All for one...one for All

John 17:20–26 NIV

“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—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

PRAY FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN JESUS

Jesus is praying to the Father. It is the night of the last supper. Jesus has shared a meal with his disciples, washed their feet, given them a new commandment to love as he loves, and told them of his leaving. Now he prays. In today’s gospel we overhear a portion of his prayer to his Father and our Father. He prays for us. Three times he asks our Father that we would all become one as he and the Father are one.

This prayer, prayed by Jesus just prior to his death, is often called his High Priestly Prayer, because he intercedes with God in behalf of the disciples, present and future. We ought to think of this prayer, rather than the “Our Father,” as the Lord’s Prayer, because it is the prayer in which Jesus pours out his heart. The “Our Father” would better be called The Model Prayer or The Disciple’s Prayer, because it is a prayer that Jesus gives us to pray. The John 17 prayer is also known as Jesus’ Last Will and Testament, because it represents Jesus’ provision for the disciples’ needs on the eve of his death.

This prayer could be full of despair, because the disciples have proven disappointing. Even though Jesus has tried to prepare them for his coming death and resurrection, they have failed to understand. They expect a Messiah of worldly power, like King David, and have not been able to grasp the very different character of Jesus’ ministry. Furthermore, the disciples are nondescript and few in numbers. No CEO would entrust a significant project to such an undistinguished group, but Jesus is leaving the future of God’s work in their hands—and in God’s hands. That is the key—in God’s hands. Jesus is leaving the disciples, but he is not leaving them alone. The Holy Spirit will accompany them—will strengthen them—guide them.

Jesus prays, “that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me” (v. 21). The union of the disciples with Father, Son, and Spirit makes the impossible possible. This tiny band of ordinary people will turn the world upside down.

The disciples are about to experience great trauma at Jesus’ death. This prayer gives us a glimpse of Jesus’ trauma as he prepares to leave them. The passion of this prayer brings to mind a dying mother pleading for the child for whom she can no longer care. It brings to mind a father saying goodbye to a son who is going off to war. It is the cry-of-the-heart of perfect love, and it is the prayer of perfect faith. Jesus knows these disciples’ weaknesses, but he also knows that God will take care of them.

If Jesus is praying for our oneness then he is also recognizing and rejecting the boundaries and differences that divide us. There are divisions within ourselves, our families, our churches, our nation. We live in a world full of divisions – male or female; rich or poor; gay or straight; Hispanic or Anglo; Christian or Muslim; conservative or liberal; educated or uneducated; young or old; heaven or earth; divine or human; sinner or saved; orthodox or heretic. We could go on and on listing the boundaries that we encounter and all too often establish or promote. They are not just divisions they have become oppositions. These divisions exist not only out there in the world but primarily and first in the human heart. We project onto the world our fragmented lives.

For every boundary we establish there is a human being. Ultimately, boundaries and differences are not about issues. They are about real people, with names, lives, joys, sorrows, concerns, and needs just like us. I think we sometimes forget or ignore this. It is easier to deal with an issue than a real person.

Whether or not we admit it the boundaries we establish and enforce are usually done in such a way as to favor us; to make us feel ok, to reassure us that we are right and in control, chosen and desired, seen and recognized, approved of and accepted. In order for me to win someone must lose, in order for me to be included someone must be excluded otherwise winning and being included mean nothing. The divisions of our lives in some way become self-perpetuating.

We often deal with the boundaries and differences that divide us by writing agreements, covenants, treaties, and legislation that govern how we will get along with each other and behave in the midst of our differences. But that is not Jesus’ prayer.

Jesus does not pray for our tolerance, our getting along, or just being nice to each other. He does not even pray that our differences would be eliminated. Instead he prays for our oneness. He prays that we would be one as he and the Father are one so that our oneness would be the revelation of God’s presence to the world. Oneness in the midst of difference becomes a sacramental presence of God’s life in the world.

That does not mean, however, that we lose our identity or individuality. Jesus does not stop being Jesus and the Father stop being the Father because they are one. Oneness is less about numbers and quantity and more qualitative. Jesus and the Father are one because they love and give themselves to each other. Oneness is a quality of life – God’s life. Jesus’ prayer for oneness is ultimately that we would be and live like God.

Oneness is not about eliminating differences. It is about love. Love is the only thing that can ever overcomes division. Over and over Jesus tells us that.

Love God.Love your neighbor.Love yourself.Love your enemy.

Our love for God, neighbor, self, and enemy reveals our oneness, and the measure of our oneness, our God-likeness, is love. In love there may be differences but there is no division.

God’s love knows no boundaries. God loves male and female, rich and poor, gay and straight, Hispanic and Anglo. God loves Christian and Muslim, conservative and liberal, educated and uneducated. God loves young and old, heaven and earth, divine and human. God loves sinner and saved, orthodox and heretic.  All are loved fully, completely, and uniquely as each needs.

God does not even draw boundaries between Jesus and us. If we think God loves Jesus more than anyone else we have missed the point of the Gospel. God loves you the same as he loves Jesus. God loves your neighbor the same as he loves Jesus. God loves your enemy the same as he loves Jesus. If that is how God loves how can we do anything less and still call ourselves Christians?

For far too long we have dealt with each other through our boundaries, differences, and divisions. You can see where that has gotten us. You need only look at the world, read the newspaper, or watch the news. When we deal with others through our divisions we label, do violence, and hunker down to defend our position. There is no oneness in that.

Though Jesus is praying to the Father you and I will in large part be the ones to answer Jesus’ prayer. We answer his prayer every time we choose how to love, who to love, where to love. It is time we answer Jesus’ prayer and deal with one another in love. So I wonder, who are the boundaries that await our love?

Psalm 47 (NIV)

Clap your hands, all you nations;

shout to God with cries of joy.

For the Lord Most High is awesome,

the great King over all the earth.

He subdued nations under us,

peoples under our feet.

He chose our inheritance for us,

the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

God has ascended amid shouts of joy,

the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.

Sing praises to God, sing praises;

sing praises to our King, sing praises.

For God is the King of all the earth;

sing to him a psalm of praise.

God reigns over the nations;

God is seated on his holy throne.

The nobles of the nations assemble

as the people of the God of Abraham,

for the kings of the earth belong to God;

he is greatly exalted.