Let’s see what we can learn from what Jesus prays. I promise you it will be encouraging.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is March 27, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called What Jesus Prays. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Exodus 38, John 17, and Proverbs 14.
Please open your Bibles to John 17.
At our church, we have a monthly prayer meeting, usually on a Wednesday night. One of the things I love most about going to my church’s monthly prayer meeting is getting to hear other people pray. I love hearing other people pray because they pray differently than I do. I mean—not totally differently. We all pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, empowered by the Spirit. We all praise God and give thanks and make requests. But different people use different terminology or express their prayers in different ways, or think to pray for things that I would not have thought to pray for. Every time, I learn about following the Lord and how to pray.
So, if that happens with fellow church members, can you imagine what we can learn from listening to Jesus pray? What if we could hear how he uses Scripture to pray? What if we can learn his priorities in prayer? What if we heard him pray for us, how encouraging would that be?
Well, that’s exactly what we get to do in Scripture for Students today. John 17 is sometimes referred to as the High Priestly Prayer. Jesus is our High Priest—he represents us to God and in this chapter, we get to hear him pray. The entire chapter is his prayer, but his prayer breaks down into three parts: in 1–5, he prays for himself and his work as the Savior. In 6–19, he prays for the disciples that are there with him. And in 20–26, he prays for his future disciples, including us. I’m going to read the first and third portions of Jesus’ prayer.
Please follow along as I read John 17:1–5 and 20–26
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.
26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
This whole chapter is worthy of careful study. We only have time to scratch the surface a little bit today. First, let’s look at what Jesus prays about himself and his work in 1–5. I’m sure you noticed that one of the key words of this section is “glory.” Some form of this word occurs 5 times here. There are at least two kinds of glory in the Bible. First, there is the radiant beauty of holiness that God has in himself whether anyone notices it or not. Second, there is the glory that we “give” God. I put “give” in air quotes here, because we don’t actually give God anything—what we’re really saying is that we agree with God’s assessment of himself and make his fame and reputation known in the world.
In verse 4, Jesus says he has already glorified God in the world by accomplishing all that the Father sent him to do. This is pretty remarkable since he hasn’t died on the cross yet. But I think we can take that to mean that he has obeyed perfectly in everything that was required of him. Now he is ready to die in the place of sinners because he has lived the perfect, sinless life that sinners could never live. And because he lived that sinless life, Jesus can offer sinners eternal life, which is another key phrase here and throughout John’s gospel.
Let’s turn now to the last section, verses 20–26, and think about what these verses teach us about what Jesus prays for us. There’s a lot in here, considering that it is only a few verses long. One of the things that stands out to me is how Jesus prays for unity among his followers: he prays in verse 21 “that they may all be one…” and in verse 22 again, “that they may be one.” Jesus desires that Christians should live together in peace and unity, demonstrating their love for one another in ways that are consistent with what he said about his command to love one another that we just read about in chapters 13 and 15.
But even more than unity with one other, Jesus cares about union. When a sinner becomes a Christian, we describe one of the changes that happens in his or her life as “union with Christ.” That means a Christian become vitally connected to Christ and share in all that he has done. Picture this like a trailer attached to a pickup truck. Where the truck goes, the trailer follows. If the truck speeds up or slows down, the trailer does, too. The truck does all the work, but the trailer makes it to the destination, also. That’s not perfect, but it’s at least a little bit of what union with Christ is like. That’s something like what Jesus is praying for here.
The ultimate outcome of Jesus’ prayer is in verse 24. Jesus prays, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…” If you are a Christian, aren’t these comforting words? Jesus is asking the Father to ensure that his followers—Christians like you and me—will be with him where he is. Where is he now? Heaven. When will we be with him? When we die. Until then, we know from 14:17 that Jesus will send his Spirit to live in his people so that he can be with them by his Spirit until we are brought home to him.
This is what Jesus desires for every Christian and prays for every Christian. I hope you find that encouraging. Take some time today to read Jesus’ prayer for you carefully and try to make a list of all the encouraging things you can find here about what Jesus prays for you!
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!