16:23,24. См. коммент. к 14:12-14, особенно об использовании «имени» в молитве.

16:25-28. Еврейские учителя, следуя традиции ветхозаветных книг мудрости, часто использовали в процессе обучения притчи и загадки. Хотя ученики еще не готовы полностью осознать сущность новых отношений с Богом, о которых говорит Иисус (16:12), Он подготавливает их к этому.

16:29,30. В контексте четвертого Евангелия способность Иисуса предугадывать вопросы прежде, чем они прозвучат, свидетельствует о Его необыкновенной проницательности; см. коммент. к 1:42 и 2:24,25.

16:31,32. Предсказание «рассеяния», возможно, связано с Зах. 13:7 (ср.: Мф. 26:31). В Ветхом Завете часто упоминается рассеяние Божьей паствы в отсутствие верного пастыря (ср., напр.: Ис.53:6; Иер. 

23:1; 50:17;Иез. 34:6.12,21; Пс. 118:176; 1 Мак. 12:53).

16:33. Этот стих отражает драматический момент в жизни первых христиан, которые верили, что окончательная победа будет достигнута, как утверждали еврейские пророки и учителя, с приходом Мессии; но в то же время осознавали, что Мессия уже пришел, и тем самым уже ознаменовал победу в разгар нынешних испытаний.

17:1-5 Иисус отчитывается перед Отцом о совершении Своей миссии

In this prayer, Jesus proclaims his oneness with the Father and his participation in his glory in the form of eternal wisdom (cf. 1:1-18). From 12:23-33 it is clear that His return to the fullness of this glory is possible only through the cross.

17:1. It was customary to turn one's gaze to heaven during prayer (cf. Ps. 120:1; 122:1). "Glorification" has a double meaning here, providing another example of the use of wordplay in this Gospel; see comment. K 1:14 and 12:23-27. If Moses only reflected God's glory (Exodus 33:34), then Jesus will be glorified by the glory that He had with the Father before the world was (17:5).

17:2. In the Old Testament, the term "flesh" is also used as a synonym for man, for humanity. God promised to give power to His chosen ruler (Isa. 9:6,7; Dan. 7:13,14) only at the end of time; against this background, the death and resurrection of Jesus do not represent the events of human history, but the culminating moment in the history of the universe, which marks the beginning of a new world.

17:3. On the knowledge of God, see comment. to 10:4,5. In other Hebrew texts written in Greek, the knowledge of God is also identified with eternal life (e.g., Wis. 15:3); here the condition of eternal life is the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.

17:4,5. On "the accomplishment of the work," see 4:34 and 19:30. In the Old Testament, God says that He will not give His glory to anyone (Isa. 42:8; 48:11), so Jesus' plea for His glorification by the glory of the Father testifies to His claim to divinity. In Judaism, there was only one category in the light of which this claim of Jesus could be interpreted: God's eternal wisdom was a partaker of, and in a sense identified with, God's glory.—Wis. 7:25-29. Judeo-Christian readers of John may have interpreted the nature of Jesus in similar terms (despite Jesus' superiority over one of the divine attributes) (see comment on 1:1-18).

17:6-19 Jesus' prayer for His disciples

This section deals with the inevitable conflict between the followers of Jesus and the world. The followers of Jesus appear here in a role that, judging by the Jewish descriptions of the end of the world that have come down to us, was intended for Israel or, according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, its faithful remnant (the sons of light); they constituted the full number of the righteous, and as such were a persecuted minority in society.