For love and glory

As Jesus closes out His ‘High Priestly Prayer’, He describes our relationship with Him and our relationship with the Father, emphasizing two aspects – both love and glory.

John 17:22-23 I have given them the glory You have given Me.
May they be one as We are one.  I am in them and You are in Me.
May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me
and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Jesus has given the disciples the status and honor that the Father had given to Him, which is absolutely incredible when you think about it.  The renown and praise and honor that was bestowed upon Jesus…He then bestowed it upon those who have believed that He has come from the Father.  This is a gift unlike any other.  We have been taken from the mud and have been made to walk on marble, from the pit and into the palace.  Jesus has shared His prestige and status with those who believe in Him for eternal life.

Notice, however, that it is after Jesus had given them the Father’s glory that he then prayed for their future “oneness” with each other, with Him, and with the Father.  Jesus had previously given them their status – independent of the health of their relationship with the Father at that particular point in time. 

Jesus also reveals the purpose of their “oneness” in their day-to-day relationships – their connectedness with each other, with Jesus, and with the Father is not so they can “prove they are believers”, rather the purpose of their close relationship with the Father is so the world may know that the Father sent Jesus, and that the Father has loved the disciples as He has loved Jesus.

Finally, Jesus ends His prayer with a personal request.  Here Jesus directly asks the Father for something that He wants, something that He longs for:

John 17:24-26 Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am.
Then they will see My glory, which You have given because You loved Me
before the world’s foundation.
Righteous Father!  The world has not known You.
However, I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me.
I made Your name known to them and will make it known,
so the love You have loved Me with may be in them and I may be in them.

Jesus’ desire, His longing, His motivation…was to share His glory and love with His disciples.  The disciples could not have earned the glory and love given to them, they could not obtain it…unless it was given to them.  It had to be shared with them, and Jesus desired to share the Father, the Father’s glory, and the Father’s love with them.

Jesus’ desire is still to share these things with us, and the more we are “one” with each other, with Jesus, and with the Father...the better we understand His love and glory. 

We live what we understand.  As our lives begin to reflect His love and glory, the world will know that He sent us and that Jesus is willing to love them as He has loved us.

Keep Pressing,
Ken