J Philip Bible Readings

'These words' in 1 may refer to the whole discourse of the Upper Room - this is an obvious conclusion to draw - but it may be that they have a special connection with the last verse or two of the previous chapter (16:32, 33), i.e., the prayer that follows is set in the context of the victory He is about to accomplish. This illuminates the thought of 'the hour' - a phrase often occurring in the earlier chapters of John, as we have seen - and that of 'glorifying Thy Son', for it indicates that the glorification of the Son takes place in and through the cross, a thought that has already been before us in John's record (cf. 12:23, 24; 13:31). The prayer for the glorifying of the Son is repeated in 5. It is in fact the only petition our Lord makes concerning Himself, for the intervening verses (2, 3, 4) are statements of fact. This underlines not only the central passion of our Lord's heart as being the death He was to die as obedience to and glad acceptance of the will of God, but also an important association of ideas between that death and the thought expressed in these intervening verses about eternal life and knowing God. For it is through the cross, and the cross alone, that eternal life is possible for any man. We know Him through the cross, for the cross is the open door back into fellowship with Him. The commentators point out that our Lord's intercessory prayer in John stands in parallel with the other three gospels' record of Gethsemane (which John does not record at all). It is perhaps significant for us to see that Jesus' prayer 'Glorify Thy Son' corresponds to the Synoptics 'Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt'. In other words, in praying, 'Father, glorify Thy Son' Jesus is in fact asking God to thrust Him into the death that would bring glory to the Father and the Son and blessing to the world.