Jesus Prays for You

Before Jesus walked into the garden where Judas would betray Him, He stopped and prayed. Not a hurried prayer, not a whispered plea, but a long, unhurried conversation with His Father that John 17 preserves for us like a letter left open on a table. And here is what should stop you in your tracks: your name, in a manner of speaking, is in this prayer. Jesus was not only praying for the eleven men standing nearby. He prayed for everyone who would ever believe through their word, and that includes you, reading this today.

Jesus begins by praying for Himself, asking the Father to glorify Him so that He might glorify the Father. Then He prays for His disciples, that they would be kept, that they would be unified, that they would be sanctified in the truth. But then He widens the circle: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word" (John 17:20). Pause there. The Son of God, hours before His crucifixion, with the weight of the cross already pressing down, used some of His final breath to pray for you.

For the new reader, this chapter is sometimes called the High Priestly Prayer because Jesus acts here as our great intercessor, the one who stands between us and God and pleads our case. For the seasoned believer, notice what He asks: not that we would be taken out of the world, but that we would be kept from the evil one while we remain in it. He does not pray for your escape. He prays for your protection, your holiness, and your unity with other believers.

The heart of the prayer beats in verse 3: eternal life is not a destination we arrive at after death, it is knowing God now, personally and truly. That kind of knowing changes how you wake up in the morning. You are not forgotten. You are prayed for, by the Son of God Himself, whose prayers the Father always hears.