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Easter Season · Year A

Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 17, 2026

La Priere Sacerdotale (The Priestly Prayer), Eugene Burnand
La Priere Sacerdotale (The Priestly Prayer), Eugene Burnand, early 20th centuryWikimedia Commons
A Swiss painter best known for the disciples running to the tomb, here painting the prayer in the upper room with the faces doing the work.It is John 17, the prayer Jesus prays out loud while the disciples listen.Eugene BurnandA Swiss painter whose Disciples Running to the Tomb is among the most reproduced religious paintings of its century.Wikimedia CommonsNo holding institution is recorded with the image; it is known from the public domain reproduction.Wikimedia Commons
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelJohn 17:1-11Jn 17:1-11
Epistle1 Pet. 4:12-14; 5:6-111 Pt 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Old TestamentActs 1:6-14
PsalterPs. 68:1-10, 32-35Ps 68:1-10, 32-35

Overview & Insights

“Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17:11)

The prayer that closes the farewell discourse falls into three movements: for himself (vv. 1-5), for the disciples with him (vv. 6-19), and for those who will believe later (vv. 20-26). This reading covers the first and the beginning of the second. Its governing vocabulary is glory, used so insistently in the opening verses that the request and its ground become hard to separate, and the tenses are startling: the work is spoken of as finished (v. 4) before the arrest has happened. From v. 6 the subject is the divine name, revealed to the disciples and now entrusted as the thing they are to be kept in, which reaches back to the disclosures of Exodus 3:14-15. Unity is named as the goal, and it is defined by analogy rather than by structure. Read on the Sunday after Ascension, v. 11 is heard almost as commentary on the day: I am no longer in the world, but they are, and I am coming to you.

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Take it further: John 17:1-11

Commentary

Commentary on John 17:1-11Commentary on Jn 17:1-11 Working Preacher (Luther Seminary)

Verse-by-verse exegesis of the opening of Jesus's high priestly prayer, the Lutheran anchor voice for this Sunday.

John 17:1-11 CommentaryJn 17:1-11 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching-focused reading of the prayer's themes of glory and unity, dated to this year's Easter 7.

Into the World: SALT's Lectionary Commentary for Easter 7 SALT Project

Ecumenical lectionary essay placing John 17 in the arc of Jesus's farewell teaching.

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Cycle A - Sunday Connection Loyola Press

Catholic voice connecting this Sunday's readings, including the prayer of John 17, to daily life.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Easter 7 (A) - May 17, 2026 The Episcopal Church, Sermons That Work

Anglican homiletical reflection written for this exact Sunday's Gospel.

Background & Word Study

Glory and Giving That All May Be One Left Behind and Loving It (D. Mark Davis)

Close Greek-text reading of John 17:1-11, tracking the repeated verbs doxazo and didomi.

Gospel of John Summary - Overview Video (Part 2)Gospel of Jn Summary - Overview Video (Part 2) BibleProject

Literary overview of John 13-21, the section of the Gospel containing the farewell prayer.

The Church Fathers

John 17 - CatenaJn 17 - Catena catenabible.com

Patristic comments compiled verse-by-verse on John 17.

Sermons & Reflections

Positively Maladjusted Journey with Jesus (Dan Clendenin)

Lectionary essay for this reading, on being sent into the world without being of it.

Worship & Prayers

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year A - Lectionary Planning Notes UMC Discipleship Ministries

Worship planning notes and prayer resources keyed to this Sunday's full set of readings.

Podcast

#1084: Seventh Sunday of Easter - May 17, 2026 Working Preacher, Sermon Brainwave

Scholars discuss all four of this Sunday's readings, opening with the high priestly prayer.

Art & Music

Year A - Easter - Seventh Sunday of Easter Vanderbilt Revised Common Lectionary

Vanderbilt's per-Sunday art and music index for this week's full set of texts.

Study Hub

Easter A7 Textweek

Textweek's per-Sunday index of study resources for all four Easter 7A readings.

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