In our gospel readings for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, we come to Jesus' final prayers over his disciples. Next Sunday, we will go back five days in the story and five chapters in John to line up with Palm Sunday, but today we hear what Jesus said in his final hour with his inner circle. Jesus prays to the Father, that his disciples may be protected, unified, and sanctified, since they will have to remain in a dangerous world inhabited by the evil one. And he also expresses his desire, that when he is glorified, his disciples may be with him where he is, to see his glory, and to receive the eternal life that he provides....
My favourite television program of all time, as Wenona will confirm, possibly with an eye-roll, is Star Trek, the Original Series. And my favourite character in Star Trek, the Original Series, is NOT the dashing, decisive leading man, Captain Kirk, it is the Vulcan science officer, Mr. Spock. What I admired most about Spock was what made it clear he was from another planet – he made almost all of his decisions on the basis of rational logic. And when Spock said goodbye to someone in a formal setting, he would give a Vulcan salute, and proclaim the blessing, “Live long, and prosper.” Beautiful! And on the rational, logical planet of Vulcan, living long and prospering have a good chance of happening, so it is a blessing that is extremely appropriate....
Jesus, born here on earth, knows what his disciples are in for when he is gone, and living long and prospering are NOT it. Instead, Jesus says goodbye to his disciples by praying hard for them. Since he needs his disciples to remain on this planet to witness, Jesus asks his Father to protect them from the evil one, that in all of the torture and suffering Satan and his agents have in store for them, they would remain faithful. To provide mutual encouragement and community, as well as a sign of God's love, Jesus asks his Father to bring his disciples together in unity, abiding together in the Trinity. And to keep his disciples from deception and falsehood, Jesus asks his Father to sanctify them in the truth, even as Jesus himself will sanctify himself to keep his disciples in the truth. Protection, unification, and sanctification - these are the things his disciples will need the MOST, on a planet that will hate them.
Has much changed in the last 2000 years since Jesus prayed this intense prayer? The FORM of the threats has changed, but the needs of disciples has not. While we here in North America do not have to worry about physical violence to the same degree as the original disciples, that is mostly a matter of geography. In some places in the world today, the threat of physical violence against Christians is at least as great as for Peter and Paul and the gang. We should consider ourselves fortunate – may God protect them from the evil one!
And in many ways, the church today needs unification more than Jesus' original disciples. Thanks to the kind of tribalism encouraged by Marxism, the church is splintering over not just theological issues, but political issues. It is not exaggeration to say that the issues over which the church is fighting, HAVE BEEN DESIGNED to cause the division that has resulted, in the hopes of weakening the church beyond recovery. May God make us one, as Jesus and the Father are one!
And if the definition of sanctification is to make something or someone more holy, more aligned with the purposes of God, then the role of the truth of God's word is critical. But in our world today, we are not only losing our interest in God's word, and losing our grip on the truth, thanks to AI, we are losing our grip on the very CONCEPT of truth. Truth is becoming Pravda, whatever assertion helps the powerful stay in power. May God sanctify us in the truth – his word is truth.