John 17 is one of the richest and most profound chapters in the Bible. It is often called Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” because it contains Jesus’ prayer for his people. Verse 9, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” Jesus’ longest recorded prayer in the Bible is for us. This is amazing.
The profundity of John 17 is also in that Jesus gives us a peak behind the curtain into some of the mysterious inner workings of the Trinity. Jesus, the Son, prays to the Father for the glory of the Father and the Son (v. 1). He says the Father gave him his job on the earth (v. 4). He talks about the glory that he and the Father shared before the world existed (v. 5). He says that the Father sent him and gave him words to give to his people (v. 8). He says that he is one with the Father (v. 11), and that they are “in” one another (v. 21). He says that the Father gave him glory because he loved him before time existed (v. 24).
These are massive statements about the nature and being of God, about how he exists and acts as a multi-person unity. John 17 is deep well of trinitarian truth that shows us the majesty of our God.
But among these stunning statements about the Trinity is a stunning statement about the love of God. In verse 23, Jesus says that the Father has loved his people “even as (he has) loved me.” Jesus is saying that God loves his people just like he loves his Son. This phrase is worth a few moments of meditation.
The phrase comes at the end of verse 23, a verse that starts with Jesus praying for the unity of his disciples, that they may “become perfectly one.” Then Jesus says that the reason he is praying for their unity is “so that the world may know that (the Father) sent me.”
He prayed this in verse 21 already, “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” But now, in verse 23, he adds a further reason why he prays for the unity of his disciples, “so that the world may know that you…loved them even as you loved me.”
Jesus is saying that the unity of his followers is meant to convince many in the world that he is the center of divine revelation (“that you sent me”) and that Jesus’ followers have been caught up into the love of the Father for the Son. Jesus is saying that the unity of the church is meant to reveal the unifying love that he and the Father share.
New Testament scholar D. A. Carson is right to say that “this thought is breathtakingly extravagant.” Jesus’ disciples are loved with the very same love God reserves for his Son. God the Father has loved and delighted in God the Son since eternity past and will into eternity future. If you are in Christ, you are also swept up into the wealth of this divine love.
This means that God loves you more than you probably think. Brothers and sisters, people may scoff at you, but God loves you like he loves Jesus. Family may distance themselves from you, but God loves you like he loves Jesus. Employers may fire you, but God loves you like he loves Jesus. Friends may hurt you, but God loves you like he loves Jesus. Sin may weigh you down, but God loves you like he loves Jesus. Satan may fill you with doubt and despair, but God loves you like he loves Jesus. Money may be tight and health may be faltering, but God loves you like he loves Jesus.
If you are in Christ through faith, then when the Father looks at you, he sees his Son. Because he loves his Son eternally and unfailingly, he also loves you eternally and unfailingly. Nothing will ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35-39).
It is one thing to read these words and acknowledge them to be true in our heads. It is another thing to let them warm and strengthen our hearts. This is why we need God the Spirit to help us feel the love of God in our inner being.
Paul prayed this for the church in Ephesus, that they “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (3:18-19).
I join with Paul in praying this for you. May we all be praying this for one another.
God Loves You, More Than You Think,
Pastor John