Knowing the right time!
John 17:1-11
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
"My Time Has Not Yet Come" how often do we read this in the gospels?
But our text opens with Jesus saying “Father, the hour has come”
yet throughout Jesus' ministry, we find many instances where Jesus says
"my time has not yet come."
These "not yet" statements come at significant points during Jesus’ earthly ministry, revealing His divine wisdom and perfect timing.
So, let’s look at some of these instances to understand the contrasting contexts and the profound lessons that they teach us.
Firstly there was the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-4):
During the wedding at Cana, Jesus performed His first public miracle by turning water into wine. When Mary, informed Him of the wine shortage, Jesus replied
"Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." John 2:4
In this, Jesus was saying that the timing for revealing exactly who He was, His divine power, and the time to begin His public ministry had not yet arrived. Despite this, Jesus performed the miracle and turned the water into wine, showing His respect for his mother ND HIS willingness to honour her request.
Then there were the attempts to Arrest Jesus:
In John's 7:30, we read about the people wanting to seize Jesus, but He eludes their grasp because “His time had not yet come”.
On one occasion, when some people were angered by Jesus' teachings, we read,
“At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come”. John 7:30
Similarly, in John 8:20,
20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
Speaking publicly in the temple, no one laid hands on Him because "his hour had not yet come."
In both these instances, we see that Jesus' divine purpose and the fulfillment of His mission were intricately connected with God's perfect timing.
Then before Jesus' arrest (John 12:23-28):
in the later stages of His ministry, when His crucifixion drew near, He acknowledged that His time had indeed come.
In John 12:23-28, Jesus spoke of His impending death, saying
23 “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds”.
At this point, Jesus recognises that the appointed time for His sacrificial death, which would bring glory to the Father and redemption to humanity, was imminent.
But all of these instances where Jesus said, "my time has not yet come,"
they reveal to us His deep understanding of God's sovereign plan and His also His obedience to the Father’s perfect timing.
From the wedding at Cana to evading arrest and eventually embracing His appointed hour of crucifixion,
Jesus exemplified patience, wisdom, and submission to God's will.
These times when “my time has not yet come” emphasize the significance of God's timing in Jesus' earthly ministry. And they teach us valuable lessons about trusting in God's plan for each of our lives.
Just as Jesus waited on the Father’s timing, we to need to seek His guidance for our lives and trust in His perfect timing for the fulfillment of His purpose for us.
Sometimes when we push on the doors that God has called us to go through, we find they don’t open.
When this happens, we need to be patient and trust in God’s timing, and while we wait, there are other things that He wants us to learn and do before opening that door for us. So never doubt or lose hope, God is faithful and his word is always true.
The text records Jesus’ prayer. Firstly, he prays to be Glorified V1-5
Beginning with the words “Father, the hour has come”
let’s delve a bit deeper into this first section of Jesus’ prayer to be glorified.
Here Jesus offers a prayer from his heart to the Almighty, just before His crucifixion, in which he reveals deep truths about His divine nature and His mission on earth. As we explore this text, we see the deep significance of Jesus’s unity with the Father and the glory that it brings to the Father.
In verses 1 &2 Jesus Prays for His own Glorification
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
Right in the opening verses of Jesus’ prayer, he acknowledges that the hour of His suffering and crucifixion has come.
Jesus prays to the Father, requesting the restoration of the glory that He shared with Him before the world existed.
Jesus, the Son of God, recognised that His purpose was to bring glory to the Father through His sacrificial death and resurrection.
In His obedience and surrender to God's will, Jesus opened the way for all of us to enter into the presence of the Father.
In doing this Jesus highlights the importance to all of us of glorifying God in every aspect of our lives. In everything we do, we are to Glorify God, and not ourselves. This can be difficult because all of us love a bit of praise, encouragement is good, but praise and glory, they belong to God.
In verse 3 Jesus Reveals the Nature of Eternal Life
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3
Here Jesus imparts a profound truth that holds the key to eternal life:
which is to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.
Eternal life is not merely an endless existence; surely doing the same thing every day forever would soon lose its appeal!
Rather it’s a quality of life centered on a personal relationship with the Father and the Son.
True and lasting satisfaction can only be found when we align our hearts and minds with God, experiencing the unmeasurable depths of His love and grace.
As followers of Christ, we are invited to embrace this intimate knowledge and live in the fullness of eternal life.
In verse 4 Jesus Speaks of the Work that was Assigned to Him
“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.”
Here Jesus declares that He has accomplished the work entrusted to Him on earth, and in doing this He has brought glory to the Father.
Jesus faithfully fulfilled His mission, demonstrating perfect obedience to the Father and fulfilled the prophecies that pointed to Him as the Messiah.
