Holy Father, keep them in your name
that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
The basis of our unity with one another and with the Father and the Son is that the unity of the love of the Father and the Son for us, resulting in their commitment to protect us in their own name. Normally, if someone wanted to get a loan, he would have to persuade someone else that he was worthy of credit in order to persuade that person to cosign with her own name. But Jesus gave us access to the his own name and the name of his Father because he knew that the power of those names was more than sufficient to make up for any shortcomings on our part. It was more than enough to ensure that none of the disciples were lost except Judas, so that Scripture might be fulfilled. His commitment to us did not result from our perfect past performance, but from his love and his desire to share his joy with us. This is not to say that those so loved by Jesus would not face obstacles. We see this in today's Gospel in the fact that Jesus does not ask us to be taken out of the world where we would face no danger, but to be kept safe in the midst of danger.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world
but that you keep them from the Evil One.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
We see the same sentiment from Paul as he prepared to leave Ephesus. He knew that the flock would face danger, but knew also that the solution was the "gracious word" of God that would give them an inheritance with those who were "consecrated". Paul protected them by his presence as Jesus protected the disciples by his presence. But when he had to leave he knew that consecration in the truth, in the word, would be the thing that kept them from savage wolves and from the Evil One. This paralleled what Jesus prayed for his disciples, consecrating himself for them, "so that they also may be consecrated in truth".
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Although it is particularly true of the successors of the apostles it is true also of us that we do not belong to the world and yet remain in the world. We are exposed to dangers, the chief of which are spiritual dangers. But these spiritual dangers, unlike lesser ones, have a more certain remedy in the truth given to us by Jesus, that being the consecration in his own holy name which can shield us from the power of the Evil One. Our part is to remember that, although we are in the world, although we are accustomed to seeing it, smelling it, and tasting it, we are not of the world. The world can have a hypnotic effect on us if we let it. But then we will forget the higher truth that ultimately has the power to keep us safe and lead us to joy.
And now I commend you to God
and to that gracious word of his that can build you up
and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated.
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