Magnificent Exchange

The other day I came across this amazing statement from Jesus and it made me stop and consider something profound.

The statement comes in the middle of a long section where Jesus is praying to the Father just before he goes to the cross. It’s an incredibly moving and inspirational prayer that allows us an opportunity to listen in on how Jesus prays and right in the middle of it all he says this:

“All I have is yours and all that’s yours is mine.” – Jesus [John 17:10]

Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever really noticed this verse before, and if so I certainly never stopped to consider what Jesus meant by this and what implications it might have for my own life.

Just before he says this, Jesus says to the Father:

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” [John 17:6-9]

Simply put, Jesus is praying for the disciples here. When he says “they” or “them” he’s referring to Peter, James, John, and the rest of the disciples. He says he is praying for “those you have given me, for they are yours” which means the disciples, specifically were given to Jesus by the Father and yet they still remain the Father’s. [Are you following this?]

So, the Father gave Jesus these disciples and even though the Father gave them to Jesus, they still belong to the Father. That’s when Jesus drops this last part which is what I found so interesting:

“All I have is yours and all that’s yours is mine.” [in v. 10]

That means, in context, that NOT ONLY did the disciples first belong to the Father and were then given to Jesus and yet still belonged to the Father, but now Jesus adds this last bit that says, in essence: Everything I have is actually yours and everything that belongs to me is yours, too.

It’s such an amazing display of complete and total trust, isn’t it?

Can you imagine praying this exact same prayer yourself?

“Dear Father God, all I have is yours now, and I know that all that you have is mine now, too.”

That, my friends, is deep stuff.

I think it says that when we truly surrender all, we can fully receive everything that God has for us.

There’s a lot there to mediate on, actually. What is the relationship between my letting go of everything and my ability to receive everything that belongs to God?

It’s a powerful question. Maybe it means that if all I have isn’t His, then what belongs to Him isn’t yet mine? There’s the idea of opening our hands to allow God to take away or put into our hands whatever He thinks best.

What if we thought of it the other way around, though? What if the reason Jesus could so easily say “All I have is yours” is because He was already aware of the fact that all God has was his?

I tend to think of things conditionally. Like, when/if I make this huge sacrifice and let go of everything, THEN I’ll get to enjoy the blessings of all that belongs to God being imparted to my account.

But what if  it doesn’t work like that? What if we simply start with the realization of the truth that we are already recipients of all that belongs to God? Now how hard is it for you to give up your petty little objects of affection? You’re already the inheritor of “all that belongs to God”! This means you have received inexpressible joy and love that transcends knowledge and peace that passes understanding and mercies that are new every morning and grace so amazing it boggles the mind.

This is exactly what Jesus was alluding to in the Parable of the Prodigal Son when the Father tells the older brother: 

“’My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” [Luke 15:31]

Whoa. How amazing is that, my friends?

To turn it around another way, try thinking of this statement from Jesus as being something He would say to you and to me: “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.”

Is that true? Is everything that belongs to Jesus mine? Is all that I have the property of Jesus?

If not, then why? This is a marvelous exchange we are invited to partake in.

If Bill Gates showed up on your doorstep tonight and said, “I’ll trade lives with you”, you’d be an idiot to say no.

Now, imagine that Jesus says to you right now: “All I have is yours and all you have is mine.”

The only rational answer is: “Yes, Lord. Thank you!”

What do you think? I’d love to hear about it. Please share in the comments below.

Peace,

-kg

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