notes on John 17:6-19

I have decided, in addition to posting my sermons, to also post my notes as they come along as I prepare my sermons. They may provide further grist for anyone who reads them. It will be the weeds and wheat. So, here goes.

This passage is a portion of a long prayer offered by Jesus. It begins by Jesus speaking on behalf of his disciples. He acknowledges that they belong to the Father, who has given them to Jesus. He affirms that they believe in Jesus and have received the words that Jesus received from the Father. In other words, the disciples are on the same page. They are faithful believers. Then, Jesus asks on their behalf for something. And he is asking only on their behalf, the disciples, and not on behalf of the whole world. A clear distinction is being made by Jesus. And he defends his distinction by affirming that the disciples he has belong to the Father. He clarifies that all He has belongs to the Father and that Jesus has been glorified in his disciples. With all these preliminaries, Jesus gives the reason for why he is offering this prayer on their behalf: because he is making a shift. He is leaving the world and returning to the Father, but the disciples will remain in the world. This has an impact on them. He asks, in vs. 11, for the Father to protect the disciples for a specific purpose: that they be one, even as the Son and the Father are one. Jesus’ greatest concern is unity among the disciples, that is, unity of mind and will, because that describes the unity of the Father and Son. Jesus affirms that while He was with the disciples, He protected them and kept them united in their faith, except Judas, who was destined to be the betrayer so that scripture might be fulfilled. I am not sure what verse 13 means. Perhaps what Jesus is saying is that as the disciples recall this prayer that Jesus is offering that it will inspire fullness of joy among them. I wonder what it is about what Jesus is saying that would inspire such communal joy. Jesus then repeats that He gave the disciples the Father’s word which has caused the world to hate the disciples as a result. The world hates the disciples and hates Jesus because he is not of this world and now, assuming because they belong to the Father, the disciples do not belong to the world either. Are there people who do not belong to the Father? Is there some kind of distinction between people in general and those who belong to the Father in a special relationship that removes them from the reality of the rest of the people of the world? I’m not sure what is being communicated here. I am weary of spiritual elitism or predestination. At any rate, Jesus repeats His request that the Father protect them now that Jesus is leaving them, that they be protected from the evil one. He repeats a second time that the disciples do not belong to the world just as Jesus does not belong to the world. I wonder if the reality of being united in mind and will among the Father, the Son, and the disciples is what marks a perhaps distinction of world view between them and those who are in the world. Perhaps those that are in the world, who fail to understand what Jesus is saying, do not understand because they cannot see, they are blinded by how they perceive reality. The disciples, however, have been illumined, and now have a different world view, thus, capable of believing in what Jesus teaches. This shift of world view is what shifts them out from remaining “in the world.” And they must be protected by the Father so that they do not shift back into the world view held by people “in the world.” Indeed, Jesus asks God to sanctify them in the truth. To be sanctified is to be set aside for holy purposes, turning what is common into what is holy. The sanctification of the disciples is enabled and guarded by the Truth which comes from the Father and which they have been enabled to receive. The disciples are sanctified, or, being sanctified, as they grow in their understanding of the truth. Thus, Jesus is sending them into the world, just as the Father sent the Son into the world. Verse 19, I’m not sure what that means either. What does it mean for Jesus to sanctify himself? How does He do anything “himself” since He and the Father are one? At any rate, the consequence of Jesus sanctifying Himself is that the disciples will also be sanctified in truth. I wonder if this relates in any way to their evangelistic and missional work that they are to do as those sent by Jesus into the world? After all, the disciples do not point to themselves but to Christ as the Light of the world. Jesus sanctifies himself so that the disciples can point others, not to themselves who are being sanctified, but to the One who is sanctified, Jesus Christ. I wonder why Jesus says that the disciples may be, and not will be, or are, sanctified. There’s a lot in this passage! Typical John.
One area to explore is the importance of unity in the church and how that relates to our ability to enjoy communion with God.