The World - John 17:6-16

He’s made it clear to his disciples that this is it, he’s going home, so Jesus turns his prayer to those who will be left behind to carry out the work. He says that “Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.” They have been following Jesus for the last 3 years, learning from him and becoming the types of people needed to take the gospel to the whole world after Jesus leaves. It must have been encouraging for his disciples to hear their Master sing their praises to the God of the universe. He prays for them because they believe in Him. This prayer Jesus is giving right now is compared to the prayer that Jesus offered when he visited the Americas in 3 Nephi 19:28-29, which is incredibly similar and gives further insight.

There is a phrase in verse 12 that has me wondering about the meaning. He says, “those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.” I thought he was initially just talking to His Father about the disciples that stood with him at that moment, but it seems here that he’s talking about everyone who has ever and will ever live, except the “son of perdition.” I guess there are two ways of looking at this, first is that Jesus is just speaking about his disciples, that none are lost, except Judas Iscariot, referred to here as the “son of perdition.” And/or he could also be talking about saving all mankind, except the “son of perdition” who will refuse to be saved. This would also be an accurate description because all who are willing to be saved are given by the Father to Jesus for redemption.
I like the second scenario better because I really don’t want to believe that Judas is an unrepentant son of perdition. I guess it’s kind of unusual to be so concerned with Judas’ outcome, but I think it’s because I feel like I have betrayed the Savior, not just once, but many times and now that I’ve repented and gone back to the Savior I’m so happy and from one betrayer to another, I just want that experience for anyone who feels like they can’t come back, especially Judas. I know I’ve quoted it many times here, but the IM quotes President Joseph F. Smith as teaching, “To my mind it strongly appears that not one of the disciples possessed sufficient light, knowledge nor wisdom, at the time of the crucifixion for either exaltation or condemnation.” When I consider what the scriptures say about the knowledge and understanding someone must have in order to fully recognize that they are denying the very truth, I’m not convinced that many, if any, people in this life are equipped to make that eternally damning choice.
The phrase isn’t specifically stated here, but there is a lot of play with the words, “in the world but not of the world.” We’ve heard this statement made several times and it used to be so confusing for me because I took it to mean, run away from the world screaming, but then the idea of living in the mountains away from society, eating bugs didn’t seem like what the Savior would want us to be doing either. But the IM gives an excellent quote by Elder M. Russell Ballard as teaching, “First, ‘Be in the world.’ Be involved; be informed. Try to be understanding and tolerant and to appreciate diversity. Make meaningful contributions to society through service and involvement. Second, ‘Be not of the world.’ Do not follow wrong paths or bend to accommodate or accept what is not right… In spite of all of the wickedness in the world, and in spite of all the opposition to good that we find on every hand, we should not try to take ourselves or our children out of the world. Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven,’ or yeast. We are to lift the world and help all to rise above the wickedness that surrounds us. The Savior prayed to the Father: ‘I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil.’ Members of the Church need to influence more than we are influenced. We should work to stem the tide of sin and evil instead of passively being swept along by it. We each need to help solve the problem rather than avoid or ignore it.” I love that, I feel like it explains exactly what our roles are in society as followers of Christ.