Protect My Own

High Priestly Prayer – vs 11-19

John 17:11 – “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.”

This is the central part of Jesus’ prayer and it conveys his deep concern for every one of his followers. These precious souls that were entrusted into his care, He will no longer be with physically. He says, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name… I have guarded them… I have given them your word.” But now, having accomplished the work that he was given to do, Jesus was returning home to the Father. He knows that he must leave his followers behind because a new work begins, a work that he had told them of previously – “I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Jesus’ leaving was a necessary departure, so he wanted to make sure that those he was leaving behind would continue to be looked after.

When we give our lives to God and become a part of his kingdom, this world becomes a foreign place, a place we no longer belong but a place in which we must live. Jesus understands the reality of what that means which is why he lifts us up to the Father and prays…

“Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one… I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one… As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

Jesus consecrated himself in Holy service for our sake and he prays that the Father would keep us from the lies of the devil and the clutches of evil, in order that we would remain holy and pure in the truth of his word, as we live in this world.

Trust in the one who is able to keep you from falling, the one who guards you and protects you, the one for whom you have been set apart and to whose kingdom you belong.