By Will Kynes, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
Intimacy with God
John 17:1–5, 21–26
One of the obstacles to intimacy with God is the limitations of our imagination. What would that even look like? The Gospels offer us two primary examples of how to experience this intimacy through prayer.
The first is the “Lord’s Prayer,” which Jesus gives His disciples as an example for how they should pray (Matt. 6:9–13).
The second is Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer,” in which He performs the role of the high priest by interceding on behalf of those who will believe in Him (John 17).
Whereas the Lord’s Prayer gives us an explicit model to follow, word-for-word if we’d like, we cannot adopt all of the content of the High Priestly Prayer into our prayers, given the distinct role Jesus takes on in the prayer.
We can emulate the intimacy it demonstrates with God and allow it to mold our desires toward greater unity with God and among His people.
Pray for God’s glory to be seen. (1–5)
Like the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus begins by addressing God as “Father,” which is a radical claim to an intimate relationship with the Almighty. He then expresses the major theme of the prayer and of His existence: to glorify His Father. Jesus prays that all that God has given His Son — glory, authority, followers, work to do — would redound to God’s glory. We should pray the same prayer — that all the gifts, responsibilities and opportunities God has given us would contribute to His glory.
In these verses, Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God (v. 3). Our experience of heaven will not be oriented toward our pleasure or seeing lost loved ones, but the enjoyment of intimate relationship with God.
Pray for unity with God and among believers. (21–23)
Jesus’ prayer turns to His followers. As He prays for all those the Father has given Him, including “those who will believe in Me through their message” (vv. 9, 20), His prayer incorporates those who read His words today.
He petitions for their protection, in light of the opposition they will face from a world in which they will not belong (vv. 11–19).
He also prays for their unity, which reflects the unity between the Father and the Son (v. 21). How Christians love one another is intended to testify to this trinitarian relationship (v. 23). Like the teenager whose father reminds him that they share the same last name, the church’s failure in this regard does not merely reflect poorly on us. God’s reputation is at stake.
Pray for God’s love to be known and experienced. (24–26)
Jesus concludes His prayer where it began, with the end to which He lived, died and rose again, that people may know the Father and thereby bring Him glory. God had previously revealed Himself through prophets but has now “spoken to us by His Son,” who is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” (Heb. 1:2–3). In so doing, He made available to us the love the Father has for the Son (v. 26).
We cannot even conceive how immense that statement is because the perfect love within the Trinity is beyond our comprehension. And yet, in Christ, it is offered to us. Digging deeply into God’s word will shape our imagination to begin to grasp the enormity of this love. That is something to pray for!
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