Through His ministry, death, and resurrection, Jesus’ work reconciled humanity to God, offering everyone the hope of salvation.
As believers, we are called to follow in His footsteps, understanding that our purpose is to carry out the work assigned to us by the Father, and to glorify Him through our lives.
In verse 5 Jesus Reflects on His Pre-existence and Shared Glory
“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began”
Jesus concludes this first part of His prayer by speaking of the glory He had with the Father before the world existed.
In this, Jesus reveals His eternal nature, and highlights the divine unity between Him and the Father.
The unity and shared glory between the Father and the Son express’s part of the inseparable relationship of the Trinity.
As followers of Christ, we too are invited into this divine unity, as adopted sons and daughters who are called into relationship with the Almighty.
Through this, we experience the transforming power that a personal relationship with God brings us as we share in His glory both here and now and for eternity.
In this prayer for glory, Jesus invites us into the intimate conversation with Him and the Father, as He reveals the deep truths of unity, glory, and eternal life.
And so through Jesus' prayer, we learn that our purpose as believers is to bring glory to God, just as Jesus did.
In the second part of our text, verses 6-11 Jesus prays for His Disciples.
Jesus loved the disciples and these verses reveal the heart of Jesus' ministry and His deep desire for the unity and protection of His disciples.
As we look deeper we uncover the lessons that these verses contain concerning what our relationship with God and with one another should be.
In verses 6-8 Jesus Prays for His Disciples
He acknowledges that the disciples were a gift from the Father.
Jesus affirms that He has revealed the Father's name to them, and they have received His words.
And that the disciples have come to know the truth of who He truly is, and recognise that He was sent by the Father.
This highlights the significance of Jesus' role as the revealer of God's absolute truth and the importance to all of us in accepting His teachings.
In Verses 9-10: Jesus prayers for the Unity of Believers
He continues His prayer, shifting focus to the disciples' place in the world.
But notice that Jesus emphasises that He is praying for them, and not for the world.
In this Jesus acknowledges the distinction between “followers” and the world, which reveals that we are set apart for God’s unique purpose.
In this distinction, we see that we are not called to a life of isolation, but rather we are called to maintain a different set of values and priorities that reflect our relationship with Jesus and the Father.
Jesus’ desire is for unity among His disciples, affirming that we belong to the Father just as He does and we belong to the Father. This unity is grounded in our shared relationship with God as we serve as Christ’s witnesses in the world.
In Verse 11 Jesus' prays about his Departure and for the Disciples' Protection
Jesus’s departure from the world is imminent and here he prays for the protection of His disciples after he ascends.
Jesus knows the challenges that they will face in His absence, so he prays for the Father to guard them in His name.
His concern for His disciples' protection shines a light on the reality of spiritual warfare, and the need for divine intervention in our struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world as Paul wrote to the Ephesians.
As believers, all of us can draw strength and encouragement from Jesus' prayer. We know that He intercedes for us day and night, seeking our protection and well-being in the face of adversity.
Jesus models the Unity that we are to have in the Trinity
We read this later in the chapter in verses 21-23):
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.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
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
Jesus' desire is for unity among all who believe in Him, emphasising a profound truth;
That the unity among His followers should mirror the unity within the Trinity. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, so we should be united in purpose, love, and truth.
This unity not only testifies to the authenticity of our faith, but it serves to draw others to Christ.
In verses 6-11, Jesus offers a prayer from his heart for His disciples and their unity.
He affirms their role as recipients of God's truth and prays for their protection in His absence.
As followers of Christ, as disciples, we too are called to embrace the unity Jesus prayed for, recognising that while we are set apart from the world, we are called to be Christ's witnesses in it.
To conclude, In the first part of Jesus' prayer in verses 1-5, we learned that as believers we are called to embrace a personal relationship with the Father and the Son in the knowledge that eternal life can only be found through Jesus and knowing God intimately.
As believers, we should strive for unity with each other and live lives that mirror the unity and shared glory of the Trinity.
Through this, we fulfill the work that God has assigned for us, which is to bring honour to God, and not to ourselves.
To do that, we need to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, becoming vessels of His love and grace. When we do this the glory of God shines brightly in and through our lives.
In the second part of Jesus’ prayer, we learned that we should strive for unity amongst believers. After all, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, if we can’t get along here what are we going to be like in heaven?
We are rooted in our shared relationship with God, which is modelled for us in the perfect example of the unity of the Trinity.
Today and every day, may all of us find strength and comfort in Jesus's intercession for our protection and well-being,
so that we can boldly live out our faith in this world.
A world in which so many desperately need to hear of God's love, his truth, and his salvation. Amen.
Have a great day, and God bless,
Trev.