Day 2

John 17:6-19

⁶"I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹ And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴I 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. ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Jesus Prays for his Disciples (John 17:6-19)

Knowing far more clearly than they do what is in store for them, Jesus turns from praying for himself to focus on the needs of his small band of followers. At the moment they were unaware that they were about to face the biggest crisis of their lives. The 'going away' that Jesus had spoken about would involve his arrest, trial and crucifixion before he returned to heaven. One disciple had already betrayed him, one will deny him three times and all, in one way or another, will desert him. So Jesus prays for them.

In his prayer, we see some important characteristics of disciples:

Disciples must focus on the truth (verses 11-13)
Jesus prays that the Father will protect them by the power of 'your name' (verse 11). 'God's name' is a summary of all that he is, and all that he has revealed about himself. The result will be that the disciples will be united as the Father and the Son are one. The disciples' pathway to unity will be commitment to truth.

They must reflect holiness (verses 14-17)
The truth that keeps the disciples will be seen in their lives by the way they are kept 'from the evil one' (verse 15) and are sanctified (verse 17) or 'made holy'. There are few things more important for us than to rediscover true biblical holiness. Holiness is the stamp on our lives that we belong to God. God's people have always swung to one of two extremes in trying to achieve holiness. Either we have given up the struggle and conformed to the world (that is our problem today) or we withdraw as the Pharisees did. The 'world' is referred to fifteen times in this chapter; so it is obviously important. The disciples were 'up to their eyes' in the world, but somehow they were not part of it. We must be like that too.

Think: How does the suggestion that the way to reach unity is 'commitment to truth' work out in practice for you?