#DailyDevotion May The Prayer Of Jesus Be Made Manifest To The World
John 176“I made Your name known to the people You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your Word. 7Now they know everything You gave Me comes from You, because I gave them the message 8You gave Me. And they have accepted it and learned the truth that I came from You, and have believed You sent Me. 9I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world but for those You gave Me, because they are Yours. 10All that is Mine is Yours, and what is Yours is Mine. And I am glorified in them. 11I 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 gave Me, so that they will be one as We are one.
The name of God is the presence of God. God put his name on the tabernacle and then on the temple in Jerusalem. In the Old Testament the name God the Israelites was Yahweh. He caused his name to dwell there with his people. Now Jesus has revealed another name of God. He is our Father, Jesus is the son, and then there is the Holy Spirit. We put that name on those who come to holy baptism and they become temples of God. So as Jesus tells us, the kingdom of God is within each of us who bear his name. We don’t need to go a temple or anywhere else to be in the presence of God to worship because we are his temple. Then also together, each of us is a living stone that make up one larger temple of God. He calls us to join together for worship as his holy, royal priesthood and temple.
We see here that those who have to come to faith in Jesus Christ belonged to the Father and are given to Christ Jesus and belong to him. Jesus gives us the word, the teaching given to him by the Father. This word creates faith in our hearts which trust Christ. Because we belonged to the Father we receive Jesus’ word as the Father’s and so trust Jesus. We believe Jesus was sent by the Father to save, redeem, deliver and ransom us. Now we keep the word Jesus has given us, that is we treasure it, trust it and have begun to live our lives according to it for that word is our life. There are no secret teachings of Jesus. Everything Jesus has taught his apostles, they have taught the Church. The apostles had the teaching they received from Jesus and they had it written down so we may always know what Jesus had taught.
Jesus is glorified by and in us who trusts in him. We pray in his name. We give thanks in his name. We trust in his name. We are baptized in his name. We preach and teach in his name. We live, move and have our being in Jesus’ name. So Jesus is glorified in us.
Jesus prays to his Father to keep us in his name and to keep us as one even as Jesus and the Father are one. Indeed, the true Church is always one. We may not always be able to see the unity we have with one another, hence it is an article of faith. So we confess with St. Paul in Ephesians 44“one body and one Spirit – even as you have been called to share one hope – 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, Who rules over us all, works through us all, and lives in us all.” May the LORD our God and Father indeed hear Jesus’ prayer and make all his disciples as one as God is one.
Heavenly Father, Jesus prayed that you would keep us by his name and make us one as you, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one. Ever make our unity in the faith manifest in the world so the world may see it, repent and believe in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.