The Introduction.
THE gracious ministry of Christ, before the world, is over. The loving discourses with the disciples are finished. All being closed on earth, the Lord looks heavenward toward that home into which He will so soon enter. We have listened to the words of the Lord as He spoke to the disciples of the Father; now it is our greater privilege to listen to the words of the Son, as He speaks to the Father concerning His disciples.
The prayer stands alone among all prayers by reason of the glorious Person by whom it is uttered. Who but a divine Person could say, “That they may be one as we” (11); and again, “That they may be one in us” (21). Such utterances could never fall from human lips. Deny the deity of His Person, and these words would become the blasphemies of an impostor.
The prayer is alone, too, by reason of its unique character. It has been pointed out that, “It has no voice of confession... no echo, however distant, of recognition of sin, no tone that is touched with a feeling of demerit or defect... no intimation of inferiority or entreaty for help.”
We are moreover arrested by its comprehensiveness. We listen to One who speaks of an eternity before the foundation of the world, as having had part in that glorious past. We hear Him speak of His perfect pathway upon earth: we are carried on to the Apostolic days by One to whom the future is an open book. We listen to words which cover the whole period of the Church’s pilgrimage on earth, as we hear the Lord’s desires for those who will believe on Him through the Apostles’ words. Finally, we are carried in thought to an eternity yet to come, when we shall be with Christ, and like Christ.
Furthermore, as we listen to these heart-breathings of the Lord we feel that, while our passage through this world is still in view, yet we are carried beyond the passing things of time to contemplate the changeless things of eternity. However needful feet-washing, however blessed fruit-bearing, however great the privilege to testify, and suffer, for Christ, yet such things are hardly in view, but rather, those greater things which, while they may be known and enjoyed in time, belong to eternity. Life eternal, the Father’s name, the Father’s words, the Father’s love, the joy of Christ, holiness, unity and glory, are eternal things which will abide when time, with its need of feet-washing, its opportunities for service, its trials and its sufferings, will forever have passed away.
Moreover, as we listen to this prayer we learn the desires of the heart of Christ; so that the believer can say, “I know the desires of His heart for me.” This must be so, for perfect prayer is the expression of the heart’s desire. Alas! with ourselves our prayers may often become formal and, as such, only the expression of what we like others to think is the desire of our hearts. No element of formality enters into this prayer. All is as perfect as the One who prays.
In the course of the prayer many requests are offered to the Father, but they all appear to fall under three dominant desires of the Lord which mark the main divisions of the prayer.
First, the desire that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Verses 1 to 5.
Second, the desire that Christ may be glorified in the saints. Verses 6-21.