Sanctify them in truth

While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

- John 17:12-19

To be sanctified is to be made holy, to be set apart. This is an indication of the action of Spirit in our lives: it is to set something apart so that it is consecrated in holiness, it is reserved for devotion to God. We, as Christians, if I interpret this passage correctly by understanding that Jesus' words which refer to the apostles will also apply to us, are also to be sanctified in some way. We are to be consecrated, devoted to a life in God.

But this life in God, this sanctification or setting apart, is not to be out of the world or separate from the world in a complete sense. At the same time, Jesus says he sends his apostles into the world. So they are in the world, yet at the same time sanctified, set apart, in truth so that they may be ambassadors of something into the world, as Jesus was. We are not separated from our fellow human beings but rather sent into the world.

Jesus asks specifically, therefore, for protection for the apostles from the evil one - not that they may be taken out of the world. He is careful to make this distinction in his prayer to the Father. Sanctification has a more profound meaning than simple separateness: it is rather that they are to be consecrated to something, for something. Apostolos means "sent" - they have a mission to do that involves going out into the world. For this they need protection, so that they remain in that sanctified place or state of being, that relationship that confers this position.

We remember that in the sentence previous to this passage, Jesus prayed to the Father for the maintenance of this state of relationship: so that they may be one, as we are one. In this reading, he continues a prayer for protection by mentioning the one that was lost, or Judas, and so Jesus makes clear that by protection he is praying that his apostles remain in that relationship. He is praying not necessarily for the physical protection we normally associate with this word, but rather that they remain in relationship, and not be lost in that sense. He will sanctify himself in truth, so that they may be sanctified in truth, as a kind of seal of protection on that relationship which confers truth.

As we go into the world, I believe we should consider what these words may mean for us. We who live so much later in history, after the work of these apostles was done and the word has spread, need to consider for ourselves what sanctification in truth means for us, and how we may invoke protection for that relationship. I think it is just as important for us to consider what truth is, how we may receive it, and be devoted to it in a world that is not perfect and is still in so much need of healing.