When one reads Jesus' last prayer with His disciples in John 17, it flows easily and serenely, as if He were utterly calm and unperturbed as He faced His horrible death. Reading it with the unimpassioned spirit of reading a scientific lecture deprives us of the true meaning of this prayer. It cannot be truly understood except in the light of Hebrews 5:6-8. In fact, if we say John 17 is the "High Priestly Prayer," then it becomes obvious that this passage in Hebrews describes this particular prayer! "A high priest forever ... who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him [the Father] who was able to save Him from death …"
The John 17 prayer was prayed with "strong crying and tears"! The thought of dying under the curse of God (Gal. 3:13) filled the soul of Jesus with dread, infinitely more so than any criminal who faces death by injection on Death Row. The latter kind of death is only a sleep with the sense of God's forgiveness; the death Jesus faced was the sum total of all hopeless deaths under that "curse of God." He was in the process of being "made to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). In a few minutes He would be pleading, agonizingly, with the Father, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me!" (Matt. 26:39). In other words, Oh Father, please find some other way for Me to save the world short of dying on a cross! And then, another convulsion of tears.
Perhaps this might help us make sense of His repeated request about being "glorified" in John 17:1, 4, 5, 10, 22, 24. He isn't begging to be a "show-off"! When He pleads with the Father to "glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee," He means, "Please enable Me to demonstrate agape throughout the terrible trial that faces Me! Hold Thou My hand! Don't let Me stumble and fall! Save Me from letting self mar My witness! Teach Me to be patient when they beat Me, pull out My beard, spit in My face, revile Me, lie about Me, mock Me, strip Me, exhibit Me, and nail Me to a tree!"
We read that the grace of God was upon Him throughout His life on earth (Luke 2:52); never did He need it and beg for it more than now. If He can endure, that will be "glory"! And this brings us to the same "glory" that He "has given" those who believe in Him (John 17:22). They need unity! Is there any other way that they can learn to "be one, even as [He and the Father] are one"?
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 18, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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