have tribulation: but be of good cheer: "I have ch. xiv. 1. overcome the world. p Rom. viii. 37. persecution of the world. Be not cast down, I have overcome the world. I have not been carried away for one instant by its applause. I have not been moved from My path ever so little by its opposition. Be of good cheer, for the Spirit within Me which has overcome the world shall be in you. I Myself will be in you, and so greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.'” CHAP. XVII. HESE words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to THES Various names have been given to the deep and mysterious, and yet most loving and submissive utterance which follows. It has been called the prayer of the Son of God, as being His prayer which He said on behalf of Himself and His own, as distinguished from the prayer which He taught us to say on behalf of ourselves. It has been called the Great High Priestly prayer-the great Intercession; it has been called the Prayer of Consecration, as hallowing and setting apart His chosen ones for the work which He was now leaving in their hands. But can it be called a prayer? Is it not rather an act of free communion with God, of holy intercourse with the Father? Even in those parts which are supplicatory, the supplication is that of One Who is the equal of Him to Whom the supplication is addressed, and yet subordinate to Him; and the greater part by far is not prayer, but converse, the converse of One Who is in the same sphere with Him with Whom He converses. It is dutiful, submissive, reverential, and yet it is the utterance of One Who could say, "Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." "Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." All throughout it is in marvellous accord with every other word of the Son of God throughout this Gospel. In it there speaks the true and DD heaven, and said, Father, "the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: a ch. xii. 23. & xiii. 32. 1. "Also" omitted by N, A., B., C., D., Old Latin (a, b, c, f), Vulg., Syriac, and versions; retained by L., later Uncials, and most Cursives. "Thy" omitted by N, B., C., and some Old Latin; retained by A., L., later Uncials, Cursives, Old Latin (a, b, c, f, g), Vulg. proper and only Son, and yet the obedient Son whose "meat and drink it is to do the will of Him that sent Him." It is the utterance of One Who did nothing of Himself, Who sought not His own glory, Who ascribed all, even the very gift of His chosen ones, to God, and yet was fully conscious that all men must honour Him, even as they honour the Father, if the Father Himself is to have the honour due to Him. Nowhere else is the veil drawn up from before the relation of two Persons of the Godhead to one another. In no other place are we allowed to hear the secret converse of Deity. Elsewhere we are told of the love between the Father and the Son. Here is the expression of it. 1. "Lifted up his eyes to heaven." So did He when He brake the loaves, and blessed them. So did He when He raised up Lazarus. "The hour is come." The hour of His deepest humiliation and sorrow; and close following upon it, as if it were but one event, the hour of His triumph over death, and His Ascension. 66 Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." Glorify Him by bringing Him triumphantly through the darkest valley of the shadow of death to His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. The latter, if we are to hold in due regard this saying in chap. xvi., "He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you," is especially meant here. The Son of God was to glorify the Father by drawing all hearts to Himself, and so to the Father. Through knowing the Son by the Holy Ghost being given to them, men were to know the Father. The reader will remember the words of St. Paul (Phil. ii. 9), “God hath highly exalted him, and given him the name that is above every name . . . that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." b с 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. d b Dan. vii. 14. Matt. xi. 27. & xxviii. 18. ch. iii. 35. & 3 And this is life eternal, that they might v. 27. 1 Cor. xv. 25, 27. Phil. ii. 10. Heb. ii. 8. c ver. 6, 9, 24. ch. vi. 37. d Is. liii. 11. Jer. ix. 24. 2. "As many as thou hast given him." "That whatsoever thou hast given Him, to them He should give" (Alford and Revisers); ut omne quod dedisti ei, det eis vitam æternam (Vulg.). 66 2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give," &c. Had this power then been already given to Him, or was the gift reserved till He ascended? All in the councils of the everblessed Trinity had been already given, but at the Ascension the gift took effect and was made manifest. The "as" denotes the sequence thus: the Son glorifies the Father by exercising that power over all flesh which issues in the gift of eternal life to as many as God has given to Him. "That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given to him." The structure of the sentence is peculiar, and our English translation scarcely gives its true meaning. It should be literally rendered, "That whatsoever (i.e., πay, "all," looked upon as one thing), Thou hast given to Him, to them (i.e., to each individual of the whole that will receive it) He should give eternal life." The idea is not that of a narrowing, excluding predestination; on the contrary, it is that of (so to speak) a large trunk, or body, or whole, to the various parts of which the Son is to give eternal life. [See particularly note on page 163, on chap. vi. 39, and quotation from Cyril there.] 3. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee," &c. Life eternal is knowledge, but not intellectual knowledge, such as we can have of words, or things, or ideas, or processes; but that knowledge which persons have of one another, when one can say of another, "I know him,” “I know him so that I should converse with him, and learn his thoughts and will, and have intercourse with him as one soul can have with another." "Thee, the only true God." This designation of the Father comes naturally after the acknowledgment, "Thou hast given him power over all flesh." All flesh must comprehend the multitudes e know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, 'whom thou hast sent. e 1 Cor. viii. 4. 1 Thess. i. 9. fch. iii. 34. & v. 36, 37. & vi. 29, 57. & vii. 29. & x. 36. & xi. 42. 3. "Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." "And Him Whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ" (Alford and Revisers). who were worshipping false gods, and so the Lord here sets forth life eternal to be the intimate and personal knowledge of the One true God, the Father, not as excluding the other two Divine Persons, but as including them, for the Father being the Fountain of Deity, includes in Himself the Son, Who is of Him and from Him, and the Holy Ghost, by Whom both the Father and the Son are known and seen. "And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Compare with this, "ye believe in God, believe also in me," and "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." The first recognition of Jesus as the Christ was that He was the sent of God. They who firmly and savingly believed this, had in them the root of all further acknowledgment of Him as the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Lord and God, because, as I said, it is not possible to suppose that God would send as His special messenger anyone who would exaggerate or misrepresent his relations to God. Exception has been taken to the use of the words "Jesus Christ" by the Lord as a designation of Himself. Some Rationalists, who wish to get rid of the truth of the Gospel, assert that it would have been impossible at that time for the Lord to have called Himself by this united name and title; and others think that the Evangelist must here have given a gloss on the Lord's words rather than the words themselves; but such expositors seem to forget that St. Peter within two months after this said to the Jews, "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ (Acts ii. 36), and, a few days after, this very collocation, "He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you" (Acts iii. 20). The "knowing" Jesus Christ is the knowing Him as the Prophet, Priest, and King of His people; learning of Him as the Pro 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. g ch. xiii. 31. & xiv. 13. h ch. iv. 34. & v. 36. & ix. 3. & xix. 30. i ch. xiv. 31. & xv. 10. 4. "I have finished." "Having accomplished;" so N, A., B., C., L., some Cursives (1, 33, 42, 122, 246), and versions; but later Cursives, Old Latin (a, c, e, f, g), Vulg., and Syriac (Peshito), as in Rec. Text. phet, coming to God through Him as the Priest, obeying Him, and being loyal to Him as the King. 4. "I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished (or, by finishing) the work which thou gavest me to do." It has been asked, "How could the Saviour say this, seeing that His great work of atoning sacrifice on the Cross was not begun? After that work was over He said, 'It is finished."" The answer is, that He no doubt distinguished between His active work whilst living amongst men, and His sufferings when dying. He had a certain work to do before He died to expiate sin. He had said, "I must work the works of Him that sent me whilst it is day" (ix. 4). It is very remarkable that the earliest liturgy which has come down to us, in citing this place, makes this distinction: "He was holy in His conversation, and taught according to the law; He cured diseases, and wrought signs and wonders among the people; He manifested Thy Name to them that knew it not; He dispelled the cloud of ignorance, restored piety, fulfilled Thy will, and finished the work which Thou gavest Him to do. And when He had regulated all these things, He was seized by the hands of a disobedient people and wicked men abusing the office of priests," &c. In other words, His work, whilst living amongst us, was to manifest the character of God in His conversation, the power and beneficence of God in His miracles, and the wisdom of God in His discourses. We know also that one most important part of His work, if not the chief part, was to retain those whom God had given to Him, to augment their faith, and to wean them from the world. As He says afterwards, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name," "Those whom thou gavest me I have kept," "For their sakes I sanctify myself." There is something very mysterious in the way in which the Lord |