When we look at the divisive, angry, hostile, opinionated, polarized world, we can read Jesus’s prayer for unity in John 17 and believe that he was just being optimistic: “That’s really sweet that Jesus would want us to be so unified like he is with the Father, but look at us. That’s never going to happen.” When we put our faith in people, we will fail, but when we put our hope in God, even this prayer is possible.
And yet, it still feels too idealistic to us. It feels far-fetched and impossible. We can start to make concessions for his prayer: “Maybe he meant it metaphorically. Or maybe he’s just praying for the unity we will have in Heaven.” The problem with us making concessions for Jesus’s prayer is that he doesn’t need concessions at all. He wasn’t being idealistic when he prayed for complete unity of all believers. Jesus knew that what he was going to accomplish on the cross would open the door for all believers to be in perfect unity with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus knew that believers would do greater works than he did when he walked on this earth because they would accomplish more for the Kingdom as a unified front than he could as a single individual. Jesus knew that it was good for him to go to the Father so that we could unite and carry on his mission. What we see time and time again throughout the Bible is that when God says he is going to do something, he gets it done. We can trust that when Jesus asked the Father to do something, he will get it done. Will we submit to his authority and rebel in pursuit of selfish ambition?
Reflection/Discussion Question: What seems to be standing in the way of believers being completely united?
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