One In Christ

The focus of last Sunday’s Gospel (John 17:1-11) was Jesus at prayer. In the Gospels, we frequently see Jesus praying — praying on a mountain, praying at night, praying while His disciples are rowing against the wind on the Sea of Galilee. For the most part, the Gospels tell us that Jesus is praying, but rarely say what He is praying.

Only in this last week of Christ’s earthly life do the Gospel writers reveal the content of His prayers. In John 17 (known as Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer”) they share a lot. It is a prayer focused on unity: “I do not pray for these only (His disciples), but also those who believe in me through their word (us), that they may all be one, Father, even as you and I are one … May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.”

This prayer for peace and unity offered by our Lord is universally shared by many people around the globe today, but the forces of evil that sabotage the desire for peace are also universal. Look at how difficult it is to find peace in the Middle East even when the majority of people living there want peace.

On our own soil, the “melting pot” shows signs of boiling over. Many Americans are clustering for identity in — sometimes ugly — circles of race, class, gender or lifestyle in the name of ideals that threaten not only to undermine our republic, but to shatter our peace and unity. When historians look back on this period, they will surely mark it for the vicious return of a kind of tribalism that destroyed societies by dividing them, neighbor against neighbor.

In His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus asks God to make room for us — all of us — in the family of God, so that we might live free from isolation, insulation, secretiveness, or fear of being truly present to one another. As we read the rest of John’s Gospel, one thing becomes painfully clear. Jesus will become the answer to His own prayer. In a breathtaking display of the depth of His love for us, He pays the price of unity in suffering and blood. By His act of self-offering, He becomes the suffering servant who “came not to be served, but to serve.” And He calls us to demonstrate our unity in Him by serving others.

Prayer

May the God of all grace, who has called us into unity in the communion of the saints, deepen our love for one another, direct us, and strengthen us for service to the world in His Name. Amen.