Made Different and Set Apart Together
5 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Jesus sets apart the disciples (and it applies to us here too!) to be separate from the world. There is a way that the world is, and the followers of Jesus are different.
Different translations use different words, and even Jesus moves between a few different words here to talk about “Sanctification.” We use the same root in the words sanctity and sanctuary when we talk about how something is set apart in a different way.
As we grow in the truth that Jesus is the Savior-King, we grow to think differently and act differently than we did when we thought we ourselves were the king. Even if we thought evil, or fear was the king, we acted on that and lived our lives according to that falsehood.
Now that we know the truth, the more we grow in the truth, the more different we become. We don’t become different just for the sake of being different, but as our priorities change, our choices change. Not bowling just because you think Christians don’t bowl doesn’t bring truth and life. Not bowling because you are too busy seeking to serve the poor on the Southside and you just don’t have time to bowl is entirely different. You might even start bowling in an effort to grow in the truth. That is another way that the truth might make you different.
Jesus sanctifies and separates Himself in this section also. He might be thinking of the way the firstborn male lamb was set apart under the Old Testament laws:
“All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.” Deuteronomy 15:19
As Jesus does this, He is setting Himself completely apart as a holy offering for the Lord. He knows that He is entirely different and has a different calling than the others. In this separation, His hope is to make the disciples fully sanctified.
He makes Himself special before the Lord, so that all who follow Him will fall in to that special group of those that follow Him.
Being different like Jesus was different is different for every one of us, as we are all growing in the truth and being different together. Find some friends and be different together as you grow in the truth of Jesus.