Father, consecrate them in the truth so that they may be one just as you and I are one. Another petition that is found in the Prayer of Jesus is Jesus’ request to the Father to gift the disciples with the grace to persevere in holiness (consecration). The disciples, having said YES to the summons by Jesus, have been set apart (consecration means to set apart, to make holy) for a special mission. Jesus is only too aware that a successful carrying out of the mission is dependent on the disciples remaining “set-apart.” Consequently, Jesus prays to the Father that the disciples’ consecration be after his (Jesus’) very own. He wants it to be a setting apart just as he was set apart, that is, in the world, but not of it, otherwise their consecration would not be true and would thus not maintain. For this reason, he prays that the disciples be set apart IN HIM (vs. 17: consecrate them IN THE TRUTH. Jesus had earlier on said that he is the TRUTH: “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” [John 14:6]). In other words, Jesus is praying that the disciples be totally immersed in him.
Apart from Jesus, the mission of a disciple is null and void, for Jesus IS the mission. Just as Jesus became the face of God and revealed God to us, so is a disciple the face of Jesus. It is the mission of the disciple to reveal the face of Jesus to the world. Jesus was able to reveal the face of God because he and the Father were one. In like manner, a disciple will succeed in revealing Jesus to the world if he/she and Jesus remain one. It is for this (mission) that a disciple is set apart. And it is for this that a disciple must remain set apart in Jesus Christ.