Had to go... take charge here!

John 17:6-19
17:6 "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
17:7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you;
17:8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
17:9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.
17:10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
17:11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
17:12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
17:13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.
17:14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
17:15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
17:16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
17:18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Today’s Gospel reading is about Jesus praying to God to protect us from the evils of the world. Jesus is about to go back to the Father and he is making sure that when he leaves this world that his followers will be guided on how to carry on the work. It is just like how we work here in our department here in the hospital. Our chairperson has other stuff to attend to and we know that she can’t be with us all the time. But before she leaves the office in the morning, she instructs those who will be left on what to do the rest of the day and the following days that she won’t be around. Our chairperson makes sure that the activities and services offered by the department will continue smoothly despite her absence. Our chairperson knows that problems may arise in the course of our work and so she prays that we will have the wisdom and courage to overcome them. Just like how Jesus prayed to the Father to ask for protection from evil. We must continue to do our work and not be delayed by problems and challenges we face. Us residents are given different tasks to make sure that the work must go on.

As Christian doctors, we are also given by our Head Doctor (that is Jesus) what we need to do to continue his ministry during his “absence.” The first thing that Jesus asks the Father in heaven is to protect us from potential evils that we will encounter that may delay or prevent us from doing our work. What challenges do we face in our workplace that sometimes pushes us to quit and not do our job? What evils have made us stumble in our responsibilities as Christian witnesses? What evils have made us neglect our duty to become the extension of God’s healing ministry?   

  When Jesus called us to be his instrument of healing, he had a tasked us to do his work. Just as Jesus had given work to the disciples when he went back to heaven, we are also given work to accomplish. What are the task that Christian doctors must continue to do? As Christian doctors, what concrete ways can we witness to our faith?

As we continue to celebrate Eastertide, let us not forget that the resurrection of Jesus does not end in his victory over death. Christ victory means our victory. It is the beginning of the fulfilment of the promise.  The return of Jesus to the Father also highlights to us the task that has been commissioned to us. Just as the Father has sent Jesus, so are we being sent to continue the work of God. Just like what our Chair reminds us as she leaves, I hear Jesus saying, "had to go... take charge here!"