The gospels are interesting. Many scholars believe Mark was the first one written, with Matthew and Luke using material from the same source or sources. Of the four, only Matthew and John were written by disciples who had been with Jesus. Even then, John is very different in its presentation from the others.
Among the many differences, John gives a different version of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Rather than recording Jesus praying to have the cup removed, John shares that Jesus prayed for His disciples. As disciples continuing in the same faith as those original twelve, we find something that is intended also for us.
John 17:6-19(CEB):
“I have revealed your name to the people who you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
“I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them. I’m no longer in the world, but they are in the world., even as I’m coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are one. When I was with them, I watched over them in your name, the name you gave to me, and I kept them safe. None of them were lost, except the one who was destined for destruction, so that scripture would be fulfilled. Now I’m coming to you and I say these things while I’m in the world so that they can share completely in my joy. I gave your word to them and the world hated them, because they don’t belong to this world, just I don’t belong to this world. I’m not asking that you take them out of this world, just I don’t belong to this world. Make them holy in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. I made myself holy on their behalf so that they also would be made holy in the truth.
This is the word of God
For the people of God
Thanks be to God
When Jesus was praying this, He was a short time away from being arrested. But as He prays, the cross has already been decided. This also means the Resurrection and Ascension events are certain. That certainty is evident in Jesus’s prayer, both for His current disciples and us who share in their faith today.
In verse 6, Jesus says, “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me.” This is not so much about the name of God as it is the nature of God. Over the centuries, God has revealed His nature to humanity. Not all at once, but a little bit at a time beginning in creation, through the Law, and ultimately in Jesus. Jesus was the Son of God, the Word made flesh. The word kept by the disciples was believing in Jesus who was revealed in the Scriptures. Their understanding was not perfect at this moment, but the disciples were firm in this faith and growing in it.
Verse 9 records Jesus praying, “I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me.” This is not Jesus rejecting the need for salvation for the world, but more addressing the needs of His disciples. These disciples had been handpicked by Jesus and they were set apart from the world to establish the community of His Kingdom here. Continuing in verse 11, Jesus says, “Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are one.” Lofty words, asking God to make the disciples one in the same sense as Jesus Himself is with the Father. He is asking that the disciples would be their shared bond of God’s love. No matter who they are, their understanding, or their background the disciples shared in God’s love. God’s love is sufficient to bind them together if they remain true to their faith.
Verses 13 through 16 further highlight the distinction between Jesus and His disciples with the world. God’s plan to redeem the world through Jesus would be through the disciples carrying on the mission of sharing the good news. To redeem the world, God is essentially establishing His Kingdom like in creation, but in the heart of the corrupted one. Like Adam was formed from the dirt, Jesus was formed in the womb of Mary. Unlike Adam, Jesus lived a sinless life. This is the life Jesus was calling the disciples to live. Verse 14 says, “I gave your word to them and the world hated them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world.” The world did not hate the disciples (or Jesus) because of their evil actions, but because they lived as citizens of a Kingdom with a message offering them good news at the cost of giving up sin and self. Everyone wants what is good, but not many are willing to give up self. But to carry out God’s mission, the disciples have to remain in the world that hates them.
Verse 17 is critical to all of the things just mentioned. Jesus prays these words here so that disciples can be one just as He is one with the Father, and so that they can carry out the mission with the world that hates them. What is our Lord’s prayer here, “Make them holy in the truth, your word is truth.” By making this appeal to God, Jesus is acknowledging that this is something His disciples cannot do themselves. They need a power beyond themselves to inwardly prepare their hearts and empower them to carry out the mission. Being made holy means to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that the heart becomes completely saturated in love for God, the mind is centered on Him and obedience to Him, and those intentions come out in every action.
What does this have to teach us? Before I answer that, we have to consider the events that follow this. Jesus is arrested, and the disciples scatter. It would seem Jesus’s prayer was not answered. But the story does not end there, Jesus is resurrected, and before He ascends to heaven, Jesus gives instructions to the disciples to wait together in an upper room in Jerusalem. There the Holy Spirit descended on them, filling them with the power, just as Jesus asked. The disciples are restored and then they are sanctified, made holy.
And if they can be made holy, we can too. You and I are carrying on the same mission. We live in a world that is not our home. In the love of God, we are called to share His good news. This is not done with picket signs, bull horns, or shouts of condemnation. It is done by demonstrating the love of God that fills our hearts, floods our minds, and directs our actions. Instead of focusing on their outward expressions, we see they are a sinner suffering from the untreatable condition of sin. While neither themselves nor the world can cure their brokenness, we can share the message of the man who can. This requires all sorts of self-denial, kindness, compassion, and gentleness on our part.
If the disciples can be made holy, we can too. You and I are carrying on the same mission in the faith of the same Lord who prayed the same prayer for us. Carrying out this mission requires you and me to be one as the Father and the Son are one. We are all different from each other, with different understandings, and backgrounds, but we can be sanctified by the same Holy Spirit and united in the bond of God’s love. It is sufficient to overcome every difference between us so we can effectively share in the work of the Kingdom together.
This is not a work we can do ourselves, only God can do it. But for God to do the work, we have to offer Him all of ourselves. Are we willing to pay that cost? Can you and I surrender all?