Matthew Poole and continuators on John 17:1

THese words spake Jesus; and lift up his eyes to heaven, and said , Father , the hour is come b, glorifie thy Son, that thy Son also may glorifie thee .

When our Lord had finished his Discourses, of which we have had a large account in Chap 14, 15, 16. he goes to prayer, as he taught us when we pray, to direct our petitions to the father; so in this he setteth us an example, and before he speaketh, it is said he lifted up his eyes to Heaven, as his Fathers Mansion-house; who tho he filleth Heaven and Earth, yet doth in Heaven most manifest his glory; and therefore teaching us to pray, he commandeth us to say, Our Father which art in Heaven; not exclusively, as if God were not on Earth also: but eminently, as Heaven is the place where he most gloriously manifests himself. Lifting up of the eyes was an usual gesture in prayer, and but an indication of the Souls being lifted up, Psal. 121.1. and 123.1. yet no necessary gesture: for we shall at another time find our Saviour falling upon his face when he prayed, Mat. 26.39. Mark 14.35: The lifting up of the Soul to God, wherein the main and Spiritual part of prayer lyes; doth not necessarily require the lifting up of the eyes. The Publican cast down his eyes upon the Earth, in the sense of his unworthiness. Our Lord lifts up his eyes, and said, Father, the hour is come; that is, the hour of my Passion, the time wherein thou hast determined that I should die:

now make thy Son glorious, by raising me from the dead, by taking me up to Heaven; or by giving me assistance from thee to do the work which I have to do, to drink this bitter cup: that so I being risen again from the dead, and ascending up to Heaven, may make thy name famous, by publishing thy Iustice, Goodness, and Truth, upon the Preaching of the Gospel to all Nations.

Marginal references: Chap. 12.23. and 13.32.