DAY 4: THE HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER
Scripture Passage: John 17:1-26

 

HOLY WEEK TIMELINE:

ON WEDNESDAY:
• THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES PLOTTED TO KILL JESUS (LUKE 22:1-6).
• JUDAS ISCARIOT AGREED TO BETRAY JESUS FOR THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER (MATTHEW 26:14-16).

 

We don’t always appreciate how amazing prayer really is. On the one hand, it’s quite simple. After all, it’s just having a conversation with God. On the other hand, though, prayer is one of the most astounding things in the world. After all, IT’S HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH GOD. The all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe allows us to talk with Him. Not only that, He actually invites us to talk with Him. He wants to spend that time with us. So, shouldn’t we take advantage of that opportunity and spend as much time in prayer as possible?

 

It’s easy to answer “yes,” because we readily see that we should do that. But in reality, most of us don’t. There are probably several reasons for that, but one is that we don’t realize how essential it is for our lives. One way we know the importance of prayer is that we see it in Jesus’ own life.

 

Throughout His time on Earth, Jesus repeatedly and regularly withdrew from the crowds and took time out of His busy schedule being the Messiah to spend time in prayer. Think about that for a moment. Jesus prayed. He talked with God the Father. Jesus is God the Son. So, when Jesus prayed, it was God talking with God. Did the Son and the Father really need to spend that much time together talking? The answer is obviously yes because Jesus did it so much. It was essential to His life and should be for ours as well.

 

The Gospel writers didn’t record for us much of what Jesus said in these prayers, but that makes sense. Often no one else was there to hear them. But in John 17, right after He finished celebrating the Passover with His disciples, Jesus prayed. This prayer is the longest prayer of His recorded in all of Scripture.

 

Read John 17:1-26. Jesus offered this prayer, knowing full well He was about to face His death. He prayed these words to God the Father in His disciples’ presence so they could hear them. In these words, we’re given a unique insight into what was on Jesus’ mind as He prepared to die, and He intended for us to hear them.

 

First, Jesus asked the Father to use Him for the work He had sent Jesus to do. Jesus knew eternal life was only possible through faith in Him, but that life could also only be granted if He first paid the penalty of death owed for our sin. That was the reason He came. That was the work God the Father had given Him to do, but He would need the Father’s help to follow through with it and see it finished.

 

Second, Jesus prayed for His disciples. He had already done so much in the lives of all those who followed Him. He had taught them and revealed to them all that God the Father had given Him. Now, He was preparing to leave them, and He knew that wouldn’t be easy for them. He knew the world would hate them because it had hated Him. He had guarded them against much of that hatred during His time with them, but since He would be physically leaving Earth, they would have to face that hatred head-on. They would also need the Father’s help and His Word to continue to faithfully follow all that Jesus had taught them and to see their purpose fulfilled in the world.

 

Third, Jesus prayed for you. Yes, you. in John 17:20, He prayed, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, it’s because you heard about it through the witness of Jesus’ disciples who spread His gospel and wrote it down in the Scriptures. That means you’re one of the ones who believed in Him through their word. So, right there, on the night before He died, surrounded by Matthew and Peter and James and John and the rest, Jesus prayed for you. He asked the Father to unite us, you and I, together with them and with Him in the love of God.

 

As Jesus prepared to endure the cross, you were on His mind. Just a little while later, Jesus would be in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He would be praying again. In that prayer, He would ask God if there was any other way to accomplish His work other than dying, but ultimately said, “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus’ prayer expressed His willingness to obey God no matter what, even if it meant suffering and dying, because it’s what the Father wanted and what you and I needed.

 

THINK ABOUT IT:
How important is prayer for you?
What are some ways you can increase your commitment to prayer?
What’s currently on your mind you need to discuss with God in prayer?