I'm So Glad He Prayed For Me

Thirdly, Jesus prays that we may be sanctified. That always sounds like a churchy word. But basically, it means to be made holy, to be set aside for God’s purpose.

When I try to explain holiness to our confirmands, I pull out the pitcher we use for baptisms. “If we needed extra pitchers for a really big meal in Olson Hall, would you use this baptismal pitcher?” Absolutely not! That pitcher has been set aside for this one purpose and one purpose only. That’s holiness.

Jesus prays for how we will operate within the world. He uses the word “world” 13 times in today’s passage. He says that he received his disciples FROM the world. But they no longer BELONG TO the world. However, he’s not asking God to take them OUT of the world. Rather, he asks that they to be sent INTO the world.

We are in the world but not of it. By asking for our sanctification, Jesus is giving us a mission. He’s endowing his church with mission, with purpose. We are in this world as he was. We are here as holy agents of grace, the grace given to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. We are in this world as Christ’s ambassadors of grace and life and hope.

Jesus prayed on our behalf. He interceded for us in prayer. To intercede means to mediate on behalf of another. And this is exactly what Jesus did just a few hours after finishing this prayer. He became our mediator on his cross. In that moment, he spanned the gaping chasm between ourselves and God. He reconciled our alienation. And in his mediation, we find our unity, and our joy, and our purpose as God’s holy people.