Kept in the Name
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
John 17:9-11
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Kept in the Name
On the night of His betrayal, Jesus prays, not for the world in general, but for those the Father has given Him. This is no narrow love; it is a saving one. This prayer reveals Jesus as our High Priest, interceding before the Father on behalf of His own. He knows the danger: His disciples remain in the world, exposed to hatred, division, and the devil’s lies. Yet Jesus does not ask that they be removed. He asks that they be kept, guarded in the Father’s name. That name is not an abstraction; it is revealed most fully at the cross. There, the Son is lifted up in shame and suffering, and there the Father’s saving will is accomplished. The unity Jesus prays for is not manufactured by human effort but given through His self-giving death. We are kept today the same way: by Christ crucified for us, praying for us still.
John 17:9-11
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Kept in the Name
On the night of His betrayal, Jesus prays, not for the world in general, but for those the Father has given Him. This is no narrow love; it is a saving one. This prayer reveals Jesus as our High Priest, interceding before the Father on behalf of His own. He knows the danger: His disciples remain in the world, exposed to hatred, division, and the devil’s lies. Yet Jesus does not ask that they be removed. He asks that they be kept, guarded in the Father’s name. That name is not an abstraction; it is revealed most fully at the cross. There, the Son is lifted up in shame and suffering, and there the Father’s saving will is accomplished. The unity Jesus prays for is not manufactured by human effort but given through His self-giving death. We are kept today the same way: by Christ crucified for us, praying for us still.
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