The prayer of Jesus for His disciples is not simply a historical record about past disciples; it is a living Word that provides encouragement for today. Most directly, Jesus’ prayer (and many of the statements He makes in the Farewell Discourses) has the first disciples in view. Yet Jesus’ prayer also makes clear that the lineage of disciples beyond the core disciples is in view as well. Jesus prays both for His immediate disciples and for those who will come to faith by means of the first disciples’ testimony: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word” (John 17:20). The horizon of this prayer thus includes all disciples who come to faith through the Apostolic witness and its legacy, including the Apostolic legacy recorded in Scripture.

When Jesus drew near to His final hour on the cross, having already loved His disciples who were in the world, “he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). This begins John’s narration of the events surrounding the last evening of Jesus’ earthly life, when Jesus washes His disciples’ feet and teaches them about His cleansing (vv. 1–20), encourages them about His impending departure (13:31–16:33), and then prays what is often known as His High Priestly Prayer (17:1–26). It is remarkable that Jesus does not cease to shepherd His disciples even as He faces His own death and the grueling prospect of bearing the wrath of God against sin.

Prayer and the Mission of Jesus

After the opening verses of the prayer (John 17:1–5), much of what follows focuses on the disciples of Jesus—near and far. Keeping with the themes of this final night of His life, Jesus focuses His attention on His people. This is not the first time in John that Jesus has spoken about His mission to save His people. Earlier, in His Bread of Life Discourse at the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus reveals that He has come to do the will of His Father in heaven, which involves losing not one person from those whom the Father had given Him but raising each one up on the last day (6:38–40). For all who come to Christ in faith will receive eternal life, and everyone the Father gives Christ will come to Him (v. 37).

Prayer for a Particular People

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is consistent with the mission revealed in John 6. He focuses His prayer specifically on His people (17:9): Jesus prays not for the world at large but specifically for those whom the Father had given Him. Readers of John already know that it is the will of the Father that Jesus not lose anyone who has been given to Him; His prayer is therefore in accord with the will of the Father. In 1 John, the Apostle writes that if we ask anything according to God’s will, then we know He hears us (5:14–15). Surely this is preeminently true of Christ Himself, whose prayers were heard because of His godliness (Heb. 5:7). Eternal life is offered freely to anyone who believes in Jesus (John 3:16–17), but to reject Jesus is to stand under condemnation (v. 18). Jesus makes distinctions between those who are true children of Abraham by faith in Christ (8:56) and those who are of the world (vv. 23–24)—those who are only physical children of Abraham (vv. 37, 39) but whose father is actually the devil (vv. 38, 41, 44). Jesus reveals His heavenly Father (5:19–30; 8:28, 38, 49), who is, through Christ, also the Father of all who believe in Jesus (20:17).

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