John 17:1 records Jesus praying aloud just before his arrest and death, asking the Father for the moment of glory he had come to fulfill. In plain terms, Jesus is saying that the hour of his suffering has arrived and that he trusts the Father to honor him through it. He speaks these words to God the Father, lifting his eyes toward heaven, and the prayer that follows in John 17 is spoken in the hearing of his disciples.
Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you…
John 17:1 (WEB)
What John 17:1 Means
The phrase “the time has come” points to a specific appointed hour. Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus has spoken of his hour as something not yet arrived, and now he declares it has. The verse is not a complaint or a plea for rescue. It is a statement that the long-anticipated moment of the cross and resurrection is at hand, and that Jesus knows it.
The request to “glorify your Son” uses the word glory in the sense of revealing God’s true character and weight. Jesus asks that the Father would show who he is through what happens next. The reason he gives, “that your Son may also glorify you,” shows that the Son’s glory and the Father’s glory are bound together. The verse does not promise Jesus an easy path or an immediate reversal of suffering. It shows him entrusting the outcome to the Father’s purposes.
The Context of John 17:1
The Gospel of John was written, according to long-standing church tradition, by the apostle John, and it is aimed at showing readers who Jesus is and what belief in him brings. Chapter 17 is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus and comes at the close of his final evening teaching with the disciples, after the Last Supper and before he crosses the Kidron valley to the garden. The prayer falls into sections, and this opening petition sets the tone for everything that follows.
The verses after John 17:1 explain what the glorification is for. In verse 2 Jesus notes that the Father has given him authority over all flesh so that he may give eternal life to those the Father has given him, and verse 3 defines eternal life as knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. Read this way, the request for glory is not self-focused. It is a request that the Father’s name be honored through the Son’s faithful completion of the work the Father assigned him.
Key Phrases in John 17:1
Mark 14:35-36
35 He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him. 36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire.”
(WEB)
In the garden, Jesus prays that the hour might pass from him yet submits to the Father’s will. Reading it alongside John 17:1 shows the same trust in the Father, held together with honest human anguish at what lies ahead.
John 12:27-28
27 “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But for this cause I came to this time. 28 Father, glorify your name!” Then there came a voice out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
(WEB)
Earlier in John, Jesus speaks of his soul being troubled at the approaching hour and asks the Father to glorify his name. This passage shows the same petition for glory developing across the Gospel.
A Short Prayer From John 17:1
Father, the hours of my life do not always feel like they belong to your plan. Some seasons press in with decisions and losses I cannot control, and I am tempted to grab at outcomes instead of trusting you with them. Help me to lift my eyes to you the way Jesus did, acknowledging that you are above every circumstance and that you hold each moment in your hands. Let the way I walk through what is hard reveal something true about your faithfulness, so that your name is honored even in my weakness. I trust you with the timing and the result. Amen.
