¹ Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You …”

The hour” had finally come, for the full revelation of who Jesus really was. From the time of the first miracle, when His earthly mother brought to Him the problem of wine run-out at the Canaan wedding, Jesus asserted to His earthly mother, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). When His earthly brothers challenged Him to go to Judea and “Show yourself to the world” (John 7:4), He responded, “My time has not yet come.” When the mob in the temple reacted to His teaching and tried to seize Him, “… no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come” (John 7:30, 8:20).

In John’s rendition of the Upper Room discourse, he records the beginning with these words, “Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1). And now as their last meal together comes to a close, Jesus prays, “…the hour has come.” This is it. The die is cast. The complete story of Jesus’ life on earth is coming to a conclusion—which is really the beginning of the grand story that His departure is about to launch.

As often has happened in John’s writing, the details of a loving observer are evident in his record of Jesus lifting His eyes to heaven. This is an intimate account, and we are invited into the room with our imaginations to listen as Jesus prays. Many times before the disciples heard Jesus pray, but this time so profoundly impacted John that it occupies a large place in his record of Christ’s final earthly fellowship with them.

The prayer covers rich ground, beginning with requests for Himself and glory (1-5). Then He prays for His disciples, setting the bar high in what He wants for them (6-19). Finally, Jesus intercedes “for those also who believe in Me through their word” (20-26). These are the things that occupy the Savior’s mind and heart, about which He communes with His Father, in the hours before He dies. Volumes have been written on this chapter of Scripture alone, and still the depths have not been fully plumbed. Here, like nowhere else in Scripture we see the mind of Christ and we do well to slow down our contemplation in order for it to more fully soak in. If it is true what Paul says, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16), then in this prayer we can meditate on that Mind.

Father, as I enter into this holy place of meditating on Jesus’ prayer, help me learn His mind and heart, so that I might think and pray like Him.