Charles Ellicott Commentary John 17:13

"But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves." — John 17:13 (ASV)

And now I come to thee.—Compare 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 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.—Compare 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. (Compare Note on John 16:32.) He would have them fulfilled with the abundance of this joy.