True Unity
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” John 17:21,22
In Jesus’ John 17 prayer, He has prayed for Himself (17:1-5), for His disciples (17:6-19) and now begins to pray for all who will believe in Him (17:20-24).
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one.” His prayer is that the disciples, present and future, would be one, a oneness modelled on His own oneness with the Father. “Just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us.” Much of what Jesus has previously spoken about His unity with the Father related to what He said and did in the world (5:19; 8:28; 10:25,32,37; 12:50). But here it is a unity of ‘being’ and not just of mission, purpose and action. The unity of Father and Son exists because as Jesus said, “you (Father) are in me and I am in you” (10:38; 14:9-11). The disciples are now brought into that same unity “as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us.” This relationship between believers and the Father and Jesus would be brought about through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, sent to the disciples after Jesus’ return to the Father (15:26; 16:7). Because the Holy Spirit continues to dwell in them, the Father and the Son dwell in them too and they dwell in the Father and the Son (14:15-20).
The reason Jesus prayed that the disciples might be in the Father and the Son was “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Their living relationship with the Father and the Son through the Spirit would give credibility to their message about Jesus and lead many to believe in Him. When those of the world believe, they are no longer ‘the world’ but are then members of Jesus’ disciples and God’s family.
The importance of the theme of Jesus being sent by the Father is clearly seen through the number of times it emerges in John’s gospel (3:17,34; 5:36,38; 6:38,57; 7:29; 8:42;10:36; 11:42; 17:3,8,18,21,23,25; 20:21). Other scriptures speak of what Jesus was sent to do: to save the world (3:17); to speak God’s words (3:34; 14:10) and to do God’s works through miracles (9:3,4; 10:25,32,37,38; 14:11). Jesus was sent to carry out the work the Father gave Him to do (5:36; 17:4). The unity of all believers in the Father and the Son models their mission and so makes Jesus’ claims more credible to an otherwise unbelieving world.
All Christians are your brothers and sisters. Do you treat other Christians you know as part of your family? When with them do you emphasise what you have in common or are you more likely to hold back because they come under a different church or denominational name, or express their faith and worship differently to you? Should you be rethinking why you’re not more open in how you receive other Christians in the light of Jesus’ prayer here?
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