And now I come to thee. — Comp. the first words of John 17:12, with which these are in contrast.
And these things I speak in the world. — The thought is that He is about to leave them, and that He utters this prayer in their hearing (comp. John 11:42) that they may have the support of knowing that He who had kept them while with them, had solemnly committed them to His Father’s care. The prayer itself was a lesson, and this thought is to be remembered in the interpretation of it.
That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. — Comp. Notes on John 15:11; John 16:24. The joy here thought of is that which supported Him in all the sorrow and loneliness of His work on earth, and came from the never-failing source of the Father’s presence with Him. (Comp. Note on John 16:32.) He would have them fulfilled with the abundance of this joy.