John 17:24

Πατήρ, ὅ for Πάτερ, οὕς (an obvious correction).

THE PRAYER OF THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST

The prayer which follows the last discourse is unique in the Gospels. The other Evangelists, especially S. Luke, mention the fact of Christ praying (Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 3:21; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:12; Luke 9:18, &c.), and give some words of His prayer at Gethsemane; but here the substance of a long act of devotion is preserved. S. John never mentions the fact of Christ praying, but in John 12:27 he perhaps gives us a few words of prayer, and in John 11:41 a thanksgiving which implies previous prayer. There is an approach to the first portion of this prayer in the thanksgiving in Matthew 11:25-26.

This ORATIO SUMMI SACERDOTIS falls naturally into three portions; 1. for Himself (1–5); 2. for the disciples (6–19); 3. for the whole Church (20–26), the last two verses forming a summary, in which the relations of Christ to the Father and to His own, and of His own to both Father and Son are gathered up. The leading thought throughout is the glory of God in the work of Christ and in those who continue it.

The prayer was spoken aloud (John 17:1), and thus was not only a prayer, but a source of comfort to those who heard it (John 17:13), and by its preservation a means of faith and life to all (John 20:31). He had taught by action (13) and by discourse (14–16); now He teaches by prayer. No doubt it was spoken in Aramaic, and we have here also, as in the discourses, no means of determining how far the Greek version preserves the very words, how far only the substance, of what was spoken. We must take it reverently as it has been given to us, and we shall find abundant reason for believing that on the one hand it quite transcends even the beloved disciple’s powers of invention; on the other that there is nothing in it to make us doubt that this report of it is from his pen. “It is urged that the triumphant elevation of this prayer is inconsistent with the Synoptic account of the Agony. But the liability to fluctuations of feeling and emotion is inherent in humanity, and was assumed with His manhood by Him Who was perfect man” (Sanday). “All human experience bears witness in common life to the naturalness of abrupt transitions from joy to sadness in the contemplation of a supreme trial. The absolute insight and foresight of Christ makes such an alteration even more intelligible. He could see, as man cannot do, both the completeness of His triumph and the suffering through which it was to be gained” (Westcott). The three characteristics of the Gospel, simplicity, subtlety, and sublimity, reach a climax here. Bengel calls this chapter the simplest in language, the profoundest in meaning, in the whole Bible. All is natural, for it is a son speaking to a father; all is supernatural, for the Son is the Lord from heaven.

The place where these words were spoken is not stated. If the view taken above (John 14:31) is correct, they were spoken in the upper room, after the company had risen from supper, in the pause before starting for the Mount of Olives (John 18:1). Westcott thinks that “the upper chamber was certainly left after John 14:31,” and that as “it is inconceivable that chap. 17 should have been spoken anywhere except under circumstances suited to its unapproachable solemnity,” these would best be found in the Temple Courts. Here was the great Golden Vine, to suggest the allegory of the Vine (John 16:1-11), and “nowhere could the outlines of the future spiritual Church be more fitly drawn than in the sanctuary of the old Church.” It is perhaps slightly against this attractive suggestion, that surroundings so rich in meaning would probably have been pointed out by a writer so full of feeling for dramatic contrasts and harmonies as the writer of this Divine Epic (comp. John 3:2; John 4:6; John 20:22; John 13:30; John 18:1; John 18:3; John 18:5; John 18:28; John 18:40; John 19:23-27; John 19:31-42).

24. πατήρ. Comp. John 17:1; John 17:5; John 17:11; John 17:25; John 11:41; John 12:27. The relationship is the ground of appeal; He knows that His ‘will’ is one with His Father’s. The position of ὅ δέδωκάς μοι (see on John 17:2) is remarkable: the fact of the gift is another ground of appeal.

θέλω. The expression, as used here by Christ, is unique: but comp. John 21:22; Matthew 8:3; Matthew 23:37; Matthew 26:39; Luke 12:49. It is His last will and testament, which the Christ on the eve of His death here deposits in the Father’s hands. For τ. δόξαν τ. ἐμήν see on John 8:31 : it is not the glory of the Word, the Eternal Son, which was His in His equality with the Father, but the glory of Christ, the Incarnate Son, with which the risen and ascended Jesus was endowed. In sure confidence Christ speaks of this as already given, and wills that all believers may behold and share it. Thus two gifts of the Father to the Son meet and complete one another: those whom He has given behold the glory that He has given. See on John 12:24.

καταβολῆς κόσμου. Christ thrice uses this expression; here, Luke 11:50; Matthew 25:34. Two of those who heard it reproduce it (1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8). Comp. Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 11:11.