Why Jesus wants his people to be sanctified

It would seem an obvious point: Jesus wants his people to be sanctified, to be holy. Yes, quite so. In fact, he prays for just that in his great prayer in John 17:

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 17:17-19;TNIV)

But what does Jesus have in mind?

He links the setting apart (sanctification) of his disciples with his own act of being set apart. So he made himself holy so that we too could be holy? I think the emphasis in these verses is working in a slightly different direction. Jesus set himself apart for the work of God in order to see people redeemed and reconciled to God. And he expressly states here that just as he had been sent into the world by the Father on that mission and responded by sanctifying himself, so too he is sending them into the world.

So why is Jesus praying that his people be set apart for God? In order that they might be enabled and equipped to fulfil their calling to go into all the world with the good news. Set apart and sent out; that's us.

And notice too the crucial role played by God's Word in that whole process. What is the work that scripture is to do in our lives? To make us more like Jesus? Yes, but not simply in terms of moral rectitude, integrity of character and so forth; rather, along with those, to be more like Jesus in our commitment to, and sacrificial outworking of, the great mission of God.

If Jesus prayed for that, it would be good if we did too.