John 17:1

John 17:1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;

This is in a very special sense our Lord’s prayer. What a word that is from the lips of Jesus, "Father"! This was the night of his deepest sorrow and his heaviest woe, but he begins his prayer with this tender expression, "Father, the hour is come;" the hour of darkness, the hour of his passion and death, had now arrived.

John 17:1. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

Did Jesus look upon his suffering as his glory? He does not merely pray, "Sustain thy Son," but, "Glorify thy Son." In truth, our Lord’s lowest stoop was his highest glory. He was never more resplendent than when he hung upon the cross, that was his true spiritual throne, so he prayed, "Glorify thy Son," - Enable him to bear the agony, and to pass through it to the glory." "That thy Son also may glorify thee." The death of Christ was a great glorifying of God. We see his love and his justice rendered more glorious in the death of Christ than they would have been by any other method.