Chapter 17
In this Chapter Jesus talks to God asking Him to take care of his disciples after he is gone. He is praying that God would glorify him aka taking him back to Him and glorify his disciples, too.
As Beas explains “only a certain number of souls that are designated to be redeemed by a particular master are allotted to him by the Father. To those he gives eternal life. That eternal life is to know the Father and to merge back in Him through His Son, the living Master, who at that time was Jesus Christ.”
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
”I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.”
This passage nicely explains what the teacher’s job is, it is to create love and devotion in the souls whom God has allotted to him. Beas clarifies saying that “they were ours to begin with, before the creation, but then they became lost in this world, and You have them to me to lead them back to You. Now they have been attached to Your word and are on the path leading back to You.”
”I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.”
”… Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”
No teacher comes to the world to save it. As a matter of fact, nobody is in the world to save it. The world cannot be saved. Jesus s in the world not to interfere in its affairs but to pray for his disciples, for the allotted souls to be saved. He is begging that “Holy Father, show Your grace on them and keep them on the path…”
”I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
Jesus is pleading with God, asking Him again to take care of the disciples because now that they are attached to the Word and has lost interest in the world, the world does not like them anymore.
Furthermore, Jesus prays and poses very specific requests to God by asking Him not to take his disciples out of the world just yet, since they are not ready but prays them to be protected so Kal/Stan may not lead them astray.
It is lovely to see how concerned the teacher is about his disciples. And not only about his lot but about those who may come through the words they share.
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
“O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
I believe that many people mistakenly believe that they worship God in churches, synagogues, mosques or similar. However, until one contacts a living Master/a Teacher s/he cannot realize God. The teacher is the Word made flesh, the one sent by God. Upon contacting him, he attaches his disciples to God’s Love and “They are filled with my love and I am filled with Your love. In the same way the are all filled with Your love. It takes them ultimately to You. I want all to reach where I am going now.”
This chapter revealed to me the importance of the presence of a Master teacher who is already one with God and can lead the Seeker to the Word so s/he can find his/her way home to God.
When I consider the difference between what I can offer to Seekers as a Minister, I am very clear that I can ‘only’ be a light bearer; similar to a tour guide who shows the way by holding a torch or a sign and occasionally shouting “This way! This away!”