Remarkable Unity
“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 that you have is mine. And the glory has come to me through 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” John 17:9-12
We are in the second section of Jesus’ high priestly prayer. He has prayed for Himself (17:1-5) and is now praying for His disciples (17:6-19). Jesus has just described the disciples as those chosen by God the Father and given to Him (17:6). By believing Jesus’ words they have shown that they really do belong to God (17:8).
“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” Those of the world rejected Jesus and the revelation He brought. Had they accepted it they would not be the of ‘world’ and would be included in those that belong to God.
“All I have is yours, and all that you have is mine.” The “all” in each case is a neuter plural meaning it includes everything and not just everyone, though it does include the disciples. Everything the Son has belongs to the Father and everything that belongs to the Father has been given to the Son. Speaking of the people the Father has given the Son, Jesus says, “And the glory has come to me through them.” This is the only time Jesus speaks of the disciples bringing glory to Him. He did speak of the disciples bringing glory to God by bearing ‘much fruit’ (15:5) and will later speak of Peter glorifying God by the kind of death He would die (21:19). It was principally by believing in Him, accepting and obeying His words, and carrying out His commission that the disciples brought glory to Jesus.
Jesus’ thinking now turns to His imminent death. “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world and I am coming to you.” Jesus will soon leave this world but His disciples will remain. This leads to Jesus’ first actual petition for them, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name – the name you gave me.” Jesus is praying that the disciples will be protected “by the power of your name” (literally; ‘by your name’) i.e. through the name Jesus uses for God – “Holy Father.” In Scripture someone’s name stood for the person. Jesus is asking God the Father to protect the disciples through His power because He is, as His name says, the “Holy Father.”
Jesus’ prayer for the protection of the disciples was “so that they may be one as we are one.” Their oneness would especially be under threat after Jesus’ departure. The oneness Jesus is praying for is the oneness He and the Father have, something He spoke of in 10:30. In that scripture He and the Father are one in what they say and do. It is a oneness in mission, in purpose (10:27-30). So the oneness being prayed for here is more than likely the same. When Jesus prays for oneness moments later (17:11,21-23), it is so that the world might believe that God had sent His Son into the world. Unity amongst the disciples is intrinsically connected to their mission. This unity in mission is rooted to the disciples’ unity/relationship with the Father and the Son (17:21-23).
“While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.” During His ministry, Jesus kept the disciples safe in the revelation of the Father embodied in Jesus Himself and none of them turned aside “except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” The reference is to Judas Iscariot. Jesus doesn’t say which scripture was fulfilled but in 13:18 He cites Psalm 41:9 in relation to Judas: “But this is to fulfil the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’”
You and I share a remarkable unity together. It is the unity of the Father and the Son pursuing the same mission and purpose. That mission is now our mission, to take the revelation of God into our world. This must be our common purpose and the purpose that brings us together as nothing else on earth ever can.
To listen to this message, download in MP3 here.