Lame “Co-Exist” Bumper Sticker

March 8

Read: John 17 (Jesus’ Final Prayer)

Lame “Co-Exist” Bumper Sticker

Over the next couple days, I want us to think about what is called “the High Priestly prayer” of Jesus. This is the final prayer we have from Jesus before he is crucified. It is a prayer for US as much as it is for the disciples that were with him… Jesus himself says so:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…” (v.20

So what are the things that Jesus is praying about? What themes run through this final prayer? This is what we are going to look at the next few days.

1.) “One-ness”

There is a mysterious power that is drawing us together as the people of God. There is a cosmic “one-ness” that took place first in Jesus Christ as is drawing all of God’s children together. This is NOT the “one-ness” of Hinduism or Buddhism, but rather the true reality that those false religions clamor after. On two different occasions in this prayer Jesus harkens to the way that those whom the Lord has called are indeed called to be ONE.

“Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one…” (v.11)

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (v.20,21)

The unity that God calls his people to is nothing short of the unity that exists within the Trinity of God. The “one-ness” of God’s people is to be nothing less than the “one-ness” between the Father and the Son themselves. The same way that there is distinction in the Godhead (ie. roles for the Father and the Son) so there is distinction within God’s people… and yet we are called to “be one, even as (Jesus and the Father) are one.”

This “one-ness” stretches through time and space. Notice how Jesus prays not only for the disciples there with him, but for those future followers that the Father has given the Son. We too are called to be one with those believers who have gone before us. We are “one” with the very disciples that sat in that upper room and ate with Jesus. We are joined with them… traveling in the same “stream” of God’s work as them… called into the very same ministry. The ministry of Christ has not been broken or fragmented over time! The TRUE ministry of Christ and his people are indeed “one” unbroken strand or unit that stretches from 2000 some odd years ago up until today.

Sometimes our individualism works against this truth. We forget that we are all bound together in Christ. If we are truly “one” - as close as the Father, Son, and Spirit - then we can no longer be indifferent to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot view other churches or believers as “separate” from us… or inconsequential. We cannot “go it alone” anymore than Jesus could or would “go it alone” apart from the Father. We are called to be ONE.

This is a truth to be applied TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. This is not the case with all humanity. We are not “one” with the world or those who belong to the world. Read the text again. Is Jesus “of this world”? Are we “of this world”? We have been taken OUT OF THE WORLD and given to Christ. We have received “eternal life in Christ”. (v.2) These truths are not some sort of “Kumbaya”, Co-exist bumper sticker sort of bologna! The “one-ness” that Jesus speaks about here is for those who the Father has called…his children…his people. We cannot experience this “one-ness” with the world or those who are linked to the world. That sort of intimacy and unity is simply not possible apart from Christ. Jesus is calling people out of this world and into eternal life IN HIM. May we seek this unity amongst ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Love you guys. - JDP