“I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”
John 17:15-16 (NAB)
This scripture is just one line taken from Jesus’ lengthy prayer for His church before He went to the cross. His prayer is literally the entire 17th chapter of John’s gospel. It’s fascinating to see how Jesus once prayed for us. He even thanked His Father, calling us a gift. (John 17:24) He prayed that while we remain in this world, we won’t belong to it and that we would be kept from the evil one. We live between two worlds, doing the will of God while we are here and resisting evil in a world that is ruled by the devil. In His prayer for us, Jesus asserts that He and His church are in the world, but are not “of” the world. If we are in the world but not of the world, then we dwell in a place between two worlds. Whenever we feel like we are stuck in a middle place, we can remember what Jesus said. We might be between two places, two longings, feeling two loyalties to two different worlds, but we continue to seek God’s will for our lives. That’s when we remember that Jesus prayed for us. He prayed, asking His Father to keep us from the evil one, while we remain in this world. Isn’t it good to know that Jesus once prayed for us? He was also very familiar with being in the middle. He was in a middle place between the self righteous, aloof Pharisees and a group of simple, carnal minded disciples. Both groups were people He loved and came to give His life for. One group took the commandments to extremes having no compassion, and the other group was full of compassion for Jesus but didn’t quite get the point of what He was teaching them. Jesus, being divine, surely loved both groups and felt deep grief for their souls, which led Him to pray that His followers would carry on the faith as He intended. We can sometimes feel like we’re in the middle, between those who share our faith and those who don’t, especially among friends and family. At the last supper Jesus sat between Judas, His betrayer and John, His friend who adored Him. John demonstrated constant affection for Jesus and Judas pretended to love Him but sold Him out behind His back. Then He was in the middle as He died between two crucified criminals, one who cursed Him and the other who repented and believed in Him. Jesus knew what it was like to be stuck in the middle.
Paul was in the middle as he felt torn between two worlds, one here on earth full of sinners who needed to hear the gospel, or the afterlife where he could be in perfect peace with the Lord, who he loved and longed for. He summed up his feeling by saying, “To live is Christ, but to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
Being in the middle is not an easy place to be. Some believers who converted to faith in Jesus, came out of a background of Judaism or Islam. They now live between two worlds; a personal love for Jesus as Lord, and their love for their family and friends, who have completely disowned them for leaving the faith. It’s a huge cross to bear, when receiving Jesus alienates someone from those who they love. It leaves them stuck between two worlds. That is what Jesus meant when He said “I didn’t come to bring peace in the world, but a sword.” He warned that a person’s enemies could be the ones in their own household. (Matthew 10:34-36)
Yet, if God is for us, who can be against us? We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Whatever position we find ourselves in, when it feels like we are between two worlds, or when we feel stuck in some kind of a middle place, we are not there alone. Jesus is there with us, He already prayed for us and with Him all things are possible. Thomas More once said “Times are never so bad that a good man cannot live in them.” A good man or a good woman has the Spirit of Christ living within them, and greater is He that is living within us than He that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
Lord strengthen us who feel stuck in the middle today to do your will and bring all who are around us to a saving faith in you. Amen