Lent 2023: John 17:6-19

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

6 “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, 8 because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

9 “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours. 10 Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. 13 Now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy completed in them. 14 I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

—John 17:6-19

Read & Journal

Read John 17:6-19. Ask yourself:

• What does this passage teach you about Jesus, his purpose or his mission?

• This section of Jesus’ prayer is focused on his disciples. What do you learn about his relationship with the disciples through his prayer?

• How does this prayer provide comfort or encouragement in your current situation?

• As a follower of Christ, does your life give glory to God (v. 10)?

• Jesus’ prayer was that his disciples would go into the world with the gospel, just as he had. What does that look like in your life today?

• Reflect on verse 19. Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice so you could stand righteous before a holy God and dwell with him forever. What does that mean to you? Journal a prayer of gratitude and confession.