1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
None of our Lord’s prayers are recorded as fully and as richly as His great High Priestly prayer found in John chapter seventeen - it stands alone, there is none to compare with it. It sets forth the wonderful pattern of intercession which Jesus as our High Priest is ever carrying on for us in heaven. We have a prayer offered up by the Lord on an especially interesting occasion – just after the Lords Supper and His striking discourse and prior to His betrayal, crucifixion and the forsaking of His disciples – those He held most dear. Interestingly, the Master prayed this after a sermon in which He had spoken from God to His disciples and now He turns His face heavenward - sanctifying this gesture - and speaks to God for His disciples – in their behalf. Bodily gestures in prayer and worship of God given to us in Scripture are not to be overlooked as unmeaning and trite.
In our verse for today, Jesus presents us a wonderful example of praying for those for whom we are privileged to minister to. We must continually remember that while we may sow or water or even reap, it is always God that causes the growth therefore, to that end, our prayers must prevail. It is God Who produces results:
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 1 Cor 3:5-7 (NIV)
“My best security is within the munitions of an immutable Jehovah, where His unalterable promises stand like giant walls of rock.” C. H. Spurgeon
Jesus here also fleshes out what He had taught His guys in Mathew regarding prayer – He begins with “Father”. A term of endearment; a term of closeness; a term that relates to liberty of access as well as of great expectations. It behooves us to call God as we hope to find Him – Righteous, Holy, Father. Our Lord teaches us in Matthew:
6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Matt 6:6-9 (NIV)
Jesus also tells us here that His appointed time had arrived – the fullness of time had come. The time for His sacrificial death was upon Him – the final accomplishment of His atonement for all mankind. The time promised by God and expected by saints since Adam’s fall had at long length arrived. The seed of the woman was about to bruise the serpent’s head by dying as man’s substitute and redeemer. The hour had arrived and the Sacrifice was ready. Interestingly, just as the time was appointed for our Lord to be born and for our Lord to die, there is a time appointed for His return as well – clearly, man purposes and God disposes – Hallelujah and glory to Him! Luke writes in Acts:
7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1:7-11 (NIV)
John giving further insight in Revelation:
7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. Rev 1:7 (NIV)
Lastly, we see the redeeming work of Christ – His death, resurrection and ascension into heaven - brought both the Father and the Son much glory. Jesus would again be taken up to His rightful place in glory and the Father, through our Lord’s actions, would be glorified as His justice, holiness, mercy and faithfulness would be magnified.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:5-11 (NIV)