hOlybytes

Ladder of Divine Ascent - icon representing monks climbing toward and falling away from Jesus

John 17:6-19        Looking up to heaven, Jesus prayed, "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

Reflection        We have listened to the Word, God, and allowed the Word, God, to inform and transform us into a community of people who believe, Christians. And so Jesus says to the disciples and us, “Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you…” 

But believing the Word, God, is not enough. Jesus continues his prayer, “… they have kept your word.” Which is to say, it is not enough to study, to believe and even to be changed by the Word, God. We must also keep the Word, we must claim the Word, God, as our own and grow into our full Christian stature as apostles, the ones who are sent into the world to embody the Word, God. 

in response to our knowledge of God we are meant to carry the Word, God, into the world and make a difference in peoples’ lives. This would be a daunting proposition except Jesus is with us all the way. He understands how difficult, how counter cultural it is to live the Word, God, in the world, and so he  prays asking God to protect the disciples and us, “I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they do not belong in the world.” Jesus is not asking for us to be taken out of the world, rather to be protected in the world because we are needed in the world to embody the Word, God, and make a difference in peoples’ lives. 

Jesus continues his prayer. “(Father) you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them (that would be us) into the world.” By the way we live and the choices we make, we are the light that exposes the world’s darkness. As keepers of the Word,  God, we bring life in abundance to all people.  As conduits of the Word, God, we dignify all people. We are meant to be the light and life and love of the Word, God, in the world. We are the apostles, the ones sent to continue and fulfill the revelation Jesus began.

We are the flesh and bones intended to animate the Word, God, throughout creation. Jesus revealed the way. Let us pray for the will to do likewise. 

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