“Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth” John 17:17
The verb to “consecrate” is not a commonly used word in modern English, outside of the Church. According to Webster's dictionary, the action verb, Consecrate, means “to make or declare sacred.” A person’s position, like a priest, can be consecrated, or a building, like a church, can be consecrated. In this passage, Jesus is praying directly to the Father about his disciples, both those who he knew in his earthly ministry, and those who will come after. “I pray not only for them, but also those who will believe in me through their word” (John 17:20). Jesus is praying for us to be consecrated!
In this entire chapter, Jesus is praying for humanity. He praises the unity that he has with the Father, and he prays that his Disciplines (both present and future) will be united to God and each other. Jesus says, “I speak this in the world so that they may know my joy completely” (John 17:13). In his prayer, Jesus is explaining how his Incarnation models the divine unity of humanity with God, and that this unity is the source of joy. Webster’s dictionary defines Joy as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” In other words, having what we truly want starts with us being united to God through Jesus.
Most people envision God as some distant “man upstairs”.
However, Jesus was God, and he came down to earth. His incarnation brought “the Kingdom of Heaven” to earth. “Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, [Jesus] said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you”(Luke 17: 20-21).
Fr. Richard Rohr writes in his book, The Universal Christ (2019, p. 110): “Once the real inner journey begins--once you come to know that in Christ, God is forever overcoming that gap between human and divine--the Christian path becomes less about climbing and performance, and more about letting go and unlearning. Knowing and loving Jesus is largely about becoming fully human, wounds and all, instead of ascending spiritually or thinking we can remain unwounded.”
By praying for us to be consecrated through the word of God, Jesus is showing us a way to receive and accept the unity with God that he modeled during his lifetime. He shows us, and he prays for us, to know the truth that there is no “gap” between God and humanity. Jesus says, “Father they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am, they may also be with me” (John 17:24). It is amazing to think that Jesus considers us “gifts”. We are that dearly loved! He is not issuing judgement, and rules. He is praying for divine unity, “that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (John 17:26).
Through meditating on the sacred words of Jesus, and all of the biblical scriptures, we open a consecrated space in our hearts. We can pray for unity with God through the Holy Spirit, as Jesus modeled in this prayer. A daily meditation practice in the Word will enable us to experience divine unity in “Spirit and Truth.” This unity with God will give us the joy and love that Jesus so beautifully prayed for us to have in our lives.
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