Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples.

“In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever”. Streams of living water flow from thee, Oh my Lord make me even more thirsty for Thee and that powerful, pure water which flows from You.

”The shadow of My cross falls across the whole world – in fact the whole of My creation. It is the brightest shining light of My glory, demonstrating my committment, in love to my whole creation so that I can win a people who love and adore Me as much as I love them to myself. So let the shadow of the cross as it falls softly across you be the guide and reminder of my Presence and love for you and don’t hesitate to share it with those around you.”

We continue with Jesus’s high priestly prayer today in John 17:6 – 18. In this section John records the words Jesus spoke to His Father concerning His disciples and His relationship with them and what was going to happen to them after He left.

The passage opens with the startling words “those you gave me”. He then refines this with: “they were yours; you gave them to me” He repeats this in vs 9 adding that He is not praying for the world. Let us stop there. What an amazing concept because although these men were to play a special role in the inauguration of God’s Kingdom through Jesus, they nevertheless represent the relationship every believer has with the Son. The world here means everyone in the world irrespective of their status or belief. There was of course a special bond between Jesus and these men having spent three years together and Jesus is especially concerned for them since He was leaving them and nevertheless wanted them to continue with the special apostolic role they had been chosen for. He emphasises that they were specially chosen for this task.

Yet the basic principle remains, when we enter in to a relationship with God He calls us and gives us to His Son. We are God’s gifts to Jesus. This is a reminder of how precious we are to them and sets us apart from everyone else and that we each have a unique role to play in the growing kingdom. There were only 12 Apostles but billions of faithful members of God’s kingdom, each embued with a gift or gifts to serve the church. Each one of us is equally special!

The sign that they had accepted their election was that they obeyed God’s word. Jesus repeats that twice in vv 8 and 9. Now what would that mean? Did they sit on the beach with their nicely bound king James version bibles? Of course not. It simply means they responded to Jesus’ calling and teaching and we have seen in the gospels how flawed their response was on many occasions, but they “knew with certainty that I came from you (God) and they believed that you sent me” v 8 Their response was one of faith. They believed and that was demonstrated by action – obedience. That is a necessary definition of every Christian.

Recognizing their vulnerability in a world which was antagonistic towards them, Jesus then prays for their protection. But notice how they have been and are to be protected in the future cf vv 11,12. Notice the focus on “the Name” that has power to protect them. It is the name God gave to Jesus. And what would be the ultimate result of this protection? Firstly they would remain in unity and secondly that none of them would be lost. I presume this meant lost as in spiritually lost. The only one who is lost is Judas who turned against Jesus.

Once again these men were going to face the wrath of the world in a rather special way. Yet every one of us also faces that wrath in various ways and so we must understand the great protective role Jesus has towards us when he speaks of the power residing in His name. That is worth a pause to consider what that means so I am going to stop today’s devotion there with the invitation to ponder these truths, especially the last one and how they apply to each one of us individually and we will continue next week in this passage to look at the last few verses till vs 19.

God bless you all till next week.