READ: Jn. 17:11–19: … Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are … that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves … the world has hated them … Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them …
Jesus speaks further to His Father, knowing He will soon leave the world, while His disciples remain in it. He prays, Keep them in Your name. This means: keep them faithful to the revelation of God’s saving truth that Jesus taught them (cf. vv.6,8). Through this, the Father must make them one in the truth, just as the Father and the Son are one.
This unity is grounded in the truth of God’s Word, yet it goes deeper: it is a unity of life. They are joined in heart and soul through faith, because they are joined to Christ and the Father (v.11; cf. 10:11; 17:21–23). Jesus had kept them like a Shepherd; to fulfill Scripture only Judas was lost (v.12).
Now Jesus goes to the Father, but the disciples remain in the world. First, they may share in His joy (v.13)—joy over His victory over sin and death, and joy that He goes to the Father, leaving them in the Father’s care.
Jesus does not ask that they be taken out of the world, but that they be kept from the devil’s snares, such as false doctrine, oppression, or temptation. They are in the world, but not of the world. With God’s Word they may live a holy life—separated from evil and devoted to God, and witnessing to others about their faith (v.18). They live from the sacrifice of their Savior who purchased them (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9).
Are we also “sent” into this world?
Sing: Hymn 46:2 (1984) / 61:2 (2014)