When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, 2 just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. 3 Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4 I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. 6 “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, 8 because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, 10 and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.
Jesus has finished speaking to His disciples. He now turns His words to the Father. The disciples are still present, and they hear Jesus pray. This prayer gathers up many themes from the Last Supper: the hour of Jesus, His love for His disciples, His obedience to the Father, His coming Passion, and the life He gives to those who believe in Him.
Jesus begins by raising His eyes to heaven (v. 1). This gesture shows prayerful trust. He speaks to God as Father, as He did before raising Lazarus (John 11:41) and as He taught His disciples to do when they pray (Luke 11:2). The “hour” has now come (v. 1). In John’s Gospel, this hour points especially to Jesus’ Passion, death, Resurrection, and return to the Father. Earlier Jesus said that “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). His glory will be revealed through the saving work He freely completes.
When Jesus asks the Father to glorify the Son, He is asking that the Father bring His mission to its full saving completion. In this passage, the glory of God is the splendor, holiness, majesty, and love that belong to God. Jesus reveals this glory while completing the mission the Father gave Him. Through His obedience, love, and self-giving on the Cross, mankind’s salvation is accomplished and the Father’s saving love is revealed. The Son glorifies the Father by accomplishing the work the Father gave Him to do (v. 4). The Father glorifies the Son by bringing Him through death into Resurrection and by revealing Him as the eternal Son who was with the Father before the world began (v. 5; John 1:1–3, 14).
Jesus then speaks of eternal life. Eternal life is “that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (v. 3). In Scripture, to know God means more than knowing facts about Him. It means living in a faithful relationship with Him, receiving His word, loving Him, and belonging to Him. The prophets looked forward to a renewed covenant in which God’s people would know Him from the heart (Jer. 31:33–34). Jesus now reveals that eternal life comes through knowing the Father and the Son whom the Father sent.
This also explains why Jesus’ mission is so serious. He has authority “over all people” so that He may give eternal life to those the Father has given Him (v. 2). This does not mean that eternal life is offered only to a selected few. God desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4), and Christ’s authority extends over all people. The Father’s gift to the Son includes those who receive Jesus’ word, believe that He was sent by the Father, and remain in Him. This language shows that faith begins with God’s grace. No one comes to the Son unless drawn by the Father (John 6:44), and those who come to the Son are received by Him (John 6:37). The Son’s authority is ordered toward salvation. He gives life by revealing the Father, giving the Father’s word, and bringing His disciples into communion with God. The life He gives begins now through faith and reaches its fullness in heaven. Those who reject Christ’s word and works refuse the eternal life He offers, while those who receive Him in faith become children of God (John 1:11–12; John 5:40).
When Jesus says, “glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began” (v. 5), He is speaking as the eternal Son who became man. As the Son of God, He already shared the Father’s glory before creation (John 1:1–3). Through the Incarnation, He took to Himself a true human nature while remaining the eternal Son. He now asks the Father to bring His saving mission to completion, so that the humanity He took for our salvation may share in the glory that belongs eternally to Him as the Son. That is why Christians speak of the risen and glorified Christ.
Jesus says, “I revealed your name” (v. 6). In the Bible, God’s name points to who God is and how He makes Himself known. Jesus has revealed the Father by His words, His works, His love, and His unity with the Father. Earlier He told Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). To receive Jesus is to receive the One who sent Him.
The disciples have received this revelation in faith. Jesus says that they have kept the Father’s word, accepted the words given to them, understood that Jesus came from the Father, and believed that the Father sent Him (vv. 6–8). Their faith is still imperfect, as the previous passage made clear, but Jesus speaks of the real faith already present in them. They belong to the Father, and the Father has given them to the Son.
Jesus then prays specifically for them. “I pray for them,” He says (v. 9). At this point in the prayer, His attention rests on the disciples who will remain in the world after He returns to the Father. They will carry His word and His mission. They are precious to Him because they belong to the Father and to the Son: “everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine” (v. 10). These words show the deep unity of the Father and the Son. What belongs to the Father belongs to the Son; what belongs to the Son belongs to the Father.
Jesus also says, “I have been glorified in them” (v. 10). The disciples glorify Jesus by receiving His word, believing that He was sent by the Father, and continuing as His witnesses in the world. Their lives will show that His mission has borne fruit. This is why their faith, unity, and perseverance matter. They are being drawn into the saving work of Christ and will be sent to bear witness to Him.
The passage ends with Jesus saying, “I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you” (v. 11). Jesus speaks as the One who is about to pass through His Passion and return to the Father. His disciples will remain in the world, where they will need the Father’s care. This also recalls what Jesus has already promised them: the Father will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will remain with them, teach them, remind them of Jesus’ words, and guide them in the truth (John 14:16–17, 26; 16:13). Jesus’ prayer and the gift of the Spirit belong together. The disciples will remain in the world, but they will not be left without divine help.
Father, give us deeper faith in your Son, whom you sent for our salvation. Help us to receive His word, know you more truly, and live as those who belong to Him. Keep us faithful in the world, and draw us into the eternal life that Jesus gives, through Jesus Christ out Lord. Amen.
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Sources and References
- New American Bible, Revised Edition. John 17:1–11a and notes.
- Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri, The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 193–194.
- José María Casciaro, gen. ed., The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition (Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008), 429–430.
- Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990), 978, §§199–201.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (New York: Paulist Press, 2018), 1165.
- John J. Collins, Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds., The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 3rd fully rev. ed. (London: T&T Clark, 2022), 1432–1433.
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