John 17:1-11 (NRSV)
Read John 17:1-11 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 17After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, Verse 2since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. Verse 3And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Verse 4I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. Verse 5So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
Verse 6"I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Verse 7Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; Verse 8for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. Verse 9I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. Verse 10All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
Verse 11And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
Devotion
Today, I invite you to an embodied visualization of our gospel reading. Jesus prepares the disciples for a time when he is no longer with them. He’s counting on them—and us—to continue his mission. As you read the poem, visualize Christ blessing the named body parts and gently brush your fingertips across them.
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
(from Teresa of Avila, 1515–1582)
Prayer
Abba/Imma, you bless all that you have created and call us good. May our bodies—hands and feet and eyes—bring Christ into the lives of those you have given us to love. Amen.
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