This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God. The 17th chapter of the Gospel according to John is entitled “ The Prayer of Jesus.”  It is a prayer that Jesus voices before his passion that was fast approaching, and in it Jesus prays for his disciples even as he commends them to the Father for protection. He requests eternal life from the Father on their behalf.  Now eternal life is not synonymous with life after death as we sometimes tend to think. Eternal life is not something out there, something removed from our present state (and superior to it) so much so that we somehow look forward to or have a longing for it at the expense of the present one. Neither is eternal simply life a life without end. Rather, eternal life is life itself, real life, the life that God had planned for creation right from the beginning. It is a life whose beginnings is in the present, in this temporal and transient world, though not challenged or upset by the limitations fronted by the world’s transient nature, and which extends beyond the present one. Eternal life is the opening up of endless possibilities in the present life. Eternal life is a life with God.
Jesus prays to the Father that those who belong to him, those whom the Father has given him, might be granted eternal life. He prays that the Father might give them the graces that would transform their lives from mere instances of existence into real life, lives with a purpose, full and happy lives. Jesus asks for graces on their behalf because such a life can only be gained through a recognition of, and union with God: “that they should know you, Father, and me too.” Knowledge of God is the essence of eternal life. But a life with God is its culmination. In other words, the knowledge of God comes to full cycle in Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ is the fullest revelation of the Father. One expresses his/her knowledge of God in his/her believing in Jesus Christ as the one whom the Father has sent to give us life. This first petition of The Prayer of Jesus is an appeal to the Father that Jesus’ disciples remain steadfast in their faith, for only in this is found eternal life. Only by remaining attached to Jesus their master through faith will the disciples be able to faithfully carry out Jesus’ mandate of proclaiming the good news to the ends of the earth.