Jesus, then, goes on in this prayer to ask for something else for us, that is also very important. “Sanctify them in the truth,” he prays. There are two key words in this part of the prayer: sanctify, and truth.
First, sanctify. Which literally means to be set apart.
Jesus is praying that we would be set apart. We do not belong to the world, he says in this prayer, just as he does not belong to this world. We do not belong to the world, but we are sent into the world, he also says. So, we are set apart from the world in order to be sent into the world.
Make sense? It’s a little confusing, but the picture I have is a bunch of people tossed into the ocean from a capsized vessel. They are all struggling to stay afloat. A few of them make their way onto lifeboats, and now they can help those who are still treading water.
We, as followers of Jesus, are on the lifeboats. We have been set apart in that way. We no longer “belong” to the ocean. We are still in the ocean, but not of the ocean. And so, we are in a unique position to help those still in the ocean, struggling to stay afloat.
The world can be a tough place to try and stay afloat. To put it obviously, there are many trials and tribulations in this world. As it has been famously said, we ought to be kinder than necessary, for everyone is fighting some sort of battle. And in my experience, that is exactly right.
The world is full of battles. But we are not of this world anymore. We follow Jesus. We know that our God loves us and all this world, and that makes all the difference. We have made our way onto the lifeboat, or more accurately, Jesus has lifted us onto his lifeboat. Now, we are in a unique position to help others.
“Set them apart in the truth,” Jesus prays. That we would be set apart, lifted onto his lifeboat. But also that we would be set apart “in the truth.” But what is the truth?
It is said that we live in a “post-truth world.” If you look it up, what that means is in our world there has been a “disappearance of shared objective standards for truth.” We all have our own truth in today’s world. We no longer share an objective standard truth. The slogan of our time is “live your truth.”
But I don’t believe that Jesus would agree with this. In fact, what he says in this prayer is what I believe he would still say to us today, he would still pray for us today: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” God’s Word is the truth. It is our shared objective standard for truth.
We might quibble about how to interpret parts of God’s Word, but there should be no argument about its basic point: that God created us, and loves us; but without Jesus, we are all drowning.
We are treading water in the ocean that is this world, and it is pulling us under. And everything that this world might offer for help is also sinking. There is only one lifeboat, there is only one savior. But he wants nothing more than to save us, all of us.
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