JOHN 17:13 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”
But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in them — Jesus' imminent departure does not leave the disciples orphaned; instead, his joy (chara) becomes their possession through the Spirit's indwelling. The verb "I speak these things in the world" emphasizes that this intercessory prayer itself becomes a gift to the disciples, assuring them of Jesus' love and the Father's protection. Complete joy (chara plērōmenos) represents eschatological fulfillment anticipated in the present.
Church Fathers on John 17:13
As the disciples were still sad in spite of all our Lord’s consolations, henceforth He addresses Himself to the Father to show the love which He had for them; I pray for them; He not only gives them what He has of His own, but entreats another for them, as a still further proof of His love.
When He adds, I pray not for the world, by the world He means those who live according to the lust of the world, and have not the lot to be chosen by grace out of the world, as those had for whom He prayed: But for them which you have given Me. It was because the Father had given Him them, that they did not belong to the world. Nor yet had the Father, in giving them to the Son, lost what He had given: For they are Yours.
Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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