WHO KEEPS US SAFE? John 17:9-21
In the US, the right to life is protected under the
American Declaration and the American Convention."[1]Including the president,
our sworn congressional leaders, and the local police, who are supposed to
protect this fundamental human right, sometimes may fail to protect it. In
India, we have a proverb for this phenomenon, "if the fence starts eating
the crop, who can protect it? It comes from the skepticism of those who
break laws they are supposed to uphold.
Those in power fail to protect us; who will keep us
safe? To answer this crucial question, the Asian Americans living in Seattle
developed a podcast, "Who Keeps Us Safe?" which explores safety,
policing, and abolition in their communities and beyond.[2]
This is how it works in the world; we create
structures and pass laws to protect ourselves from those who threaten to harm
and kill us physically. The world's systems may not protect us entirely. More
and more, we realize their frailty and inadequacies.
With that backdrop, who keeps us safe in this troubled
world? How about the people of God who sometimes feel peculiar and ill-fitted
in the world? What laws of God do they have in place for their protection and
safety? What arrangements did God make for His people's ongoing protection and
security? Jesus' prayer in John 17:1-26 will answer these questions.
We have learned that Jesus prayed a lot during his
time on earth. Among all those prayers, the high priestly or the farewell
prayer of Jesus was the longest and most profound because it comes in a crucial
time of uncertainty. Before this prayer, Jesus announced to his beloved
disciples, "In a little while, you won't see me anymore. But a little
while after that, you will see me again." (John 16:16). The disciples
didn't know what to make of such an announcement. Let's see what this prayer
contains and its ramifications today.
The twenty-six verses of this prayer can be broken
into three parts. (1) Jesus' prayer concerning himself (vv.1-5), (2) for the
disciples (vv.6-19), and (3) for all believers (vv.20-26). A considerable
portion of Jesus' prayer relates to the disciples. He was much more concerned
about them than about himself. At that point, Jesus' prayer concern was the
remaining eleven disciple's protection, sanctification, and mission, but its
implications are for all believers.
I.
Jesus Prayed for the Protection of His disciples (Vs. 9-15)
A special bond developed between Jesus and His
disciples when they first laid their eyes on Him or His eyes on them. He called
them to follow Him, and He would make them fishers of men out of them. The
disciples followed, seeing something powerful and divine in Him.
Jesus protected them till the end. When the hour
finally arrived for his departure, He lifted his eyes to the heavens and said, "Father,
the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that he can give glory back to you."
God glorified Jesus by giving him authority over everyone.
Jesus brought glory to the Father by completing the
work He gave him to do. How would He now give glory back to God? Letting his
disciples finish the remaining work of preaching the gospel everywhere. Jesus
realized he was going home, but his disciples remained in the world and didn't
want to leave them without protection. He prayed, "Holy Father, you have
given me your name, now protect them by the power of your
name." What is there in a Name?
In scripture, names do not merely identify people but
speak of their nature. They reveal something special about the person bearing
the name. In the OT, every name has a specific meaning and reason behind it.
When addressing God, the OT people saw him performing certain acts and called
him based on those actions.
For example, Israelites saw how God protected them
from their enemies, so they called Him "Jehovah-Sabaoth, "The
Lord of Hosts, the Lord of Armies." The young David invoked this mighty
name of God when he faced Goliath.
Here was how David challenged Israel's enemy. I Samuel
17:45-46, "You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to
you in the name of the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the God of the armies of Israel,
whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and
cut off your head, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!"
In that
tradition, Jesus, the Son of David, protected his disciples in the mighty name
of God. No one was lost except Judas Iscariot. Knowing the immense power of
God, Jesus prayed that God would protect his disciples and us according to His
mighty and Holy name.
What implications does the prayer of Jesus have on the
21st-century disciples? As Christ has brought glory to God by
completing His work, we will bring glory to God by completing the remaining
work. Jesus has returned to the Father, but we remain on earth until He calls
us home. Meanwhile, we will hold on to the message He has given us and be
diligent in our mission.
II.
We are in the world but don't belong here, then to whom or where do we belong?
Vs. 13-14, "Now I am
coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so
they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world
hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to
the world."
If Jesus and His disciples didn't belong to the world,
to whom did they belong? Why would the world hate the followers of Christ? What
would bring Joy to the disciples when they faced persecution? To answer these
questions, we look back to earlier remarks from Jesus.
In John 13, before washing his disciples' feet, "Jesus
knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had
come from God and would return to God." He showed them how to respond to
the world's hatred. "if the world hates you, remember that it hated me
first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but
you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so
it hates you." John 15:18-20.
The world hates Christians because Christian's values
differ from the world's. Because Christ's followers don't cooperate with the
world by joining in their sin, they are living accusations against the world's
immorality. The world follows Satan's agenda, and Christians follow Christ's
agenda. Satan is the enemy of Jesus, His mission, and His followers.
II.
Who keeps us safe when our enemy attacks us?
Vs.15, "I'm not asking you to take them out of
the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one." In Vs.18, "Just
as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world." Jesus
didn't ask God to take believers out of the world but instead to use them in
the world.
Because Jesus sends us into the world, we should not
try to escape from the world, nor should we avoid all relationships with
non-Christians. We are called to be salt and light and do the work God sent us
to do. Doing the work of God comes with stiff opposition from Satan. But let's
take heart. Jesus Prayed to the Father to keep us safe from the evil one,
referring to Satan.
Through Jesus' prayer, we learn that our world is a
tremendous battleground where the forces under Satan's power and those under
God's authority are at war. We will know about Satan, how He attacks God's
people, and how we can overcome him more in the next two weeks.
But for now, let's realize we have an evil enemy who
attacks to destroy us both physically and spiritually. Satan and his forces are
motivated by bitter hatred for Christ and his followers. Jesus prayed for his
disciples, including those of us who follow Him today.
He prayed that God would keep his chosen believers
safe from Satan's power, setting them apart and making them pure and holy,
uniting them through his truth. This part of Jesus' prayer is being answered in
the Church worldwide. God is raising teachers of the truth of His Word to arm
believers to face the enemy's attacks aimed at their physical and spiritual
lives. That's why we equip believers at Hope Church with tools for practical Christian
living.
