Have you ever noticed a time when the way that you think has set you apart from those around you?
This a pretty common occurrence in life if you think about it. Depending on how we think we are set apart in different groups or sometimes by ourselves. If you think a certain way you are set apart as a democrat or a republican. Depending on how you think you are set apart as a caregiver, a lawyer, a business person, a member of the armed forces. The way that we think, the instruction that we accept in our lives, and the opinions of different people that we choose to agree with changes who we are and sets apart from some people and brings us together with others.
I think this is what Jesus was getting at in John 17 when he prays that his Father would sanctify the apostles and those that come after them with the truth that is in the word of God. I was trying to figure out what it meant to be sanctified by truth and it seems that truth must change us in some way if we are to be sanctified by it. The word sanctified means to be set a part. So in some way when we accept the word of God they are set apart from others.
Jesus goes on to say that the world will hate his disciples because they are not a part of the world, just as he was not a part of the world and so the world hated him. It is the acceptance of the word of God that sets the disciples apart from the world. By believing in that Jesus is sent from God would naturally bring animosity between the disciples and the jewish community in which they lived. But its more than this because eternal life, according to this passage, is about knowing God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. So the disciples are also set apart for eternal life.
While they are set apart from the world they are brought together with one another and with God. Jesus prays that they would be one as he and the Father are one. He prays not only for the disciples but for all those who come after them that have believed in their message. Jesus prays that all believers, Christians, would be united together in his name and the love of the Father. Set apart from the world yet united in Christ as we accept his words, the words the Father gave to him and the same words which has passed on to us.
Jesus does not, however, pray that his disciples would be removed from the world. They are set apart by how they think and who they know, but they are not to be physically removed from the world. They are to spread the message so that the number of people united in Christ will grow. So the trick is to come to know God and be set apart from the world in the way that we think united with Christ and our fellow believers and yet not to withdraw ourselves from the world around us, but to invite them into this new mindset (even though they may hate us at first).
Wow, what a situation, no wonder Jesus is praying for us! At the end of the chapter Jesus prays that it will be through his name and through the love of the Father that believers will be united. So it comes down to love. The words that Jesus was given by the Father are words of love to a world that is lost and broken. We may be set apart by choosing to believe in Jesus, but we are still drawn to those who are different than us because of the love of God for the world.
May we be transformed, changed, sanctified, set apart in a new way of living, eternal life, united in Christ, and may we be drawn to those who are different from us by the love of God so they too can be united with Christ.
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