One in the Son

"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” - John 17:20-23.

The United States honors Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the peaceful means he used to promote his dream of equality and unity each year with a holiday in his name on the third Monday of January. Since that is tomorrow, I thought today would be a good time to focus on Dr. King’s King, the ultimate peacemaker Jesus Christ, and His prayer for unity among believers. It is a blessing to know that shortly after Jesus had shared His last meal with His first followers, He prayed for you and me - specifically for us. After washing His first followers’ feet and transforming the Passover into the Lord’s Supper and just prior to heading to the Garden of Gethsemane on His way to the cross, He prayed for Himself, His disciples and everyone, including us, who would come to believe in Him through their word. As we examine His prayer and an excerpt from Paul to the Ephesians, let’s look at (1) what is requested, (2) what is at stake, and (3) what is required.

Jesus prays that everyone under the Son - that is everyone living under the saving protection and righteous reign of God’s Son - would live as one. First He prays that all of us would be one with God, just as He is one with His Father. Could the Father and Son have any more perfect communion? Could they be any more one? The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. They are so completely united that we rightly say there is one and only one God, and Jesus requests that we might likewise be in Him and He in each of us, so that we all might enjoy true holy communion with God. Next He prays that all of us who are privileged to have such oneness with God will also be one with each other. Three times in this brief section He prays "may they all be one...that they may be one...that they may be perfected in unity.” There is no missing His heart for our unity here, and knowing this - how the lack of unity too often found within and between churches bearing His name (but not enough of His image) must break His heart. He wants and has provided everything we need to enjoy intimate fellowship with God and one another and the stakes could not be any higher.

God’s glory and people’s salvation are on the line. Jesus repeatedly states that unity between believers is vital because the credibility of the gospel hangs on it. He repeatedly prays for unity so that “the world may believe that You sent Me...that the world may know You sent Me and loved them.” It is no surprise the gospel of peace and reconciliation loses credibility when it comes through divided people. If the Great Physician can’t do any more healing than that for His bride why would any one else go to Him? The world has division and brokenness. What it lacks and longs for is unity and wholeness. Jesus prays we will become convincing evidence for God to present to the world to validate His claim to be the Savior of the World. This is a big reason Satan constantly sows discord between believers and attempts to keep our focus on superficial matters. The common bond we share is a spiritual reality at the core of our being, and we must dwell at that depth rather than the level of personal tastes and petty differences to enjoy the unity available to us in Christ. Jesus maintained His oneness with His Father through perfect humble submission, and His oneness was so complete that He could say that anyone who looked at Him could see the Father. Would that His church - His body, His bride - was so fully submitted to Him on this point that the world could truly see Christ revealed through us.

To more clearly see what this requires, let’s look at Ephesians 4:1-3:

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

To help us have more than a 5-cent response to a priceless salvation, Paul calls us to diligently preserve our God-given unity. The unity is supernatural. Uniformity, which is usually what humans create, is superficial. See military haircuts and uniforms for an example. God's unity does not require such external conformity. God weaves together everyone from tattoo artists with pin cushion faces to yuppies with sweaters around their waists into one body of Christ. Preserving this unity requires the development of Christ’s character in us, which once developed makes Him all the more visible through us. For unity to be maintained we must grow in Christ’s humility (full of God’s Spirit instead of ourselves), in patience aka long-suffering (since there is no such thing as microwave maturity), in tolerance (this virtue’s reputation has been damaged by those using it to condone sin -we can reclaim it by properly employing it), in grace (take off our fault-finding glasses and put on fruit-finding ones) and above all in love. If we will do these things, prayerfully relying on God’s Spirit to empower us, the world will see that Jesus is the Way to God and the wholeness they lack. What a great answer to Jesus’ prayer that will be, and what a dream come true for Dr. King.