All Mine Are Yours
A Reflection on John 17:1-13
At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do; and now, Father, you glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.
“I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you; for I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you did send me.
I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are mine; all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”
RSV John 17:1-13
Today, as we remember the First Council of Nicaea, our attention is drawn to the unity of God as three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The proclamation of the First Council is that the Father and the Son are of one Essence and inseparable, revealing to us that all that each Person of the Trinity does is accomplished in perfect unity and love.
Today’s Gospel reading sheds light on why this proclamation of the Father and Son being one is so important: it is through their relationship that we are saved. When God enters His creation and offers us the whole of Himself through the Passion, He also raises us in the Resurrection, elevating humanity to His loving and saving presence.
The whole reading is a prayer from the Son to the Father. We hear Christ begin by stating:
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given Him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him.”
The glorification spoken of is His coming Passion, for it is through the Passion that God takes on the final enemy that bound us: sin and its ultimate consequence, death. It is the role of the Son, out of love, to unite us with the Father, for ultimately we are all God’s people.
Christ defines what eternal life is when He states:
“This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
Knowing and being known by God leads to eternal life, emphasizing that our journey is rooted in the relationship within the Trinity, making this knowledge central to our faith and growth in Christ. Without unity with God, we lack the love He shares with us and have no way of receiving life in His presence. Thus, the Father sends us the Son so that we may be led to His saving presence.
The Son glorifies the Father by sharing in the saving will and actions of our God. Christ states further:
“I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work which You gave me to do; and now, Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory which I had with You before the world was made.”
Remember, the Father and the Son are one, for the Son was there in the beginning, bringing all things into creation. From the beginning, the Son is at work with the Father, and we see the saving acts of the Father and the Son continue through the Incarnation and, subsequently, through His Church. Thus, everything the Son does is for the glory of the Father, and true glory is rooted in the presence of our heavenly Father.
What this relationship tells us is that if all things are from the Father, as recognized through the Son, we too are called to give glory to the Father in all we do, for He is the One giving us all we need to turn to Him and share His gifts as collaborators in this world, His vineyard.
Continuing with the motif of our call to glorify God in the way that God gives honor and glory to us, Christ states:
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave me out of the world; Yours they were, and You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word. Now they know that everything that You have given me is from You; for I have given them the words which You gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from You; and they have believed that You sent me.”
We all belong to God, and Christ reminds us of His name. Remember, in the Lord’s Prayer, Christ shows us that we can call upon God as our Father.
It is through the Son that we are reminded of the Father and His love for us, and so we meet the Father through the Son. The Son also reveals to us the Spirit, whom in a week we will honor as being poured out upon all flesh to animate us to new life in God’s presence. God gives us all we need for life in Him through the Son, and the Son constantly leads us to the knowledge of the Father. Thus, the belief we hold is rooted in the revelation of God’s love for us, given to us through the presence and saving ministry of the Son.
This past week, we celebrated the Ascension of our Lord to the glory of the Father. Oftentimes, there is a misconception about the Ascension: that our Lord somehow “blipped off” into the sky and that now we struggle to see Him.
This misconception may lead us, as it often has for me, to believe that God has abandoned us. Yet this distortion flies in the face of what our Lord states next, for He proclaims:
“I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom You have given me, for they are mine; all mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.”
We are our Lord’s, and out of His love for us, He is actively praying for us, calling upon the Father to continue to glorify us as He has through the Son. The Son gives us glory through service, and we see that He also glorifies us in prayer. And now He states:
“I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”
Yes, we are in the world, and in this state it may seem at times as though we are separated from God; yet we are always kept in the name of God so that we may be one with Him, just as God is one God in three distinct Persons. We become fully who we are called to be in the presence of God. We are constantly becoming, and it is in this journey that we see God provides for every need.
We then hear Christ conclude this prayer by stating:
“While I was with them, I kept them in Your name, which You have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the Son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to You; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”
While He was with us in His earthly ministry, Christ constantly kept us in the name of the Father, guarding us against sin and the Devil, as represented in the Son of perdition. He guards us so that none of us is lost, for He is the Good Shepherd who constantly pursues all who are lost from the flock. Now, in coming to the Father, we see the fulfillment of all that Christ has spoken, for we have truly become His people.
God does not abandon us; we see this throughout the whole Gospel, and indeed throughout the whole of Scripture. God gives us what we need in dynamic ways so that we may have true life in His presence.
As Paul the Apostle tells us, the Church is the Body of Christ, meaning that we image Christ to a darkened world when we come together in service centered in His love. God, after the Ascension, sends us the Holy Spirit at Pentecost — the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who is everywhere present and fills all things — to animate us and direct our steps toward the salvation He offers.
The Son, in His earthly ministry, calls us to the presence of our Father and continues to pray for us while caring for us as the Good Shepherd. He works in tandem with the Spirit to mend our wounds and ultimately heal our relationship with God. This is only possible because the Father, Son, and Spirit are one God, for when we encounter one Person of the Trinity, we experience the fullness of God.
What this all means for our lives is that Christ has come so that we may know God in the same unity shared by the Father, Son, and Spirit. As God is one, we are called to become one with God, and we do so by centering our lives upon His life-giving presence. God serves us in His love, and we are called to receive that gift, share that gift with others, and ultimately direct it to the glory of God.
When we call out to God, we see that He is giving us all we need. When we glorify Him in constant prayer, we recognize that, in both the good and the difficult, His goodness is revealed to us all.
God never abandons His people, and we see through the revelation of the Son that God is always going above and beyond to call us back to true life in His presence. Thus, it is our calling to seek Him always so that we may give Him glory and receive the true glory of life eternal, which He continues to offer us.
We are never alone, for God meets us where we are to offer us life in His presence. Therefore, it is our calling to pursue this true life with the whole of our being, for to Him alone belong glory, honor, and worship, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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