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"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth."
- John 17:9-19
The lectionary readings for the end of this week (the first week of Lent) take place at the Last Supper. Yesterday, we read that after He had given the bulk of His Farewell Discourse to the disciples, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me."
"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them." My study bible says that "although God loves the world (3:16), and the Son came with a specific mission to the world, Jesus prays here for the disciples, the Twelve. He will later extend His prayers to all believers to come [tomorrow's reading]. But He does not pray for the world as such in terms of society, governments, nations. Here the world is that portion of humanity which exists in direct opposition to Him; preferring darkness to His light; refusing to come to the light; rejecting Him (15:18-25; 16:1-4, 8-11) and thus standing under judgment."
"Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." My study bible cites the Didache, the earliest known catechism of the Church, given as the teachings of the Apostles. The phrase "Holy Father" is echoed in the eucharistic prayer of Didache 10:2: "We give You thanks, Holy Father, for Your Holy Name which You have made to dwell in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which You have made known to us through Your Son Jesus." It also notes that the son of perdition, or "destruction" is Judas Iscariot (6:70-71). "Old Testament prophecy (Ps. 41:9; 109:2-13) alludes to Judas. Judas's actions also herald the 'falling away' that will occur in the last days (see 2 Thess. 2:3, where 'son of perdition' refers to the Antichrist)."
"But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one." A note here tells us: "Inasmuch as Jesus comes from the realm of divine existence, He confers a heavenly identity and life on those who are joined to Him. In fellowship with Him, the disciples attract the world's hatred. The second-century Letter to Diognetus (6:3) states: 'Christians dwell in the world but do not belong to the world.' Reborn in Christ, Christians have their citizenship in the Kingdom of God (3:1-5). Yet their vocation is in the world, where they are protected by God against the evil one. 'Remember, O Lord, Your Church to deliver it from all evil . . . ' (Didache 10:5)
"They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth." To sanctify is to consecrate, to make holy, separate, to set apart from the world -- and bring into the sphere of the sacred for God's use. My study bible, in addition to this definition, gives us the commentary of St. John Chrysostom: "Make them holy through the gift of the Spirit and by correct doctrine."
The "set apart" quality of the Church, embodied in His disciples, these Twelve at the Last Supper, is very important for us to think about. It seems to be a hallmark of the discourse -- or rather, the prayer here. We think of Christ, as my study bible pointed out in its notes, as He who loves the world world, and this is without a doubt correct. Creator loves every creature, and longs for the creature's return and fellowship in love. But this is a voluntary choice on the part of the creature, we all have free will. When we look at things with that perspective, we see Jesus' prayer in a better light: those who have been given to Him by the gracious will of the Father, those who follow Him and are with Him, these He wishes to keep in relationship and not to lose. One has turned away and betrayed Him, but the rest are set apart for something. They are the living Church, His Church is embodied in them. This prayer, as my study bible noted, will be extended to all those who follow, who are to come. And I think it's important that we understand this concept of "living stones" as Peter will refer to it in an Epistle. Each follower is a "living stone" of the Church. Christ prays for those who are "set apart" to be these stones, that they stay with Him, as part of this Kingdom, and thereby with the Father, and also the Spirit. In His words, He prays for our continued faith, our relationship with Him. And this is what it is to be set apart, given for a purpose, to carry something into the world, and each one of us is really called to that place. We may have glorious ideas about the heroism of the Apostles, the martyrs, the saints, but this isn't the place that each of us is called to by necessity. What Jesus prays for is our continued strength in faith, our relationship to God, to remain in the Name, and our lives will be a reflection of that living stone, the place where He asks us to be, however we are called. The significance of our faith, of our love for God, can't really be diminished, because these are His words, His last prayer, said for all to hear through this text. However we are called, let us remember what great significance and worth our faith and our love has for Christ. It is there He wishes to keep us, with Him, drawn "out of the world" for a purpose, for the light that we reflect into the world, in any aspect of our lives. Let us remember that the truth, in which we are sanctified, is to know and love God. Earlier in John's Gospel (6:29), Jesus taught, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
