John 17:9-16 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me; for they are yours.… I. A GRACIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT — "I pray for them." 1. The words which follow seem at first startling. Does He mean that the world had no place in His desires and formed no object of His supplications? No, for He had said, "God so loved the world," &c., and was so soon to pray on the cross for His murderers. It is simply as if He had said, "I am not now at this moment praying for the world at large," or else, "I pray not in this way for the world." For the world He does pray (ver. 20, 21), but He prays in another manner, viz., that it may cease to be what it is, attain to knowledge which it does not possess, and realize a life which it does not know, while in praying for His disciples He asks that they may be perfected in what they have received, confirmed in their faith and so prederved from forgetting or losing that which they know. 2. "I pray for them." The word pray here is a word which Christ Jesus alone uses in relation to His prayers. The Saviour never uses the word ordinarily used to express prayers by man, but one which has the sense of authority in it, and which therefore it is not proper for us to use. How much, then, is involved in this announcement! Frequently in the course of social intercourse we say to a friend in difficulty or affliction, when we feel that our poor thoughts, counsels, or help can be of little or no avail, "I will pray for you." Does that not include the highest thought, and the most effective aid that we can reach? What magnitude and depth of meaning, then, must there be in our Saviour's words, "I pray for you"! The Lord who prayed for these disciples intercedes for His people now. There is not a single day of our life, how full soever of duty, difficulty, or darkness, in which we may not derive encouragement and comfort from this gracious word of Christ. II. AN EXPLANATION. The disciples — 1. Belong to God — "They are Thine,"(1) He had created them, selected them out of the many thousands of Israel, to be trained by His Son. The preparation they received under the minister of Jesus was altogether of God; and the variety of their dispositions, qualifying them for varied service and duty, was due to His wisdom and power. It is one thing to be God's creatures, made originally in His image; it is much higher and grander to be God's men, created anew in Christ Jesus. (2) This interest was reciprocal: "All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine." In the Father's interest the Son had an interest, and in the Father's property the Son has an equal right (chap. V. 19). No language could more impressively show the Godhead and glory of Jesus than this claim of kindred interests. 2. Christ, as Mediator and Saviour, had an interest in these disciples peculiar to Himself: "I am glorified in them."(1) It may well excite our wonder and adoration that He, "withoutwhom was not anything made that was made," should have glory in feeble, ignorant, and imperfect men, and only in the little band was He glorified. The life and attractiveness of the vine are in its branches, foliage, and fruit; and as Jesus said, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches," His honour was essentially connected with them, as the first-fruits of a multitude of followers. (2) How was Jesus glorified? To draw men to Himself, to secure their devotedness for God, that they might be redeemed from sin, and be made partakers of the Divine nature, was the very purpose for which He came into the world; and in these disciples, who were lovingly drawn around Him as the first-fruits of His advent, was He glorified. There is a depth and breadth of meaning in these words which we cannot fully comprehend. When the hero of many battles receives the thanks of a grateful country, and says in reply "that he could have nothing but for the bravery and devotion of the troops under his command," we can appreciate his modesty and admire his candour. But when the strong Son of God says, "I am glorified in them" — these My disciples, few and weak — we cannot refuse our admiration and our love. (J. Spence, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. |
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