John 17:11a

“Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

It’s a word we could easily skip right past. It means “to have or retain possession of. To cause to continue in a specified condition, position, course, etc.” The word is keep, and it is pregnant with meaning in Jesus’ prayer…and in our lives as his followers.

Keep up.

Keep it safe.

Keep an eye on the kids.

Keep it for as long as you need it.

The disciples definitely needed keeping, as Jesus was about to leave them. Can you imagine how traumatic that was for them? Three years of almost constant companionship, teaching, leadership, friendship, and protection. Your long-awaited Messiah is taken from you by force, abused, humiliated, falsely accused, and then executed. Then, after three days, he miraculously rises from the grave! Once again, he is walking with you and talking with you and then…he leaves…again? Is he coming back? How soon? What do we do in the meantime? Who do we follow? Who will guide us?

Jesus knew that the disciples would need keeping…as much as we do in the present age. The world, the flesh, and the devil are doing all that they can to pull us away from the LORD. To get us off track. To discourage us…and in some cases, to kill us. Do you really think we are capable of keeping ourselves? Charles Spurgeon remarked that, “You have been redeemed; but you must still be kept. You have been regenerated; but you must be kept. You are pure in heart and hands; but you must be kept.” We need Jesus’ prayer for the Father to keep us:

From division.

From error.

From sin.

From hypocrisy.

From deception.

From despair.

From idolatry.

From wandering.

Finally, Jesus asks the LORD to keep us so that “they may be one.” I don’t think our nation has been this divided since the Civil War…and the Church isn’t fairing much better. We are a deeply divided body, arguing over masks and politics and our place and role in the nation we call home. Yet, Christ prays for us to be as unified as He and the Father are? How is that even possible? Only through the Name that is above every name. Jesus asks the Father to keep us…and we should be asking for the same. We simply can’t do it on our own.