12 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. 13 I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
–John 17.12-19 (NIV)
In today’s lesson, Jesus continues his high priestly prayer for his first followers (and us). He focuses now on what we can expect if we choose to follow him and continue his work in the world. At first blush this part of Jesus’ prayer appears to be full of contradictions. Jesus prays that his followers may have his full measure of joy but then he warns us that we can expect to be hated, just as the world hated Jesus, and accordingly he prays for our protection. He says that we are not of the world but then he sends his followers into the world. What is going on here?
First let’s look at this notion of joy and being hated for the sake of Jesus’ Name. This makes absolutely no sense if we do not read it in the light of Jesus’ resurrection. How can we have Jesus’ joy if his end was torture and death on a cross? Doesn’t sound like there is much joy to be had there unless we think Jesus is advocating that we become extreme masochists. But we must note carefully that Jesus prefaces all this by saying he is returning to the Father. As we have seen in previous reflections, Jesus’ first followers did not anticipate his resurrection, but we have seen his empty tomb and we know the happy outcome of that first Easter morning.
It is precisely because Jesus is returning to his Father, i.e., that his physical death on the cross is not the end, but rather the prelude to a new beginning, a New Creation, that we too can share in his joy, because where Jesus is, so will his followers be (cf. John 14). Clearly, then, Jesus has in mind a different kind of joy for us. Unlike the world’s notion of joy that usually comes from some sort of self-aggrandizement, the context of this passage indicates that Jesus’ joy and the joy of his followers comes from obedience to the Father and we remember that Jesus prayed this prayer right before his arrest and crucifixion.
If you want to experience Jesus’ joy to its fullest, you must be prepared to deny yourself, take up your cross each day, and follow Jesus, i.e., you must devote your life to obeying Jesus’ commands and following his example. That’s why a thorough knowledge of the Gospels is so mission-critical to anyone who wants to call himself or herself “Christian.” In the Gospels we have a comprehensive case study of what it looks like when God returns to set his world aright and we are called to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. If you are unprepared or unwilling to live your life in obedience to Jesus, you can expect never to experience the life-giving joy that Jesus experiences because our joy, like his, is tied to obeying God in and through Christ. Only when we understand this can we make sense of passages in the NT that talk about believers rejoicing when they suffer mightily for Jesus’ sake and name (cf. Acts 5.17-42).
Second, what about this notion of not being in the world but being sent into it? What’s that all about? Again, we must look at this statement through the lens of the Resurrection. When God raised Jesus from the dead, God inaugurated his New Creation. In doing so, God reminds us in a powerful way that his fallen creation matters to him, that he is determined to redeem it (and us), not destroy it (and us). As I have said many times before, here are our marching orders. We are to show the same loving concern for God’s broken and fallen creation and creatures that God through Christ does. That means we are to obey Jesus’ command to follow him and be his agents of New Creation. As Jesus told his disciples on that first Easter night, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20.21). There is no room in the Christian faith for some sort of privatized, other-worldly, navel-gazing baloney. Christians have work to do in the world, Jesus’ work of healing, serving, and offering God’s mercy and love to everyone who desperately needs it.
But as we are sent by Jesus into his broken and hurting world, we are to bring his values to bear on it, not the world’s. We are to make it about Jesus, not us. That means we must reject all temptations that would lead to self-aggrandizement or self-centeredness. We are to forgive and not exact revenge. We are to pray for our enemies and persecutors and desire their good, not harm. We are to offer grace and mercy where none is deserved or expected. We are to serve others without expecting accolades or anything else in return. We do this because our Lord did it. In short, we are to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. It’s that old thingy about finding meaning and purpose to life by losing self to Jesus. This is what it means to be in the world but not of it and this is what Jesus was praying for in his prayer above. Of course, none of this is possible without the help and Presence of the Holy Spirit living in us and transforming us into the likeness of Jesus.
And if all this weren’t hard enough–after all, it is not easy or natural to forgive and pray for those who hate us, deride us, call us names, and try to vilify us (and worse)–Jesus also warns us that we can expect opposition and hatred when we decide to follow him and be his Kingdom workers in his world. Not only do we bring a different set of values to the table which will naturally arouse opposition, scorn, derision, and sometimes outright persecution; we can also expect opposition from no less than the Evil One himself. No wonder Jesus prays for our protection because none of us on our own strength is any match for Satan (and please don’t get hung up over visual imagery when thinking about Satan)!
But let’s think about this for a moment. What kind of protection is Jesus talking about? After all, God did not protect him from torture and crucifixion, and a cursory reading of the NT will quickly show that neither were Jesus’ early followers protected from persecution and death. In Acts, for example, we read about Stephen’s martrydom and Paul’s multiple sufferings for his Lord. We know that many of the first apostles were martyred, including Peter, James, and Paul. We think of the martyrs of Lyons or the Ugandan martyrs, not to mention the many Christians who suffer martyrdom in today’s world. If this is Jesus’ notion of protection, then he might want to consult a security company because he clearly isn’t getting the job done!
Here again none of this will make sense if we do not keep in mind Jesus’ resurrection and what he meant by life and living. As we saw yesterday, Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God and Jesus (John 17.3). Clearly, for Jesus life is more than just our physical and biological existence.
Moreover, as the context of today’s passage suggests, and as our discussion about Christian martyrdom makes clear, the kind of protection Jesus had in mind is not how we would typically define protection. And this should make sense to us. If life is defined by our relationship with God, then it follows that Jesus would be most concerned about protecting his followers from falling away from that relationship. Since God destroyed the power of death when he raised Jesus, we know that our physical death cannot harm us or separate us from our Lord. Therefore we really don’t need his protection in that sense. What we do need protected from are the things that can cause us to sever our relationship with Jesus, things like fear, pride, selfishness, and the temptation to want to try to take God’s place instead of allowing him to be God and ordering our lives around him. These are the things we should fear because they can bring about permanent separation from God and real death.
Only when we understand these things can we make sense of Jesus’ prayer for our protection. We may not be protected from persecution and physical death. In fact, elsewhere Jesus warned his first followers to expect both, further evidence that he didn’t have this kind of protection in mind when he prayed this prayer. What we can expect is for God to protect us against those things that can cause us to fall away permanently from him. We can expect his protection and help for us to live obedient lives in ways that will bring him glory, just the way Jesus did when he suffered death on the cross for our sake.
And guess what? There’s an added bonus when we experience God’s protection that allows us to be obedient to him. We also get to experience Jesus’ joy to the fullest. Again, none of this makes any sense if Jesus was not raised from the dead to new life. As Paul reminded the Corinthians, if the Resurrection is not true, Christians of all people are most to be pitied because we are asked to live in ways that deny ourselves instead of making life all about us. We are also asked sometimes to suffer for Jesus’ name, but why would we do that if all we can expect is to die someday? No, there has to be something more than our mortal span of life if we are to find purpose and joy in living life the Jesus way. And of course we find the answer in Jesus’ Resurrection. Why is this? Because we have Jesus’ promise that where he is, so will his followers be. That means we can expect him to be with us as we struggle to live life in faithful obedience to him here and now, and ultimately when we live with him in God’s New Creation.
Living faithfully to Jesus is never an easy thing to do but if you are looking for meaning, purpose, fulfillment, and real life, it is the only viable and realistic course of action available to you. Anything else is bound to fail or satisfy fully. Are you living your life to the fullest and in the light of Jesus’ Resurrection? If not, what are you waiting for? If you are, stop and give thanks to God for his great love and mercy shown to you in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!