John 17 - First Nations Version

HE PRAYS FOR HIS FOLLOWERS

¹ When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was finished speaking to his followers, he lifted his eyes to the spirit-world above and sent his voice to the Great Spirit. “O Great Father,” he prayed, “it is time for you to bring honor to your Son, so he may bring honor to you.

² You have put all human beings under the care of your Son, so he can give them the life of the world to come that never fades away, full of beauty and harmony.

³ This life comes from knowing you, the only true and Great Spirit, and from knowing the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the one you have sent into this world.

⁴ “I have brought you honor on earth by finishing the work you sent me to do.

⁵ It is now time, my Father, for you to honor me with the beauty I shared at your side before you created all things.

⁶ “I have shown who you truly are to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours and you trusted me with them, and they have walked in your ways.

⁷ They now know that everything I have comes from you.

⁸ The message you gave to me I have given to them. They have welcomed the truth about who I am and trust that you sent me.

⁹ These are the ones I now pray for. I am not praying for the ones who walk in the ways of the world, but for the ones you gave to me, for they belong to you.

¹⁰ My followers bring honor to me. They are a gift from you, a gift we share together.

¹¹ “Since I am returning to you, I will no longer be in the world, but my followers will still be here. O Father of all that is holy, watch over them with the loving care that we share with one another. In this way, they will also share the love that makes us one.

¹² “During my time on earth representing you, I kept them safe in your loving care. Not one of them has been lost, except for the one foretold in the Sacred Teachings, the one doomed to a bad end.

¹³ “I am returning to you now. But while I am still here, I pray for my followers, so they may share in my joy.

¹⁴ Your message, which I gave them, has taken root in their hearts. Like me, they have chosen not to walk in the ways of this world, and so the world hates them.

¹⁵ I am not asking you to remove them from the world but that you keep them safe from the evil one and his ways.

¹⁶ They no longer belong to the ways of this world, any more than I do.

¹⁷ Make them holy through the beautiful message of your truth.

¹⁸ “You sent me into the world, and now, in the same way, I send them into the world.

¹⁹ I set my life apart for them in a sacred manner, so they may also set their lives apart to walk in the beauty of your truth.

²⁰ “My prayers are not only for them, but for all who will trust in me through their message.

²¹ I pray that all who walk with me will be joined together as one, in the same way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you—that they may be one in us. This is how the world will believe that you have sent me.

²² “The beauty you gave to me I have given to them. This will join them together with us.

²³ In the same way you are in me, I will be in them, beautifully joined together as one. This is the reason you sent me into this world, to show that you love them just as you love me.

²⁴ “O Great Father, I want the ones you have given to me to share this place of beauty that I have with you, so they can see the power of your love for me, a love that we shared before you created all things.

²⁵ “O Father of all that is good and right, the world does not know you, but I know you, and my followers know you sent me.

²⁶ I have represented and will always represent who you truly are so that the love you have for me will be in them and I will live in them also.”