S154P2 – Sincerity in prayer: Jesus
Jn. 17:12-15
While 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. But now I am coming 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 ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
The relationship of Jesus and his disciples can be characterized many ways. He was their teacher, and they were his students. He was their shepherd, and they were his flock. Jesus also referred to them as brothers and friends, and they called him master and Lord. He was explicit in his service to them and even washed their feet. Yet, He also was explicit that they were to obey his commands. There is a theme which runs through all these relationships and through this prayer as well. It is a theme we see in the Father’s relationship with the Son, and it becomes the prayer of the Son for his disciples.
The Father sent his Son into a fallen world to do a job. The Father knew that this world would hate him, torture him and kill him. Although this all happened, the Father did not cease caring for the Son once. In fact, it was the Father who gave the Son what He needed to complete his task and endure all of this. Jesus experienced what this world has for the righteous, and He knew that his disciples had the same treatment ahead for them. His prayer was for the Father to keep them here but to care for them as the Father had cared for him. This is how Christ intercedes for his Church. He is asking the Father to do for them what the Father did for him because He knows how necessary that care is.
It is rather eye-opening for me to read the words of Christ asking the Father to keep his followers in the world. Life gets tough, and I know that I am not the only Christian who has asked Jesus to come back quickly. However, his prayer here is not for his disciples to be taken from the world but to be taken through it. Protection and care are the focus, not removal. This gives us insight into how the Son intercedes for us today, and I think it should inform how we pray for ourselves and one another. Let us desire to remain here for as long as God would have us do his work. Father, give us the resilience to live this life faithfully, and remind us that the Son intercedes for our care and protection always.