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Scripture • World English Bible
John 17:1–8
1Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
4I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
6“I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
7Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,
8for the words which you have given me I have given to them; and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.
World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain
Reflection
In John 17 Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and prays with the calm confidence of one who has finished the work his Father gave him to do. His opening petition—Glorify your Son—may sound like a request for honor, but it is rooted in purpose. The glory Jesus asks for is not self-centered praise; it is the ripening of all that his earthly ministry was meant to accomplish: the clear revelation of the Father, the giving of eternal life, and the completing of redemptive work through obedient love.
Jesus speaks of authority given him over all flesh and of giving eternal life to those the Father has entrusted to him. Here Jesus links authority, obedience, and relationship. The authority he has exercised leads to a life-giving relationship between human beings and God. Eternal life, Jesus explains, is not merely future duration but a present, knowing relationship with the Father and with the One the Father sent. To glorify the Son is, then, to make known who he is and what he came to do so that others might know the Father and receive life.
There’s also a revealing symmetry in this prayer: Jesus glorifies the Father by fulfilling his mission on earth, and now asks the Father to glorify him with the glory he knew before the world existed. The cross, the resurrection, and Jesus’ vindication are part of that requested glorification. In other words, Jesus’ suffering and obedience were never random or wasted; they were the means by which God’s loving character and redemptive plan would be unmistakably displayed.
Notice too how personal his concern is for those given to him. Jesus says he revealed the Father’s name to the disciples, and they received his words and believed. The mission of revelation continues: Christians are entrusted with the same words and the same truth. The way people come to know the Father is through the clear, faithful witness to Jesus—who he is, what he has done, and how he calls us into relationship.
This passage brings hope: the work is accomplished, and that work is both finished in Jesus and active in us. When we struggle with doubt, failure, or weariness, we can return to the core facts of this prayer. Jesus has authority; he gives life; knowing him and the Father is eternal life; and his obedience has already set the stage for glory. Our role is participation—receiving his words, living them out, and making them known so more may enter into that life.
Practically, glorifying the Son looks like faithful witness, humble obedience, and confident dependence on Jesus’ accomplished work. It means shaping our lives around knowing God rather than chasing blessings apart from relationship. It means seeing hardship through the lens of a mission already completed by Christ, and trusting that God’s glorifying purposes will unfold through our faithful small acts of obedience.
Putting Faith Into Action
- Before decisions—work, words, and priorities—ask: "Will this reflect the identity and mission of Jesus?" Let that question shape how you use time, money, and speech.
- Tell one person this week, in clear and simple terms, that eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son; share how Jesus has changed you rather than arguing over abstract proofs.
- When you face suffering or discouragement, remind yourself of Jesus’ finished work: pray for God to glorify his Son, and surrender your pain to that larger purpose instead of chasing quick relief.
Prayer
Father, glorify your Son. Help me to receive Jesus’ words, to live so others see him, and to trust his finished work when I am weak or afraid. Shape my life by knowing you and him more deeply, that my words and actions point to Christ. Amen.
Memory Verse
John 17:1 — Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; (WEB)
“Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;”
Bible Context
Read all of John 17
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Bible Context
Read all of John 17
John 17
World English Bible • WEB
1Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
4I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
6“I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
7Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,
8for the words which you have given me I have given to them; and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.
9I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
14I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
16They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
18As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
19For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
20“Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,
21that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
22The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one,
23I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.
24Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
26I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain
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