REFLECTIONS TODAY
In his high-priestly prayer in John, Jesus speaks of his protecting and guarding his disciples while he was with them during his ministry of preaching the Gospel.
The Synoptic Gospels present Jesus as defending his disciples against the accusations of the scholars of the Law and the Pharisees that these were not fasting, and that they were not observing the Sabbath rest and ritual cleanliness.
Jesus rescued his disciples from the storm in the Sea of Tiberias. He healed Mary Magdalene and other women of evil spirits and infirmities.
Now that he is returning to the Father, he asks God to keep them safe in the power of his name. He has also revealed to the disciples that they would not be left orphans as the Father will send them “another” advocate or helper like him: the Holy Spirit.
In particular, Jesus prays that the disciples be kept from the evil one—the most insidious enemy of God’s people. The “son of destruction” (v 12)— probably referring to Judas Iscariot—has already gone to the power of darkness. Being representatives of Jesus, the disciples will face the reality of a battle. They will have to live and work in the midst of opposition.
The “Evil One” (v 15) is the embodiment of all that is opposed to God, and of God’s ways and designs as revealed by Jesus (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:30). In the Lord’s Prayer, the last petition is for the Lord to deliver us from evil (Greek poneros).
Gospel • John 17:11b-19
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
“But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One.
“They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2026,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.