Joh 17:1-26. THE INTERCESSORY PRAYER.

      (See on Joh 14:1). Had this prayer not been recorded, what reverential reader would not have exclaimed, Oh, to have been within hearing of such a prayer as that must have been, which wound up the whole of His past ministry and formed the point of transition to the dark scenes which immediately followed! But here it is, and with such signature of the Lips that uttered it that we seem rather to hear it from Himself than read it from the pen of His faithful reporter.

      1-3. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes--"John very seldom depicts the gestures or looks of our Lord, as here. But this was an occasion of which the impression was indelible, and the upward look could not be passed over" [ALFORD].
      Father, the hour is come--(See on Joh 13:31, 32).
      glorify thy Son--Put honor upon Thy Son, by countenancing, sustaining, and carrying Him through that "hour."

JFB.