III: The Prayer of Jesus
John xvii
Jesus and His Apostles had now nearly arrived at a lower bridge over which the road to Gethsemane crosses Kedron. This was where the conversation took place which we have next to recall, for we see Jesus immediately after the prayer which followed it crossing the brook. At this point the Valley grows narrower, makes a rapid descent between Mount Moriah and the Mount of Olives, and thereafter is nothing but an arid gorge. No rivulets dashed down upon this bed of rocks; only the waters of the Temple, stained with the blood of its victims, trickled down hither amidst the lonely tombs, which were as thickly crowded then as they are today all about this region. The Tomb of Absalom, at which every passer-by a still hurls an avenging stone, recalled David fleeing from his rebellious son, and crossing the dark chasm at this very spot where Jesus now stood; here, too, after being dragged from the Sanctuary, Athaliah was slain. Kedron, the Valley of Shadows, had finally become a cesspool for the city, where the worshippers of Jehovah burned every impure thing which could possibly pollute the Temple; an unheard ground fit only for nameless and dishonourable sepultures; a dank and dim ravine, the receptacle for carrion and ashes; the mighty Field of Death, as says the Prophet Jeremy.
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| Brook Kedron, nr Absalom's tomb. J-J Tissot. |
From out the darkness of this deep and gloomy gorge Jesus lifted His eyes to His Father on High, giving utterance to a prayer in which He reveals all the movements of His Soul as the hour of sacrifice draws nigh. In it He depicts Himself standing between that last Paschal meal and the final offering of Calvary, as the Victim, made ready for the sacrificial knife; wherefore He offers Himself, His Apostles, and all those who by faith are made one with Him in one common oblation to God.
" Father, the hour is come: glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may glorify Thee, and that as Thou hast given Him power over all men He may give eternal life to those whom Thou hast given unto Him. Now this is eternal life, to know Thee, Who are art the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now do Thou, O Father, glorify Me with the glory which I have had in Thee ere ever the world was."
Here Jesus ceased to pray for Himself. As their Victim He had only to complete His Sacrifice; but could He forget that all might not leave the land of sorrows with Him? His eyes fell again upon the Apostles as He reminded the Father of all that they had grown to be through His loving care.
" I have manifested Thy Name," He pleaded, " to the men whom Thou hast given Me by withdrawing them from the world. Thine they were, and unto Me Thou gavest them, and they have kept Thy word. Even now they know that everything Thou hast given Me cometh from Thee, because I have given them the words which Thou didst give Me, and they have received them; and they have known of a truth that I am come forth from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. It is for them that I pray. I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given Me, because they are thine, and because I am glorified in them (for all that is Mine is also Thine and Thine is likewise Mine). And now I am no longer in the world, I come two Thee; but for them, they are yet in the world. Holy Father preserve these for ever faithful in confessing Thy Name, which Thou hast given unto Me the" to reveal to them, " so that thus they may be one, even as We are one. While I was with them in the world I guarded them faithfully, united in that Name which Thou gavest Me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has perished, save only the child of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Now I come to Thee, and I say these things, being yet in the world, that they may have within them the fullness of My joy. I have given them My word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, as I also am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. Consecrate them unto" the preaching of " the Truth, that truth which is Thy Word. As Thou hast sent Me into the world so I have sent to them into the world, and for them do I sacrifice Myself, that so they may be consecrated" for the preaching " of the Truth."
Whereupon the Saviour in His prayers swept the wide limits of His whole Church, beseeching three gifts of grace for her,— Unity in faith and love, the Eucharist, and the glory of Heaven.
" I pray not for them only," He said, "but for those also who, through their word, shall believe in Me, that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee; that they, likewise, may be one in Us, in order that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me; and the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as We are one,— I in them and Thou in Me,— and that they may be made perfect in one; that thus the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and that Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me."
It was the Eucharist to which Jesus alluded in these mystical terms, and it was His good pleasure that those who are given to Him to be His own should be likewise partakers of His blessedness.
" Father, I will that there where I am, there those whom Thou hast given Me may be also with Me, that so they may behold the glory Thou hast given Me, because Thou hast loved Me before the foundation of the world. Just Father, the world knew Thee not, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou didst send Me. I have made known Thy Name unto them, and I will still make it known unto them, that so the love wherewith Thou lovest Me may be in them and I in them."
There was now naught that Jesus could you give them which He had not given them; accordingly, having ended His prayer He crossed Brook Kedron.
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