What’s up with the ‘b?’ I base my Sunday gospel ‘homilies’ on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ reading calendar, which is synchronized with that of the Catholic Church. Today’s reading lists the reading with the ‘b’, which is unusual, as scripture verses are typically not divided into English letter parts. Upon cracking open your Bible, you will notice that the beginning of John 17:11 on the webpage does not exist in the actual verse. Instead, it has apparently been adapted from John 17:1 as a proper beginning to the reading, since it is only part of Jesus’s entire “prayer” and would be confusing without the addition. Since I would also like to focus on only verses 11-19, I chose to keep the ‘b’ in my post title. So, with that cleared up, onto the reading!
For us to understand this reading, it seems like it would be important that we know who the “they” and “them” of whom Jesus speaks are. The modified verse 11 does not contain this context, nor does any verse before that in John Chapter 17. Instead, we must look back to Chapter 16 to see that Jesus is apparently talking to his disciples. He says later, though, that he does not pray “only for them, but also for those who would believe in me through their word.”
One of the first things that struck me in this prayer is Jesus’s apparent references to Satan. I have confessed previously that I am agnostic on the existence of the devil, and his description in the Bible as a whole is sketchy at best. Here, though, Jesus refers to the “son of destruction” and “the evil one.” These could easily have been insertions or distortions of Jesus’s words, but assuming for the moment that the Gospel of John is as reliable as the other three Gospels (and, of course, assuming they are reliable as well), it certainly adds to the case for the existence of the Prince of Darkness. Notice how the use of “the evil one” sounds similar to the Lord’s prayer and how the exeption of the “son of destruction” being lost is referred to as the fulfillment of Scripture and thus of God’s plan.
Jesus also reiterates twice that “they do not belong to the world any more than [he] belong[s] to the world” (John 17:14,16). This is interesting in that, besides re-enforcing the idea that mankind is divine in its truest nature, Jesus seems to be equating himself with his disciples as the rest of humanity. If I were willing to pursue a bolder interpretation, I might use this as evidence that Jesus truly was only a man, and never claimed to be divine. Short of this, I would at least say that it is admirable humility on Jesus’s part. But, truly, it is both exciting and comforting to think of one’s self as a soul created in heaven, and sent to earth merely in a human shell. Not just in God’s image would we be, but in God’s essence.
Finally, I am interested in Jesus’s specific invocations to God:
Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. (John 17:11)
I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15)
Consecrate them in the truth. (John 17:17)
What does Jesus want for us? He wants us to remain “in God,” that is, acting according to God’s will, so that we might be united. He does not want us to die, but be protected from the evil that is a natural part of the world. He wants us to know truth. Isn’t this, in some sense, what we all want? Perhaps some people would prefer not to call themselves “in God,” but they certainly would like us to all act together to love one another and be united. Nobody “really” wants to die, and everyone wishes to be protected from evil. And, most universally, we all want to know truth. Jesus’s prayer is an ideal model for our own. Perhaps you could use a modified version of John 17:11-19 as a prayer sometimes.
As you can see, Jesus clearly knows what we want, and wants to give it to us. Sometimes, all it takes is for us to just ask. It helps, tough, for us to know what we want, too.
Peace,
Timothy
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Letters From Timothy 