I Revealed Your Name

Last Updated on May 23, 2023 by GMC

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

John 17:1-11a

---

I Am Coming to You

In Jesus’ “high priestly prayer,” he draws his disciples into his dialogue with the Father. At this crucial hour before his passion, Jesus reveals his Father’s glory and authority over the world. God’s “name” encompasses the plenitude of the divine character—love, mercy, compassion, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness—through all generations. “Before the world began,” the reciprocal glory of the Father and the Son shone eternally.

Who is the Father? The fountainhead of the Son and the Spirit, the Father enfolds all persons, divine and human, in himself. God, who chose the disciples “before the foundation of the world,” gives them to his Son (Ephesians 1:4). Ultimately, Jesus’ mission leads his brethren “to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17).

“They have kept your word,” Jesus prays, “and they have believed that you sent me.” Confident that the faith of the disciples will ultimately prevail over the “sifting” of the tempter (Luke 22:31), he prays especially for them. 

“Everything of mine is yours, and everything of yours is mine.” Divine love has no boundaries. The father in the Parable of the Lost Sons appeals to his elder son with the same words (Luke 15:31). Jesus, the firstborn Son, will return to his Father: “I am coming to you.”