In the world, but not of it. That brief summary – taken directly from vvv15-16 in today’s passage – is a great way to understand our lives as followers of Jesus. We do not withdraw from society – we live out our faith where we are, among the people God has brought us alongside. At the same time, we have a dual citizenship: we are not just citizens of this world, we are also citizens of heaven – we serve a different Lord, a higher calling. We are no longer of this world.
It’s a hard balance to strike. Too much ‘in’, and our lives may look indistinguishable from everyone else’s; not enough ‘in’, and we become a holy huddle, insulating ourselves from the full impact we might have as Jesus’ followers, in a world which desperately needs his good news.
This dual citizenship is a spiritual fact (see, for example Ephesians 2:6-7), but also a challenge; it’s one reason why not everyone likes Christians (v14). Our lives attract many, and repel others. So, Jesus prays for his followers in this glorious text that we might be protected, by the power of God’s mighty name (v11). It’s a prayer focused specifically on his friends, but equally applicable to us as well.
And the prayer for protection has two dimensions: first for protection from the evil one (v15). It’s important to notice that Jesus doesn’t pray that we are taken out of the world – we continue to live out our real faith in our real, everyday life; rather, in this very life, he prays that we might be protected from spiritual attack. It’s a theme he’s addressed before, famously in the last line of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘deliver us from the evil one.’ It’s something many of us pray every day, and here Jesus testifies to its importance. The spiritual battle is real, and Jesus has won the war – but there are still skirmishes. Hence we pray for protection, in the name of Jesus.
It’s not just protection from, though – it’s also protection for: for unity: (v11) ‘protect them by the power of your name… that they may be one as we are one.’ We’ll return to this theme in more detail tomorrow, but it’s worth observing that, by praying in these terms, Jesus himself is testifying that the unity of the church is one of the great spiritual battlegrounds of history. Complete unity lies at the heart of the Godhead (’as we are one’), so it must be at the heart of our calling as Jesus’ body, the Church, since we reflect the image of God. Our chronic dividedness is not just a practical obstacle but a sign of spiritual defeat – food for thought!
Jesus closes this part of the prayer with a lovely intercession: (v17) ‘Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.’ Sanctification – becoming holy – is a key element in our protection. And God’s word is intrinsic to that process of becoming holy. As we engage with these reflections day-by-day, it’s heartening to observe that immersing ourselves in God’s powerful word is helping us to become holy i.e. clean, set apart. May the Lord work his powerful word in us today. And may our precious Lord Jesus protect us by the power of his name – from evil, and for unity. Amen.