You've Got a Friend in Jesus

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, May 17, 2026
John 17:1-11

    I had a pastor colleague in Nebraska who not only made it a habit to pray before each meal even when eating out at a restaurant, but would ask the waiter before praying, “How can I pray for you?”  Now granted, this was Nebraska and not Manhattan, but I was surprised to hear when he shared this practice how many people eagerly told him their prayer requests.  Occasionally someone would politely refuse prayer, but the majority of the time the waiter would join him in prayer and sometimes, as you can imagine, would get quite emotional in sharing what they needed prayer for.
    Can you think of a time when someone prayed for you when you really needed it, or when someone told you they were praying for you, and that was exactly what you needed to know?  Knowing someone is praying for you is a powerful thing!  At church we frequently focus on how we pray or improving our prayer lives.  For example, I enjoyed our “Pause and Pray” sessions in the chapel during Lent, we allow time for silent prayer during our prayers of the people on Sunday mornings, and we have a running prayer list of people who have shared specific concerns with us on the back of our bulletin.  The disciples, too, ask Jesus how they can pray, and he teaches us what we call the Our Father or The Lord’s Prayer.  Today, however, we get to hear Jesus praying for us.  We not only think about how we can pray for others, but how we need others to pray for us, and specifically, we are encouraged that Jesus himself is praying for us!
    Our gospel passage this morning begins by saying Jesus prays “after Jesus has spoken these words to his disciples.”  What are those words?  Well, quite a few, if you look back at Jesus’ teaching from John 13 all the way to John 16.  We heard some of those words last week in our gospel reading from John 14.  It is Holy Thursday. He is about to be betrayed, arrested, put on trial, crucified, and then raise on the third day.  He tells them all of this.  He also encourages his disciples that the Holy Spirit will be with them even after he is no longer bodily present with them, and that he will come again.  In our family, we have a daily practice at the end of the day of telling the girls what they can expect to happen the next day – you’re taking the early bus, and it’s library day so you need your school library books in your backpack, then there are piano lessons after school, and so on.  It helps us get ready for the day ahead, even though we don’t know fully how the next day will play out, of course.  Jesus is telling his closest followers what to expect in the days ahead so that they are more prepared – even though they don’t fully know what these events will be like!
Then here at the beginning of John 17, Jesus turns from teaching the disciples about what is about to happen to praying for them.  The prayer continues after our reading for today – you can go home and read the entire prayer, which is all 26. Verses of chapter 17.  If we look and listen more closely, however, this prayer is not just for the original disciples in that upper room on the night in which he was betrayed.  This prayer goes beyond time and space to include all who seek to know God and Jesus Christ whom God has sent – this is eternal life, in fact, Jesus says.  It can be a somewhat confusing and wordy prayer, you might think, but first, it is enough to know this good news – Jesus prays for us, and we belong to God because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  “All mine are yours and yours are mine,” Jesus says.  This is his main point.
Then, just from the beginning of this prayer that we have for our gospel today, Jesus gives us three things to be encouraged by and live out as people who belong to God:  we glorify God just as Jesus has glorified God.  “I have been glorified in them,” Jesus says.  When we strive to serve all people, following Jesus’ example, we are not doing it for our own praise, attention or accolades, but so that others might know Christ and give glory to God.
The second is that Jesus prays for our protection.  This is interesting, because if you know much about the consequences of following Christ, you know that it is risky.  All but one (John) of the original twelve disciples were martyred for their faith.  Jesus himself is crucified and calls us to take up our cross in following him.  God’s protection is not necessarily an assurance of safety or comfortability, but an assurance in the ultimate sense that no matter what happens to us in this world, we have the gift of eternal life.  Evil, death, sin are all temporary – the goodness of God, the steadfast love of God, the gift of life that God lives ultimately triumphs.  These things are defeated through Christ’s death and resurrection.  We are eternally under God’s protection and care.
Finally, Jesus prays for unity – that we might be one as the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are one.  I could preach a whole sermon on this topic alone, but for today, let’s remember that our purpose as Christians is to serve and glorify God – we are united by that mission, regardless of our differences in ethnicity, gender, political leanings, age, ability and so on.  Our Bishop, Katrina Foster, likes to remind us that Matthew was a tax collector (basically an IRS agent for the Roman Empire) while Simon was a Zealot who was trying to take over the Roman Empire – polar opposites when it came to local politics, yet in that same room together being prayed over by Jesus, united through their service to Christ and their desire to glorify God through their service.  Jesus prays for us and not just you singular but for Christians all around the world in every time and place – which means we call to mind today the experience of Christians in Nigeria and Argentina where it is autumn not springtime, Christians in different time zones who will be busy serving God while we are sleeping tonight, those who went before us and those who will come after us.  All are included in this prayer of Jesus for God’s glory, protection, and unity.
So what could you use prayer for today?  As the hymn we are about to sing encourages us, take it to the Lord in prayer.  Jesus continues to invite us to be in relationship with him through the gift of prayer – we speak, we listen, we pray for others, and others pray for us.  This is the power of prayer.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.