6/29/25 “The Greatest Prayer - Part 1”
“The Greatest Prayer – Part 1”
John 17:1-5
A common saying in our world goes like this:
“Oh, if I could just be a fly on the wall in that room”….or “A fly on the wall during that conversation”
The meaning behind that sentiment, of course, is that certain meetings or conversations between people will occasionally carry a great amount of significance…
…at least to the person wishing to be a fly in the room.
They would hope to be able to experience everything being discussed in a private and meaningful setting…
If you could be a fly in the room of any conversation in history….Any idea what conversation that would it be?
Maybe it would be in the room where President Truman was originally briefed about the Manhattan Project…the production of the first atomic weapon…something that Truman previously knew nothing about.
Perhaps you’d have liked to be a fly on the wall in the room where Winston Churchill first heard the news that Germany had invaded Poland.
Maybe you’d want to be a ‘Fly in the room’ where the plans for the great pyramids were originally disclosed…
…or maybe some of you would just want to be a fly on the wall during important encounters recorded in scripture…
Maybe when the prophet Nathaniel tells King David “You are that man”…
Or when God closes the door of Noah’s Ark and, as the rain begins to fall, its just Noah, his family, and a bunch of animals on a big boat.
…Maybe you’d like to be a fly on the wall when Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers…
…or when the virgin Mary is told by the angel Gabriel that she will be having a child
There are so many events and scenes throughout history that would captivate our attention…
I don’t know about you, but I would love to be a fly on Jesus’ shoulder during his entire 3 year ministry…
…to witness first-hand his miracles…his teachings…his downtime…his decisions…his compassion for others.
Well…in today’s passage of scripture…we have the opportunity to read about one of the most important conversations that has ever been recorded…
It’s a one-way conversation – in the form of a prayer – between Jessus (God the Son)…directed to God the Father.
It’s a prayer that pulls back the curtain into some of the amazing interworkings of the Trinity.
It’s the most fascinating prayer of all time, because it allows us to experience what was most important to Jesus just hours before he goes to the cross…
Jesus’ ministry was marked by frequent times of prayer….
…he prayed at his baptism, he prayed before choosing the 12 disciples, he prayed prior to feeding the 5,000, he prayed at his transfiguration, and he prayed before raising Lazarus from the dead….
But this prayer was special….This prayer was unique
Minutes earlier, Jesus had completed his earthly ministry…all that remained in front of him now was the cross….
Within these precious moments between his ministry and the cross…
… it was time for Jesus to have an intimate talk with the Father concerning himself, his disciples, and his future followers– including us today.
…and through the words of John’s gospel…we get to be a fly on the wall while Jesus delivers the greatest prayer of all time.
Many theologians refer to this prayer as the “Real Lord’s Prayer”…
…because in this prayer for the ages, Jesus is not simply teaching us how to pray – as he does in the sermon on the mount…( ‘Our Father who art in Heaven…)
…But, here in John chapter 17, Jesus is himself praying – he is divulging what is on his heart just hours before leaving this world and going back to the Father in heaven…
Think for a moment…if you knew that you would die tomorrow…what would you pray for today?... Who would you pray for?...what situations would you pray about?
This is where we find Jesus in this chapter…and we’ll spend the next few Sundays taking a look at this prayer for the ages.
This ‘High Priestly Prayer’ as it is sometimes called, has three main sections.
…and in the first section (Today’s passage of scripture)…Jesus prays to the Father concerning himself.
…let’s take a look.
Jesus begins in verse 1 (John 17:1) by praying “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
We see the word ‘Glorify’ on numerous occasions in scripture…especially when it deals with one of the persons of the trinity…
What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘Glory?’
Maybe you think back to a time when you experienced a major success in your life…
Maybe you think of ‘Old Glory’…the flag and its significance…
Maybe you think back to your high school ‘glory days’…when you scored the winning basket…or you captivated everyone’s attention in your beautiful prom dress…
Maybe you think of Morning Glory milk…remember that brand from back in the day?
For many years, my family & I had a musical group called ‘Glory Train’…We thought of it as a visualization of God ushering His children home at the resurrection.
The term glory – or glorify – in a biblical context, is somewhat difficult to define
It almost has a meaning that is beyond verbal expression….
If you look up the definition of ‘Glory’ in the dictionary, you will probably see something like this: “High renown or honor won by notable achievements”….
…or, “magnificence and great beauty”
Those definitions certainly do describe God…but biblical glory goes deeper than surface beauty or notable achievements…
Glory – in the original bible languages – actually refers to something being ‘weighty’, or ‘heavy in weight’….
…basically….It is the ‘weighty importance and shining majesty that accompanies God’s presence”…
…To “Glorify” then – the verb form of the word ‘glory’– would mean to give weight to…or give honor to God by means of His incomparable presence…
It’s a visceral, emotional reaction to the presence of God.
Have you ever felt an instant emotional reaction to someone else?
I remember about 30 years ago, a friend of mine who was to be married soon brought a friend of hers over to my parent’s place….
The friend and I were to rehearse a song together for the upcoming wedding…
…when that girl I had never met before came into the room, my heart felt a weight that it had never felt before…
…It was an instant emotional response to her presence in the room that words couldn’t really describe.
…In that moment, my soul was experiencing – for lack of a better term - ‘glory’.
Well – a few years later – that friend and I got married and we’ve been singing duets ever since…
The glory of Lisa’s presence was quite something…but the glory of God’s presence in our lives is infinitely higher and weightier than that of any of us here on earth…
Think of how you felt on your wedding day…now, take that feeling and multiply it by infinity….you are now approaching a working understanding of the Glory of God!
