Christ's Prayer Amid Approaching Calvary Secures His People

In the shadow of Gethsemane and the Judgment Hall, with Calvary imminent, our Lord's prayers reveal a striking contrast. In Gethsemane He prayed for Himself with agitation and struggle: 'If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.' Yet here in the High-priestly prayer, His voice carries 'calm serenity and confident assurance.' The difference is this: in Gethsemane, His own burden weighed upon Him; in John 17, His disciples fill His mind entirely. Even as death approached, Christ prayed not for deliverance but for His people's protection.

Maclaren emphasizes that Christ's prayers are never mere petitions—they are 'the expression of the Father's will, and were therefore promises and prophecies.' What He prays for, He gives. When He declared 'I will that, where I am, they also may be with Me,' He spoke 'in a tone of strange authority.' This was not supplication but the utterance of divine purpose.

The disciples' isolation in 'the world'—that ethical aggregate of mankind apart from God—required their Lord's vigilant protection. Yet they possessed an antidote to this alienation: participation in Christ's own Spirit. 'Christ in us' makes the disciple assimilated to the Master, not through external imitation alone but through the indwelling presence that makes the Christian's life 'derived from, and essentially one with, His life.' The disciples stood isolated from society, yes—but never isolated from Him whose prayers guaranteed their shield.