Jesus Prays for His Followers
John 17:1-26
As he lifted his eyes to heaven, Jesus spoke these words. He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, so your Son may also glorify you. You have granted him all authority over all men, that he may give life to all you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah, whom you have sent.
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“I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work which you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory which I had with you before the world existed. I have revealed you to those who you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you. I have given them the words which you have given me and they have received them. They are confident that I came from you and they believe you sent me.
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“I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for them—those you have given me for they are yours. And all mine are yours, and yours are mine and I am glorified in them. Now, I leave the world, but these are left in the world as I come to you. Holy Father, protect them through your name—those you have given me. May they be one, as we are one. While I was with them in the world, I kept them by the name you gave me. Those that you gave me I have kept. None of them is lost except the son of perdition so that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now I am coming to you. These things I proclaim in the world so they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
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“I have given them your word and the world hates them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I don’t pray that you remove them from the world, but that you keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Set them apart through your truth. Your word is truth.
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“As you have sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. I set myself apart for their sake that they might also be set apart through the truth. I don’t only pray for these, but also for those who will believe on me through their word, that all may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, I pray that they may also be one in us, so the world believes that you have sent me. And the glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one—I in them and you in me, that they be perfected and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
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“Father, I also desire that they, too, whom you have given me be with me where I am, and that they can behold my glory which you have given me for you have loved me from before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you. But I have known you and these have known that you have sent me. I have declared to them your name, and will declare it that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
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