Christ's Loving Prayer
We are recipients of its worth.
John 17 is such a beautiful chapter full of Jesus’ words. I don’t know how much we’re supposed to rank scripture, but this chapter really is up there. And goodness, is it a word for today.
We’re going to continue to take it piece-by-piece the next couple of days, to let it breathe a bit, but it’s also a bit of a shame to split it up. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is a beautiful whole. Maybe you’d read the whole thing each day as we take it in parts.
For today:
They are in the world…watch over them in your name.
He never says it out loud here, necessarily — “I love you.” But Jesus’ prayer is full of love. He is not the Father, but these words are fatherly, aren’t they? The love and protection he’s asking for. At another point in the gospels, Jesus declares how he deeply desires to gather his people just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.
He loves us. Cares for us. Wants the best within his Kingdom for us.
But let’s not confuse our desires for comfort with the best of his Kingdom. If it was only comfort, he’d remove us from the world. But we are decidedly still here. And so we receive his love within the contexts in which we find ourselves.
We do not receive this prayer as the one being prayed to, but as the ones being prayed for—as the beneficiaries of Jesus’ intercession.
And we dare not waste it.
John 17:9-11
“I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them. I’m no longer in the world, but they are in the world, even as I’m coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are one.”
Psalm 121:1-4, 7-8
I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He won’t let your foot slip. Your protector won’t fall asleep. No, Israel’s protector never sleeps or rests!
The Lord will protect you from all evil; God will protect your very life.
The Lord will protect you on your journeys—going and coming—from now until forever from now.
Prayer
God,
I am in the world, but I belong to you. Keep me in your name, just as Jesus prayed. Let me not waste the love that covers me, the prayer that was spoken for me, the protection that holds me still.
You have not removed me from this world, so help me to remain faithful in it. Keep me in your truth. Make me one with your people. Watch over me in your name.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.