They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

John 17:15

Jesus prays for us – now and always.  His major prayer, it seems, is that we as his believers, his disciples and followers, need constant attention.

To begin, we need to think about the consequences of our new birth, our new life in Christ.  That work of the Spirit of God, receiving us in faith, is the most important thing in the heart of God and in us.  I must keep in mind that Jesus never presented himself as of this world, but as a stranger here. I suppose we could have expected that.  But Jesus, here in the hours before his death on the Cross reminds us that we will never get reconciled to the things of this world because we have been born into a new reality – by the Spirit of our Lord.

He goes on to explain that has come into the world to sanctify us.  In our time, these words say little.  But to Jesus and his disciples, they were the most important words that can be uttered.   Jesus came to sanctify himself.  That included the Cross the loomed before.im.

That is the way of sanctification, of cleansing, of purification, of separation.  Jesus endured the Cross to sanctify himself and us.

Even though we do not use the English word, sanctify, it is front and center in the plan of God and the heart of Jesus’ death and life for us.