Context No. 3225 of 4322 · John

John 17:1-5: in context

1Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; 2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. 5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.

The hour has come, and Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and prays: Father, glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. You gave him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And then he defines eternal life: this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

At the threshold of the cross, Jesus prays about glory and eternal life, and he defines eternal life not as endless duration but as relationship: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life is knowing God, a living, personal knowing, and it begins now. And Jesus can say, before the cross has even happened, I have accomplished the work you gave me to do, so certain is he of doing the Father's will. He asks to be restored to the glory he had before the world existed, a glimpse of the eternal divine glory he laid aside to save us.

Do I understand eternal life as knowing God himself, and does that knowing shape my life now, not only my hope for later?

Sources

John 17:3: "This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ."
John 17:4: "I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do."
John 17:5: "Now, Father, glorify me... with the glory which I had with you before the world existed."