John 17:20-26
This passage is a portion of what is called Jesus' "High Priestly Prayer." I am so blessed by this portion, realizing that my Savior even prayed for me and for you--those who would believe in Him on account of the ministry of the disciples. It's a blessing to read first-hand Christ's heart in the matter; what about us concerned Him most.
The first prayer request the Lord lifts up on our behalf is that we all may be one in Him (20-22).
The second mention is that we might be with the Lord and behold His eternal glory. (24)
These are interesting. Are these what we would expect Jesus to pray over us? I don't know if most of us even think about these two things--Christian unity and being with Jesus--much less long for them. Why are these so important?
Twice in the first request our Lord states the importance of our being one in Him. In verse 21 he says, "so that the world may believe that you have sent me." In verse 23 Jesus says, "so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."
Somehow, in our oneness, we show the world that Jesus is real and that God loves the world. Isn't it scary to think that the integrity of the Gospel, according to Jesus, rests on how we love one another? I don't believe we give this fact enough weight. We tend to downplay the importance of unity because "it's too controversial." But if you think about it, if all Christians comprise the Body of Christ, then division and disunity does nothing to promote Christ. If Christians can't even get along, what does the world see about Christ that is attractive. Jesus said it, not me--"that they all may be one...so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
I know what you are thinking. "We can't even have complete oneness in our church, much less in our denomination. We can't even have complete oneness in our denomination, much less cross-denominationally." There will always be groups of people within the whole who think more alike than others. Division is part of our human nature. You and I personally will never fully solve any of those problems, as hard as we might try. The fact is, once one battle is won, there will be another. So what do we do about this? If Jesus prayed for us to be one, oneness ought to be a concern of ours. If the heart of our Lord is for us to be one "in Him," it ought to be our goal to unite with others around the common prize of Christ.
I don't think our concern ought to be as much "what about them?" as it should be "what about me?". The lack of oneness is less their inability to see it your way and more your inability to recognize their love for Christ. I think what I'm trying to say is that oneness rests in you and in me.
Bring this down to a congregational unity (if we can't get it right in our church we'll never get it right denominationally or ecunemically). If Christ prayed it, it ought to concern us. If it concerns us, we must realize that the responsibility of oneness is mine and not dependent on someone else changing to fit my agenda for them. It's called humility. It's called love. It's called Christlike. It's also called, as I believe Jesus points out in His High Priestly prayer, our witness to the world. So, in order for oneness to occur, you and I must learn how to give our lives away to others. We must make ourselves vulnerable. Paul speaks to it as mutual submission. When we realize it is for the revealing of the glory of Christ to the world, can't we downplay "my rights" and mutually yield to others? We must.
We all have a responsibility to show off the love God has for the world through our love for one another. Let's seek oneness, for Christ's sake, today. It's what He wanted the most!
(Tomorrow we'll talk about the second prayer request.)
