This chapter contains the prayer of Jesus. It may be sub-divided into 3 parts: His prayer for Himself (1-5); His prayer for his disciples (6-19); and His prayer for all other believers (20-26). Note that the smallest of these is the prayer for Himself, and even there His request for glorification will be found in the cross and is in actuality a prayer that the Father’s will be done in Him. There is not a bit of self-seeking in it. This is a great example to us of how we should pray.

“lifting up” (KJV) indicates submission as in (Psa 25:1). To lift up indicates taking from a lower position to a higher one. Lifting up the eyes was a common posture for prayer. (Mark 7:34; Psa 123:1) Note that in (Luke 18:13) the tax collector was under such conviction that he “would not even look up to heaven”. Sometimes the person praying would prostrate himself as Jesus did in (Matt 26:39). Why?

Psalms 25:1  Of David. To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

Mark 7:34  He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).

Psalms 123:1  A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.

Luke 18:13  “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

Matthew 26:39  Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus would often look upward toward heaven when addressing His Father (11:41). Note that when He did so, He was also turning His eyes and His attention, away from the disciples and toward God.

John 11:41  So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

Jesus prayed quite often. (Mark 1:35; 6:46; Matt 11:25; Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28; 11:22, 42; 23:34, 46; John 11:41; 12:27)

Mark 1:35  Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Mark 6:46  After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Matthew 11:25  At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Luke 3:21  When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened

Luke 5:16  But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Luke 6:12  One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

Luke 9:18  Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

Luke 9:28  About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.

Luke 11:22  But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.

Luke 11:42  “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practised the latter without leaving the former undone.

Luke 23:34  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Luke 23:46  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

John 11:41  So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

John 12:27  “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

He intentionally prayed this prayer aloud in the presence of the disciples so they could hear everything He said. Why? — To be an example to them of the need for prayer and of how to pray much as Abraham was ordered to teach his children (Gen 18:19), and to give them insight into the relationship He had with the Father.

Genesis 18:19  For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

He called God “Father” which indicates His close relationship with Him. Note that we, too, are to call God “Father” (Romans 8:15; Gal 4:6). What does this indicate to you?

Romans 8:15  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Galatians 4:6  Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

Jesus would indeed be glorified:

first on earth by great signs, (Matt 27:19, 45, 51-54; John 18:4-6, 38; 19:4, 6, 12)

Matthew 27:19  While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

Matthew 27:45  From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.

Matthew 27:51-54  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.  The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.  When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

John 18:4-6  Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”  “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)  When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

John 18:38  “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.

John 19:4  Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

John 19:6  As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

John 19:12  From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

second, by the cross itself (Heb 2:14-15; Col 2:15; 2 Tim 1:10; John 19:2, 19)

Hebrews 2:14-15  Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Colossians 2:15  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

2 Timothy 1:10  but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

John 19:2  The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe

John 19:19  Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

and third, after the cross (Acts 1:9, 2:1-4, Rom 1:4; 1Cor 15:5-8; Php 2:9-11).

Acts 1:9  After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

Acts 2:1-4  When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Romans 1:4  and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:5-8  and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,  and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Philippians 2:9-11  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

With the crucifixtion in sight, Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him. To men the cross appeared to be an instrument of shame, but to Christ it was the means of attaining great glory.

It is often in death that men find their glory. How they died and why they died showed others who they really were. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the English for being a heretic. There was an Englishman in the crowd who had sworn that he would throw a log on the fire, but upon seeing the manner in which she died, he was heard to say, “Would that my soul were where the soul of that woman is.”

Abraham Lincoln’s War Minister, Edwin M. Stanton, had always viewed Lincoln with open contempt, thinking him to be crude and uncouth. But after the assassination, looking down on his dead body with tears in his eyes, Stanton said, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.”

The majesty of a martyr has again and again been revealed by his death, and so it was with Jesus, for even the centurion who crucified Him said, “Surely He was the Son of God.” (Matt 27:54) Jesus was never more majestic than in His death on the cross and it was through the cross that men are even today being drawn to Him.

Matthew 27:54  When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

Notice that the glory of the Father and the glory of the Son are quite closely related. If you glorify one, you will also glorify the other. “Jesus prays for His own glorification, not as an end in itself, but as a means to the greater glory of the Father.” (Morris)