For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. – John 7:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 17, 2014): John 17

Is there anything that you will give your life for? The question itself makes us extremely uncomfortable in the West. And it is what we don’t seem to understand about some of the terrorist forces who are active in the Middle East. If we ask the question to someone who has spent their lives in Europe or North America, most likely we would be greeted with blank stares and silence. We really don’t have an answer. But if we ask someone from the Middle East, the answer is quick – they are willing to die for God and Country. And that is simply something that the cultural West struggles to understand. (It is also the reason why any wars we fight in the Middle East are going to be long struggles. We may have the advantage in weaponry, but overcoming a willingness to die for a cause is difficult, even with the superior weaponry we possess. And it is also probably impossible to overcome without boots on the ground.)

Jesus says that it is for those who choose to follow him that he sanctifies himself. Ordinarily the word would indicate the process of making something holy; the act of being prepared to be set apart for use by God. It is a word that is applied to the instruments and tools used in the Temple. But the struggle we have with what Jesus says is that he was already holy and set apart for use by God – he was the Son of God, and there is no way that he could become holier.

So what exactly is Jesus meaning when he says “I sanctify myself?”  The best answer to the question is that Jesus was in the act of consecrating himself as he was preparing to make the big sacrifice for our sin. And by consecrating himself, he made it possible for those that followed to also be sanctified and made free from the penalty of our sins. By his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

But if we apply the word consecrate to the act of Jesus in sanctifying himself, don’t we also have to apply it to the followers who are sanctified as a result of this act of Jesus. And the answer has to be yes. The Christian Church has no room to cry out about our religious rights. The Church, and all of the followers of Christ inside of her, has been set apart and consecrated so that the world can be saved. We have no rights, except the right sacrifice and serve the world in which we live, so that all might know and experience the love of God – and may be saved.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew 27