18 As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening [of the prison] to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of Yahweh's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
Righteous Father, the world hasn't known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;
I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 17
Commentary on John 17 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 17
This chapter is a prayer, it is the Lord's prayer, the Lord Christ's prayer. There was one Lord's prayer which he taught us to pray, and did not pray himself, for he needed not to pray for the forgiveness of sin; but this was properly and peculiarly his, and suited him only as a Mediator, and is a sample of his intercession, and yet is of use to us both for instruction and encouragement in prayer. Observe,
Jhn 17:1-5
Here we have,
Jhn 17:6-10
Christ, having prayed for himself, comes next to pray for those that are his, and he knew them by name, though he did not here name them. Now observe here,
Jhn 17:11-16
After the general pleas with which Christ recommended his disciples to his Father's care follow the particular petitions he puts up for them; and,
Now the first thing Christ prays for, for his disciples, is their preservation, in these verses, in order to which he commits them all to his Father's custody. Keeping supposes danger, and their danger arose from the world, the world wherein they were, the evil of this he begs they might be kept from. Now observe,
Jhn 17:17-19
The next thing he prayed for for them was that they might be sanctified; not only kept from evil, but made good.
Jhn 17:20-23
Next to their purity he prays for their unity; for the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable; and amity is amiable indeed when it is like the ointment on Aaron's holy head, and the dew on Zion's holy hill. Observe,
Jhn 17:24-26
Here is,