Do you remember Peter’s famous attempt to walk on water? He did it, for a few steps.
We can live in this world on our own for a little while. But then he noticed the storm, and the waves, and he began to sink. It happens to us all, eventually. When Peter began to sink, he cried out to Jesus: “Lord, save me.” And “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him” (Matthew 14:31).
Jesus wants nothing more than to reach out his hand and save us and all this world. And that is what he has done for us.
And now, now that we have made our way onto his lifeboat, now that we have been saved from this world by Jesus, he sends us back into the world. The words of this prayer immediately after “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” are these: “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
We have been sent into the world, in the same way that Jesus was sent into the world. Not to save the world, of course. But to introduce the savior to the world. To remind the world of God’s undying love for all this world.
This is the truth that anchors us in the storms of life, and that fills us with hope and faith. It is the truth that makes our joy complete, in the beautiful words of this prayer. It is the truth, our shared, objective truth, that has a name, and his name is Jesus.
Jesus. Our way, our truth, and our life. Who loves us, who died for us, and who prays for us. Then and now. Praying that we would be protected from evil.
Praying that we would be one. And praying that we would be so secure in his truth, that we would be able to rescue those around us, who are struggling to find a truth on which to rest, and to build a life of meaning and hope.
Jesus is that truth. And he asks that we share it with the world. Let us do so faithfully, to the glory of God. Amen
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