Text: John 17:11b-19
This week we return again to the night on which Jesus was betrayed. The last two weeks our Gospel readings were from John 15 where Jesus assured us that He is the vine and we are the branches. He promised that as we abide in Him and His Word, He abides in us and causes us to bear fruit. Bearing fruit is the work of the Holy Spirit, who leads us to speak the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people without partiality. However, Jesus names a solemn consequence of the work that the Triune God does among the body of believers. Jesus says to the Disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”[1]
It is on account of this reality that Jesus does one last thing before He departs for Gethsemane to be betrayed. Knowing that we who are kept in the Word of God by His grace will be hated by the world, Jesus prayed for us.
I.
Jesus knew that His departure was at hand. Soon He would be delivered into the hands of sinners; soon He would be given a mock trial, and crucified. We would expect Jesus’ main concern to Himself. After all, being crucified has to be one of the most painful ways to die. But, Jesus’ main concern is not for Himself. He prayed to the Father, “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. 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.”[2]
Jesus’ chief concern is for those who remain in the world as He returns to the Father. He is returning to resume the glory He had in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit before all Creation. Part of that involved that the Disciples remain behind. We’ll get back to that in a little bit. Jesus’ prayer includes a request that God the Father keep the Disciples in His name, the name which Jesus shares, that they may be one. Jesus called the Disciples out of darkness into the Light by the confession of faith in the Triune God. While Jesus was with the Disciples He guarded and kept them in the name of God Most High. Despite the pot-shots and criticisms of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the derision of even their own families, Jesus guarded and protected the Disciples during their time together. Not one of them was lost, save Judas the betrayer, in order to fulfill Scripture.
II.
Christ’s work calling the Disciples and guarding them in the confession of the Truth bore fruit. It bore fruit in that already through the ministry of the Disciples many had been called to faith in Jesus. But it also bore fruit in another way. Jesus continues praying to the Father, “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. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”[3] Jesus has given the Disciples His Word, which has borne fruit in the world, and the world hates it. The world hates Jesus and persecutes those who believe in Him.
Jesus said that His followers should not be afraid if the world hates them, for so it hated him. He taught in the Sermon on the Mount that we should, “Rejoice and be glad,” when others revile us and persecute us and utter all kinds of evil against us falsely on His account, “for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”[4] Just as Jesus is not of the world, so are we not of the world, and it hates us for it. Nevertheless, Jesus does not ask that the Disciples be taken out of the world, but that they be kept from the evil one. The devil seeks to devour and destroy the Truth of Jesus Christ. He tried to destroy the Apostles and early Christians through persecutions and trials. He is trying to do so today by infiltrating both society and the church. Satan influences the workings of the sinful nature to try and choke out saving faith in Jesus Christ not by denying forgiveness, but by denying sin. Therefore the world hates us. Jesus prays that we be kept from the evil one, which we echo in the Lord’s Prayer.
III.
Jumping ahead in Jesus’ prayer, He makes it clear that He is not just praying for the Disciples, but for us as well. He says, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.”[5] Jesus’ prayer to the Father for the Disciples and us is that God would sanctify us in the truth of His Word. For that reason, Jesus says, He consecrates Himself. This means that Jesus has set Himself apart; He has dedicated Himself to the work of God, namely His own death and resurrection, that we be sanctified in truth. To be sanctified means to be made holy. Jesus died as payment for our sins and rose from the dead so that we may be made holy through faith in His Word.
For what purpose have we been saved by grace and made holy by His Word? Jesus says, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”[6] At His Ascension, Jesus instructed the Disciples to go to all nations, making other disciples by baptizing in the name of the Triune God and teaching them to observe all that Christ has taught them. For this purpose Jesus prayed for the Disciples and us: that we be kept in God’s Word and protected from the evil one, even as we are sent out into a world that hates our confession of faith in Jesus.
Today we returned to the night on which Jesus was betrayed. It was the same night He washed His disciples’ feet, giving them a new model of love. He also instituted the Lord’s Supper whereby He gives the forgiveness of sins. He would shortly be going to Gethsemane to be betrayed, suffer, and die for our sins. We would understand if Jesus took the opportunity to pray for Himself. We probably would at least get a quick one in if we were Him. But instead, He prays for His disciples.
As He goes to the Father by His death, resurrection, and ascension, the Disciples will remain behind. He has given them His Word, which has made them holy. The world hates the holiness that comes through faith in Jesus. Nevertheless, Jesus didn’t pray that they be removed from the world, but that they be protected from the Devil. As Jesus was sent into the world to proclaim the Good News, so does He now send His Disciples and us. He sends us out into the world to preach the truth of His Work for us. Though the world hates our faith, Jesus will always be with us and will keep us in His Word.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Jn. 15:18–19.
[2] Jn. 17:11–12.
[3] Jn, 17:13–16.
[4] Matt. 5:11-12.
[5] Jn. 17:20.
[6] Jn. 17:18.
St. John and Trinity Lutheran Parish 