The Garden Prayer: John 17:1-26

On the night Jesus was arrested, as He and the eleven remaining disciples were arriving at the garden, Jesus shares a powerful prayer to God the Father related to His live and mission. The prayer Jesus shares doesn’t just focus on Himself, it also focuses on the lives and mission for all of His followers living at that point in history, as well as throughout all of history following the first century.

I debated whether to pull an excerpt out of this prayer to focus on, but could not settle on one. Instead, for this week’s episode, let me simply read you the prayer in its entirety, then close out with some things to think about and challenges about how to apply what Jesus shared in this prayer in your life today.

John’s gospel is the only one to include this prayer, and it is found in chapter 17. Reading from the Contemporary English Version and starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ After Jesus had finished speaking to his disciples, he looked up toward heaven and prayed:

Father, the time has come for you to bring glory to your Son, in order that he may bring glory to you. ² And you gave him power over all people, so that he would give eternal life to everyone you give him. ³ Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. ⁴ I have brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you gave me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, give me back the glory that I had with you before the world was created.

⁶ You have given me some followers from this world, and I have shown them what you are like. They were yours, but you gave them to me, and they have obeyed you. ⁷ They know that you gave me everything I have. ⁸ I told my followers what you told me, and they accepted it. They know that I came from you, and they believe that you are the one who sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them, but not for those who belong to this world. My followers belong to you, and I am praying for them. ¹⁰ All that I have is yours, and all that you have is mine, and they will bring glory to me.

¹¹ Holy Father, I am no longer in the world. I am coming to you, but my followers are still in the world. So keep them safe by the power of the name that you have given me. Then they will be one with each other, just as you and I are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost, except the one who had to be lost. This happened so that what the Scriptures say would come true.

¹³ I am on my way to you. But I say these things while I am still in the world, so that my followers will have the same complete joy that I do. ¹⁴ I have told them your message. But the people of this world hate them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t.

¹⁵ Father, I don’t ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶ They don’t belong to this world, and neither do I. ¹⁷ Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours. ¹⁸ I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. ¹⁹ I have given myself completely for their sake, so that they may belong completely to the truth.

²⁰ I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. ²¹ I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.

²² I have honored my followers in the same way that you honored me, in order that they may be one with each other, just as we are one. ²³ I am one with them, and you are one with me, so that they may become completely one. Then this world’s people will know that you sent me. They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me.

²⁴ Father, I want everyone you have given me to be with me, wherever I am. Then they will see the glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the world was created. ²⁵ Good Father, the people of this world don’t know you. But I know you, and my followers know that you sent me. ²⁶ I told them what you are like, and I will tell them even more. Then the love that you have for me will become part of them, and I will be one with them.

In this prayer, Jesus defines what it means to have eternal life, and He contrasts His followers with those living in the world. But Jesus also doesn’t just limit His followers to the eleven disciples present at that moment. Instead, Jesus extends the definition of disciple and follower to include everyone who believes in Him following the events of that weekend.

I am amazed that Jesus prays for us to remain in the world, but to be protected. How powerful would our lives be if we truly lived with the assurance that Jesus is protecting us? This prayer of protection might not mean that every bad thing will be blocked, but perhaps that any bad thing that reaches us has been filtered and permitted because it can be a key part of our testimony that can help others – that is, if we let it.

Jesus concludes this prayer by saying that love will be the defining attribute of His true followers – and that is because God is love, and Jesus is also love.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue growing closer to God and to Jesus in your life. Invite God to live in you and love others through you. Accept the reality that He has placed us in the world and sent us to the world, but remember and trust His promise to protect us from the evil one. Ask for His help to live boldly for Him.

Also, while living for Jesus, don’t let your spiritual foundation weaken. Intentionally choose to strengthen it by prayerfully studying the Bible for yourself. The Holy Spirit uses the words of the Bible to strengthen and renew our minds and hearts, and through the Bible, we are continually reminded of God and His love for each of us.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walking away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!