministry which He began when He ascended into heaven (cf. Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1), it is hard to describe it differently. Regardless, John 17 records the greatest prayer ever prayed on earth and the greatest prayer recorded anywhere in Scripture.

John 17 can be outlined as follows:

• Jesus Prays for Himself (17:1–5)
  The Son glorifies the Father by completing the mission.
• Jesus Prays for His Disciples (17:6–19)
  Protect them, sanctify them, and send them.
• Jesus Prays for Future Believers (17:20–26)
  Unity, love, and shared glory for all who will believe.

John 17 opens with Jesus lifting His eyes to the Father and praying first for Himself—not out of self-concern, but out of devotion to the mission. In 17:1–5, Jesus asks to be glorified through the Cross so that He might glorify the Father who sent Him. His finished work, soon to be accomplished in His death and resurrection, reveals the heart of eternal life: knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Having completed the mission on earth, Jesus prays to return to the glory He shared with the Father before the foundation of the world.

From that place of eternal fellowship, Jesus turns His attention to the disciples who have walked with Him. In 17:6–19, He prays for those to whom He revealed the Father’s name—the men who received His words, believed His message, and now face a hostile world without His physical presence. Jesus intercedes for their protection, asking the Father to keep them in His name and guard them from the evil one. He also prays for their sanctification, that they would be shaped by the truth of God’s Word and set apart for the mission. As the Father sent the Son, so the Son now sends His disciples into the world with the same purpose and the same dependence on strength from God.

Finally, Jesus widens the scope of His prayer to embrace all future believers—all who will come to faith through the apostolic word (17:20–26). His great desire is unity: that every believer, across every generation, might share in the oneness of the Father and the Son. This unity is not merely organizational but spiritual, grounded in shared glory and sustained by God's love. Jesus prays that His people would be with Him where He is, beholding His glory and living in the love with which the Father has loved the Son. At the end, John 17 reveals the heart of Jesus for His church: glorify the Father, guard the disciples, gather the nations—and draw them all into the eternal love of God.