Jesus’s Last Supper Prayer
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After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
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28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
36 When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37 They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
The Prayer
Today we get to be a fly on the wall of Jesus very personal prayer to the Father. The scene is the upper room on the Thursday before Good Friday. It is the ‘Last Supper’ Jesus shared with his friends. That is the place where his famous prayer for them, and us, was prayed.
Remain in the world
Jesus looked heavenward and prays “Father the time has come….he says “they are yours & and they have obeyed your word” v 9“I pray for them”. Jesus goes on “I will remain in the world no longer but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you… my prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one... sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”
One of the major themes in this prayer is: to remain in the World, ‘ not too take them out of the world but to protect them……v21 that the world may believe that you have sent me.” It links with our reading from Acts 20:28 ‘fierce wolves will come among you. In the 1st 100 years after Jesus's ascension followers of Christ showed tremendous courage under duress. Roman authorities tried to stamp out the Church by persecuting those who claimed Christ as Saviour. The plan backfired. Those who were torn apart by wild animals in Roman arenas for the entertainment of the emperor and his entourage faced their deaths so courageously that others were attracted to the faith rather than repulsed by it. In less than 100 years the fire of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was carried as far as Spain to the west, India to the east, and Ethiopia to the south. In 300+ years the Gospel arrived in northern Europe. Down through the centuries the flames of the Fire burned brightly.
The Christian faith gained and its ranks grew because people who were attracted to Christ had their lives changed when they invited Him into their lives.
Hear again Jesus’ prayer ‘Not to take them out of the world but to protect them,’ what a challenge this is to us. We need spiritual protection… Wouldn’t it be easier if we created a Christian world around us with Christian friends, Christian holidays, Christian meals, Christian theme parks, and Christian music - a Christian counter culture, that’s where it’s safe (&sound)! But that’s also where it is most comfortable. Jesus said Jn 16:33 “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart I have overcome the world.” That’s why He prays for protection - they were to expect trouble.
Paul’s farewell to the church in Ephesus ties in well with the final prayer of Jesus in John 17. In Acts 20, we see Jesus' prayer working out in the life of Paul. The attacks on Paul: his life, the lashings, stones, imprisonment, but often, as in Acts 16, it resulted in people coming to faith…
The Question is: How will our friends and relatives know who Jesus is if we cocoon ourselves? How will they know what Jesus is about if we don’t do what Jesus did for us “I pray for them.” Pray for them, write their names in your bible, in a diary or journal whatever prompts you but say to God “I pray for these friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbours”
Dorothy Kincaid was a church member of the church in Wakefield when I was a vicar. On each and every occasion when there were prayers, Dorothy would pray for ‘my Billy.’ Billy was not a believer and it grieved her so. Nonetheless she persevered in prayer, not giving up in her prayer for ‘her Billy.’ It was about 20 years later when she phoned too say: Billy had ‘got saved.’ Indeed he developed a real desire and love for the word of God. Billy is still going on with God today.
Praying is not passive. You can be proactive, maybe you can invite a friend for a walk, or to come to church with you or do small acts of kindness.
Ask yourself: how can I testify about what Jesus means to me? It won’t be easy but that’s what Jesus was about when he prayed “not to take them out of the world but to protect them.” This was a themes of Jesus’ prayer in that upper room ‘That they may be protected in the world not out of the world’…so that ‘the world may believe in Jesus.’