When Jesus asks the Father to ‘Glorify your Son’ in verse 1, He is asking the Father to share with Him the weightiness of the divine nature…
…the reverence due Him because of His true Trinitarian identity as he prepares to redeem humanity upon the cross…
This is the meaning behind the words of the hymn “To God be the Glory”
“To God be the Glory, great things He has done, So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life our redemption to win, and opened the floodgates that all may go in…Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice; Oh come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory; great things He hath done.”
When we look at the back half of verse 1 (John 17:1) we notice that Jesus is asking to be glorified by the Father - in order to keep all of the glory for himself……NO!!
Look at the text…Jesus wants to be glorified so that he can glorify the Father in return!
What a beautiful picture of adoration and love between God the Father and God the Son…
What a beautiful picture of how our human relationships ought to be described as well…
Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:39 to “Love your neighbor as yourself”…
In other words, take any glory that may be directed toward you…and shift that glorification - that weightiness of honor - onto someone else.
I love the parable that Jesus tells of the places of honor at a banquet…remember that one?
Jesus notices that people are jockeying for positions of prominence at a wedding feast … and Jesus tells the guests that those who choose to sit in places of honor may be asked to step down - and thereby suffer humiliation…
…while those people who initially choose a less-distinguished seat may be asked to upgrade to a better position, resulting in a form of glorification through humility.
Jesus is asking the Father to be glorified through the humility of the cross.
No one there watching the horrific death of Jesus the next day would be thinking of the word ‘Glory’…but a glorious event it was!
It was the event that changed the course of human history forever…the event that would enable sinful creatures to approach a Holy & Righteous God…
The event that defeated death and crushed the head of the Serpent …as was prophesied way back in Genesis chapter 3 just after the sin of Adam & Eve.
…and – at the time when Jesus utters this prayer in John chapter 17 – He is the only person alive who truly understood the glorification surrounding the humility of his impending death…
This is why we sing praise & worship songs to our savior Jesus Christ!
We glorify Him…because of His act of glorification toward us.
Now look at verses 2 and 3 of today’s passage (John 17:2-3)
Here – in prayer form – Jesus conveys the timeless truth of the gospel…
His words inform us that eternal life awaits those who believe upon His name.
Because of what will soon occur on the cross…Jesus speaks of being given the authority to convey eternal life upon those individuals included in the Lamb’s book of life…
….those who will come to a saving faith in the person and work of Christ.
Again, this is a beautiful picture of how the Father and the Son work together within the plan of redemption.
In verse 3, Jesus is saying that eternal life is more than just living forever….eternal life is knowing God.
Think about this for a moment…
…If you are a believer in Jesus Christ…if you have genuinely surrendered your heart to Him…you already have eternal life!
Yes, your body will die and decay someday…but your soul acquired eternal life the moment you gave it to Jesus…
…You know God…and God knows you.
Eternal life refers to a quality of life…not just a quantity of life…does that make sense?
In terms of quantity (Time)…eternal life simply means living forever….
….but that could also mean living in Hell for eternity for those who never submitted to Christ while they had life in their body…
Jesus points out in Matthew 25:46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
The same Greek word ‘aionios’, is used both times in this sentence….
…meaning those who reject Christ will live forever in a place of eternal punishment, while those who are in Christ will live forever in a place of love, peace, and harmony.
That is quantity of eternal life…
….But in terms of quality….eternal life can be experienced today.
It’s not only a future possession, but a present reality for those who are experiencing the rich blessings that come through their personal and intimate fellowship with Jesus.
In John 5:24, Jesus says: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
John also states in 1 John 5:13 “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Brothers & Sisters….Praise God!
If you’ve given your life to Christ, eternal life – both in quantity AND quality - are already yours!
Let’s start living like it!
Let’s not get so caught up in the stress…the worries…the distractions of this world…
Let’s remember that we are already in the sheep pen of the savior…
…and that physical death is just the gate to a much larger Pasteur of indescribable beauty and love.
Finally, in verse 5 (John 17:5) Jesus references the glory that he had with the Father before the world began…
Remember….Before Jesus came as a baby in a lowly stable in Bethlehem…His home was in Heaven with God the Father
As he is praying this prayer, one can see how excited Jesus is to soon be returning to his heavenly home.
As many of you know, Lisa & I enjoy taking vacations….we love experiencing the beauty of God’s creation in various parts of the world….
…but one thing we always say when we get beck home is “It sure is nice to be sleeping in our own bed again!”
There’s something about coming back home that is calming…relaxing…we are centered at home unlike any other place…
Jesus had been away from home for 33 years…in a place that was a far cry from what he was used to in the expanses of heaven…
I’ve never been to India, but someone once told me that they could smell the stench of the poverty in the area around the airport before they even exited the plane…
This must have been similar to what Jesus experienced as He took on stinky, smelly, human flesh…
…Imagine taking a 33-year vacation to a place on this earth where the stench of human excrement and disease is all around you…
…your walls are mud and your thatch roof rarely keeps out the rain…where flies and bugs are constantly on your skin.…
This is similar to the incarnation…but with the disparity of heaven to earth being a much larger gap than simply one geographical place on this earth to another.
Jesus wants to go home…and he is expressing that desire to the Father in this intimate, touching portion of the greatest prayer of all time.
Jesus received glory from the Father, so he could reflect that glory back to Him…Jesus was humble…and God the father lifted him up…
Let us seek to live our lives in a similar fashion…
Let us live in humility…
…and – in so doing – the God of righteousness and justice will lift you up to a place of honor and glory.
Let’s Pray.