Thoughts on the Gospel of John (168) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
John 17:11–13

Thoughts on the Gospel of John (168)
Jesus was about to return to the Father in heaven. His disciples would be left behind in this world full of dangers. Hence the Lord’s request to the Father, “Keep through Your name those whom You have given Me”.

How necessary is this request, for Christ wants to be glorified in His own! Therefore, it is necessary that the disciples live in accordance with the name of the “Holy Father”. Sin – in whatever form – does not suit those who call God their Father through Jesus Christ.

And what is the purpose of the Lord’s request that they would be preserved? The disciples were to be one – like the Father and the Son. This unity is expressed in the same feelings, the same thoughts and the same intentions. When the Holy Spirit came to this earth at Pentecost, this request was heard. The Twelve, who had sometimes been jealous of each other, then showed a unified witness in word and work.

It is hard to imagine that before the death of Jesus there was among the Twelve one whom the Lord calls “the son of perdition”. It was Judas Iscariot – a false disciple among the real ones. The purely external closeness to Jesus could not change him and could not save him.

The Lord’s prayer still has a goal: His disciples are to live in His own joy. The more the believers become aware of the love of their heavenly Father, the greater will be their joy.

Today’s reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14 · Psalms 137:1-9