What it means that we are God’s [not gods] – John 17:6-26, Part 2

So far in his final prayer for his disciples, Jesus hasn’t asked God for anything.  No supplication.  No requests.  Just a conversation with God.  He continues his conversation in John 17, verses 9-10:

“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.”

Here he not only makes it clear that he is in fact praying for the disciples, but instead of requesting anything of God, Jesus just continues his encouragement of the disciples.  He says the disciples are God’s: “They are yours, Father.”  What does he mean that the disciples are God’s?  It means that the Father deeply cares for them.  They are his children.  Also because the Father and Son share all things, that means that disciples are also Jesus’s. This should be incredibly reassuring to the disciples. 

They are in God’s hands.  No matter what else is happening around them, they are the Father’s.  This is a second powerful principle in this prayer. (The first principle we learned in the previous post here.)  Disciples of Jesus, those who show they are true believers by their Jesus-centered actions, are held by God, and they are part of the family of God.  God has their back.  Though the world might seem to be falling apart all around them, they are God’s.  We have hope in God our Father who holds us.  When it comes to God, there is always hope.

Jesus also says in verse 10 that his disciples bring him glory.  It seems to me that he is concluding a thought here. When his disciples not only say they believe in him, but live lives that show they believe, their lives bring him glory.  We bring Jesus glory by living how he wants us to live, which means that our hearts are given over to him so that we align our lives with his ways.

So far in the prayer, Jesus hasn’t asked God for anything for the disciples.  He’s shared some important principles to encourage and guide them. Now in verses 11-12, he finally makes supplication or requests for them.

“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

Jesus is leaving.  He’s been talking about this all night, starting all the way back in chapter 13, verse 33.  He repeated it numerous times: “I am going away, and you cannot come.”  That had to stoke at least a little unsettledness, confusion or fear in the hearts and minds of the disciples.  He’s leaving; they are staying behind.  That fact leads to his first prayer request.  “Protect them…so that they may be one.”  Jesus also says he protected them while he was with them.  Well, all but Judas, of course. Judas chose to remove himself from Jesus’ protection.

But now Jesus is heading back to the Father, so Jesus prays for the disciples who will remain behind in the world.  Take notice of three important parts of this request.  The disciples are in the world.  Jesus prays for their protection.  And he prays that they will be one as the Son and the Father are one.  Put another way, God will protect them while they are living in the world, so that they might be unified, like our Trinitarian God is unified.  That request is loaded with meaning.  But hold that thought, because Jesus continues and expands on his request in verses 13-19, which we’ll talk about in the next post. 

Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash