It is a request of Jesus in what scholars call His “high-priestly prayer”. John 17 occurs in the last 18 hours of Jesus life and the entire chapter is a prayer. It is Jesus’s prayer for his disciples, not just those who walked the hills of Judea with Him, but all of them in all generations. Jesus prayed for us the night before He suffered. Mind boggling!
But in John 17:9 there is an aspect of His prayer that creates a prayer conundrum. Jesus, at least in this moment, does not pray for the world, he ONLY prays for His disciples.
John 17:9
9 I ask on their behalf;
I do not ask on behalf of the world,
but on the behalf of those whom You have given Me,
because they are Yours;
He is about to betrayed by Judas, and then Peter and then all of His disciples.
He is about to maliciously lied about.
He is about to be beaten with rods, punched and spat at.
He is about to be stripped of His clothing and scourged by a Roman soldier.
He is about to be hung on a Roman instrument of torture.
He is about to be given sour wine to drink in cruel despite of His thirst.
He is about to have His dead body mutilated by a spear.
He knows all of this is about to happen, and His thought, His burden, His largest concern is for the well being of His followers, the ones the Father has given Him out of the world.
Knowing all that—–reminding yourself of all of this, read what Jesus prayed for you in verses 9-26.
Gaze in wonder and meditate on the greatness of what your God prayed and promises and desires for you. Then pray with Jesus for all those promises and desires to be fulfilled in your life. Let revival come.
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