So that they may be one, as we are one

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

- John 17:1-11

Jesus continues his farewell discourse, but at this time he lapses into prayer, and addresses the Father. We are given these words in this passage as prayer. However, Jesus continues to extoll the basis of relationship, and there is a pattern here that continues from his farewell discourse to the apostles.

As before, he continues to expand on the relationship of Father and Son and includes mankind as deeply into the relationship of Father and Son as he can: the human beings for whom eternal life is knowledge of the Father through the Son. Jesus says here that the Father has given him authority over all people; as the Father has glorified Christ, so Christ glorifies the Father and makes him known to those people whom the Father has given to him. The depth of relationship goes beyond our usual understanding of notions of relationship: Jesus' work has retained, deepened and created relationship with those whom the Father has brought him. For us, it is knowledge of the Father through this work of Christ that is eternal life.

Moreover, the hour has come for glorification: Jesus prays to be restored to the fullness of relationship with the Father, as he has completed his mission of glorification, in that relationship he says he had with the Father before the world existed. We have differing notions of time here: Jesus' declaration that it is the hour of glorification just prior to his seizure and arrest and death; it is the end of Jesus' time spent in the world completing the mission of glorification given him by the Father and gathering into relationship all those given by the Father; and finally the restoration and completion of the eternal Divine Relationship of Father and Son as it was before the world existed. It is the right time (the hour has come), it is the end of Jesus' time in the world completing his mission of glorification of the Father for we human beings, it is time to return to eternal time and relationship. Jesus' relation to time and his mastery of time is important to take note of and to understand from our perspective as those who are bound by time.

Finally, Jesus prays for protection of all those who are the Father's, once again deepening and affirming more relationship. The apostles are those who have received Jesus' words - words given by the Father - and who understand that this word came from the Father. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you. Further, he prays for those in relationship who will remain in the world after Jesus has gone out of the world: All mine are yours, and yours are mine.

Jesus' final words in this passage are a prayer for the protection and sureness of this relationship: Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.