11 I am no longer going to be in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name, which You have given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

Yesterday started Jesus’ prayer for the disciples that will continue today and tomorrow. We asked the question: What does Jesus ask the Father for when praying for His disciples. The list of items starts with v11.

Keep them in Your Name

The first thing Jesus asks the Father: keep the disciples “in Your Name”. Up to now, Jesus has kept them. Now He turns that over to the Father since He won’t be physically with them. 

What’s the Name?

First, what’s this Name? It belongs to the Father and is shared by the Son, Jesus. The Father gave it to Jesus. It allows the Father and Son to be one and makes it possible for the disciples to be one. This Name is above all names:

9 For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phillipians 2:9-11)

What does it mean to “keep”?

In verse 12 Jesus says he protected them and highlights Judas as the exception, the one who perished – as scripture foretold (Psalm 41:9, 109:8). This fits in the context of Jesus leaving. Up to now, He had been physically with them protecting them from evil. As He returns to Heaven, He asks the Father to pick up that role. The Father is quite capable as David wrote in Psalm 121: 7: “The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.”

Enabling Oneness

Jesus prayed for their oneness. “Their continued unity could not be assumed; it would make more sense for the disciples to scatter after the death of Jesus than it would for them to stay together…It is far more foolish for us to think we can keep ourselves or others in our own name, [by] our own effort or authority or will.” (enduringword.com)

RЯeflection

• Though there are things we need to do to “stay in the name” and to “keep oneness” with one another, we can rest in the knowledge that, “… it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)