Questions of Belonging
John 17:6-19
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Verse: John 17:10 –
All mine are yours, and yours are mine;
and I have been glorified in them.
and I have been glorified in them.
Do you like it when others pray for you – in your presence – or does it make you uncomfortable? In 26 years as a pastor, visiting in both hospitals and homes, I learned that many parishioners long for prayer and find it comforting, especially in times of sickness or trial. Others accepted the offer of prayer with less enthusiasm, suggesting a level of discomfort. In such cases, my prayer would be short and to the point.
Can you imagine being in the physical presence of Jesus as he prayed for you in somber tones, combining both a request for God’s blessing and a reminder of your mission as part of his last farewell? You may feel shivers at the thought – but that is what we find in today’s text.
What’s yours is mine … (vv. 6-8)
Texts from the past two weeks have come from what is often called Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse” to the disciples (chapters 13-17). [DD] Today’s text is part of the concluding chapter. It is a lengthy intercession often described as Jesus’ “high priestly prayer,” which brings together themes from chapters 13-16. [DD] Though couching Jesus’ words in the form of a prayer, the author has Jesus praying with such confidence that it comes across as more of a proclamation than a petition.
A popular approach to understanding the prayer finds Jesus praying with regard to himself in vv. 1-5, for his present disciples in vv. 6-19, and for future followers in vv. 20-26. [DD] Our text comes from the middle and longest part, in which Jesus prayed for the disciples whom he had taught, nurtured, and encouraged for the previous three years.
The prayer is highly personal, yet deeply theological. Jesus began by speaking of himself in the third person (v. 3), but switched to first person in v. 4. Echoing v. 1, Jesus voiced a desire for his return to “glory” in the presence of the Father in v. 5, but then shifted his focus to the puzzled group of disciples who were gathered around him.
When Jesus prayed “I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do” (v. 4), the work he had in mind was not only the final hours to which he was committed, but the past years of training the disciples: “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world,” he said. “They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word” (v. 6).
To “make God’s name known” implies a full revelation of God’s character, which Jesus had delivered through his actions as well as his words. Earlier, Jesus had declared “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (15:15b). Jesus didn’t keep secrets from his friends: he let them know what God was about.
What did Jesus mean by “They were yours, and you gave them to me?” We should not read this as a reference to predestination or “the elect,” as some might surmise, or even to all believers. This part of Jesus’ prayer was focused on the disciples, whom God had chosen and “given” to Jesus to learn from him, serve with him, and support him as friends. They had proven faithful in receiving God’s teachings through Christ, even to the point of accepting the mind-boggling premise that Jesus had been sent by God into the world (vv. 7-8).
The gospels often portray the disciples as stubborn, hard-headed, and slow to learn, but they were learning, and would continue to grow in understanding. They had taken Jesus’ teachings to heart, accepted him as Lord, and “kept his word,” seeking to live as he had taught them.
We who call ourselves “Christian” claim to be modern-day disciples. The text challenges us to ask if we have taken Jesus’ teachings as seriously. What evidence of that is apparent in the way we follow his word in the conduct of our lives? Does our living bring glory to God?
What’s mine is yours … (vv. 9-11)
With his friends on his mind, Jesus prayed not for the world in general, but for the disciples in particular, “asking on their behalf.” The disciples belonged to God, he said, but had been given to him (v. 9). As a result, “All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them” (v. 10). [DD]
These verses point to a unity of purpose between God the Father and God the Son. The disciples who followed Jesus “belonged” to one as well as the other. But how could Jesus have been glorified through them?
The claim sounds more prophetic than present. The disciples were still unsure of themselves, and they would appear even more uncertain and afraid in the coming days, but Jesus knew that Pentecost, as well as the crucifixion and resurrection, was coming. The Spirit would empower the disciples, and they would be faithful in taking what they had learned from Jesus and spreading that gospel message so others could come to experience God and to have eternal life. In this, Jesus’ direct prayer for the disciples was indirectly a prayer for all who would benefit from their ministry.
Although Jesus remained present with his disciples as he offered this prayer, he knew that their time together would soon come to an end. Having made a final commitment to his coming passion, Jesus spoke as if he had left already: “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you” (v. 11a). The disciples would be left behind, so Jesus prayed for the Father to protect them – not only from danger or threats from the outside, but from potential divisiveness that might hinder their mission: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one” (v. 11b).
If the church was to grow in health and number, the disciples would need to be unified in their message and their mission. This is the heart of Jesus’ prayer: that his followers be one with each other, and one with him.
Set apart, and sent (vv. 12-19)
Jesus spoke of how he had protected the disciples while he was with them, preserving all but Judas, “the one destined to be lost” (v. 12). That he had done so “in your name” is yet another indication of the unity between the Father and the Son. Perhaps Jesus wanted the disciples to hear him praying for them: speaking these things “in the world” was to speak them in their presence, “so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves” (v. 13).
Jesus went on to acknowledge that the disciples would face opposition from the world – to the point of experiencing hatred – “because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world” (vv. 14, 16). How could that be? Those who followed Jesus no longer had their identity and values determined or shaped by the world. Unlike Jesus, however, though they no longer belonged to the world, they would be in the world for some time yet. Jesus did not ask that the disciples be granted supernatural security from human opponents, but from evil influences that could disrupt their unity and impair their mission (v. 15). [DD]
Following Jesus brings no guarantee of safety from harm: indeed, Jesus fully expected that many of his followers would suffer for his sake. He prayed for the Father to “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (v. 17).
What was that about? The word translated as “sanctify” could also be rendered “consecrate” or even “make holy,” but what it really means is “to set apart.” That’s what the concept of holiness means in both the Old and New Testaments: to be set apart for God’s purposes.
The disciples were to be in the world, while also being set apart from the world – and what set them apart was that they had learned the truth of what Jesus taught them and they lived in it: recall Jesus’ earlier statement that “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (8:32).
The disciples may have been tempted to retreat from the world and celebrate their knowledge of the truth in a cloistered Christian community, but Jesus wanted them out in the world, threats and all. “As you have sent me into the world,” Jesus prayed, so “I have sent them into the world” (v. 18). Jesus’ followers, like Jesus himself (v. 19), were set apart, and sent.
Think for a moment about your church, or other churches you have known. When has the church known its best days? When has it been least effective? What characterized the days of growth? Did the most troubling days result from human opposition coming from outside the congregation, or from internal discord that sidetracked its mission?
Is it any wonder that Jesus’ primary prayer for the disciples was “that they may be one” as they recognized their role as set-apart believers, sent into the world? Surely believers could profit from praying for and actively working toward Christian unity, not only in our congregations, but in our broader communities. Too many of us, for too long, have accepted racial lines, denominational divides, and ethnic exclusivism as par for the course, though they are bound to hinder Christ’s mission in the world.
What practical things can we do to come closer to Jesus’ desire that we all be one?
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: John 17:6-19
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
How often do you pray for your students? When you pray for them, what kind of prayer is it? Are you praying for their safety and health? Are your prayers for protection and peace? Whenever I hear about someone praying for their children, I think about the parent of a missionary who said they always prayed for their student to do the work of God. When their prayers were answered and their student ended up halfway around the globe, they wished they had been more specific in praying that God would keep them closer to home. Keep praying for your students, but also be aware that the Holy Spirit will move in their life and it might not lead to exactly what you had been praying for.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: John 17:6-19
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Bruce Learns to Pray” from Bruce Almighty
Via www.youtube.com
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