Jesus’ Prayer for Those Who Remain in the World

Today’s Gospel begins with a prayer. Jesus looks up toward heaven and prays. He entrusts to the Father those who will remain in the world after he is gone. Jesus says, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.” In the Gospel of John, this “hour” is the moment when Jesus moves toward the cross. It is not a moment of earthly victory. It is not the triumph of power over enemies. The glory Jesus speaks about is something very different.

The world often mistakes success, recognition, and power for glory. To rise higher, to possess more, to stand above others—these are often seen as signs of greatness. But the glory of Jesus shines in a different place. It is revealed in love that does not turn away. It is not the power that pushes others aside in order to protect oneself. It is the love that gives itself for the sake of others. The cross held violence, mockery, and fear. Yet even there, Jesus did not let go of the love of God. At the very place where human darkness became deepest, the love of God became most visible.

Through Jesus, we see what God is like. God is not only on the side of the strong. God does not pass by the wounded. God searches for those who are lost and stays near those who no longer have the strength to speak. The Psalm speaks of God in this way: “Father of orphans, defender of widows, God in his holy habitation!” The holiness of God is not far away from ordinary life. It appears in love that draws near to the unprotected, and in mercy that refuses to pass by the weak. In Jesus, we meet the heart of that God.

Jesus then speaks about eternal life: “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Eternal life is not only something that begins after death. Of course, we believe that death is not the end. We trust that the love of God is stronger than death. But Jesus does not speak of eternal life only as something far away in the future. He says that eternal life is to know God. Here, knowing does not mean gathering information or giving correct explanations. It is more like the understanding that grows between two people who have lived together for many years. They know one another through trust, love, and shared life. To know God is like that. As we slowly learn the heart of God through Jesus Christ, we come to know God more deeply.

Then eternal life has already begun within us. Fear no longer controls us completely. Failure does not become the end of the story. Even when death is real, we trust that death cannot overcome the love of God.

Now Jesus prays for his disciples: “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.” Jesus is returning to the Father, but the disciples remain in the world. And the world they remain in is filled with misunderstanding, conflict, and fear. Sometimes people begin with good intentions and still end up wounded. Sometimes honest people suffer loss. We long for peace, yet hearts drift apart, and life can feel heavy.

But Jesus does not ask the Father to remove the disciples from the world. Instead, he prays that they may be protected within it: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me.” Jesus does not pray for every difficulty to disappear. He prays that his followers will not forget who they belong to while living in this world. He prays that they will not lose love in the midst of fear, and that even when shaken, they will not collapse completely.

Then Jesus prays again: “that they may be one, as we are one.” What Jesus asks for is unity. But the unity Jesus desires is not sameness. The Church is made up of different people. We come from different lives. We think differently. We express our hearts in different ways. Some speak quickly. Some wait quietly. Some move fast. Others move slowly.

Jesus did not pray for those differences to disappear. He prayed that his people might become one. To become one does not mean that everyone thinks the same way. It means that different people continue to hold on to one another within the love of Christ. Instead of insisting only on our own opinions, we learn to seek the will of God together. Unity does not come because everything always fits together perfectly. It comes because the love of Christ is greater than we are. If the Church is to witness to Christ in the world, then we must first learn how to remain together in love, even in our differences. That unity itself becomes a witness to the world.

The prayer of Jesus continues into the life of the disciples after the resurrection. In the Book of Acts, the disciples are not yet fully prepared people. They ask Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” They want to know the timing. They want to know when restoration will come and when uncertainty will end. Jesus answers, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.”

At first, those words may sound a little cold. But in another way, they lift a burden from our shoulders. We do not need to carry the weight of controlling every outcome and every timetable in life. Jesus tells the disciples to leave those things in the Father’s hands. Instead, he gives them another promise: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” Jesus does not explain the whole future to them. Instead, he promises strength for today. Not the power to rule over the world, but the strength to live as witnesses within it.

A witness is not someone who knows everything. A witness is someone who lives out what they have seen and heard. The disciples did not become witnesses because they were perfect. Through the prayer of Jesus and the strength of the Holy Spirit, they slowly became witnesses. After Jesus ascended, the disciples stood looking up toward heaven. Then two men in white robes asked them why they were standing there looking up toward heaven. Faith means lifting our eyes toward heaven. But if we only keep looking upward, we may lose sight of the life we are called to live here and now. To believe in Christ is not to escape reality. It is to return to the world with new eyes because we have looked toward him.

The disciples returned to Jerusalem and gathered in the upstairs room. The apostles were there, but not only them. Mary the mother of Jesus was there. Other women were there. The brothers of Jesus were there also. Acts tells us that all of them were constantly devoting themselves to prayer. That is how the Church began. Not with powerful people gathered around a table. Not with people whose fears had completely disappeared. The Church began among people who prayed together while many things were still uncertain and while the Lord could no longer be seen with their eyes.

That waiting was not empty time. It was the time in which God was reshaping them. They did not stand still gazing only at heaven. They returned to Jerusalem. They stayed together. They prayed together. They waited for the promise of the Lord.

The Lord knows that we remain in the world. He knows our weakness. He knows the worries we carry. And so he entrusts us to the Father. The same prayer still holds us: protect them, and make them one. This prayer was not only for the disciples long ago. It is also a prayer for the Church today. It is a prayer for us.

The Lord has left us in the world, but he has not abandoned us. He has returned to the Father, yet he has not become distant from us. Even now, he prays for us and renews us through the Holy Spirit. And so we live today within the prayer of Jesus: faithfully receiving the day given to us, cherishing the people beside us, and remaining in the world as witnesses of Christ.

Amen.