"That They All May Be One"

This is the Prayer for Christian Unity. The night before he died Jesus prayed for us, for you and me, for we who meet in his name and for all who believe in him. What he prayed for us all was that we all may be one. It was his last wish offered in prayer to his Father. According to John [18:1] it was offered immediately before he went to the garden where he was arrested: that we all may be one.

First, he had prayed for himself:

• `the hour has come ... that the Son might glorify you' ... `glorify in me your presence with the glory I had in your presence before the world began' [John 17:1,5]

And for his disciples:

• `Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one'... `that they may have my joy complete in themselves' ... `I am not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one' ... `sanctify them in the truth' [vv.11,13,15,17]

Then he prayed for us as we read today:

• "I ask not only on behalf of these [his disciples], but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, -- John 17:20

That is, he asked for us and all who believe in him through the word of the apostles; and what did he ask?

• that they may all be one. As you, Father, 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. -- John 17:21

What kind of unity?

There is a great deal in this prayer. Every word is packed with meaning. The request That they may all be one does not stand alone. The kind of unity for which he prayed is included in the prayer, and the purpose for which we should be united is also there.

In one way or another Christians of all traditions seem to agree that it is God's will that they should all be one in some sense but believers have different ideas about the nature of the unity to which we are called. There has been much debate over the centuries about such things as whether it is necessary that Christians should have organic unity, being one visible fellowship, worshipping together at the one table, etc., or whether it is sufficient that we recognize our spiritual unity, sharing perhaps an invisible unity which we have by virtue of our communion with the one Lord.

What kind of unity did Jesus desire for us? He said, As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us. There you have at least the foundations. We must begin with a spiritual unity: as God dwells in us, we together dwell in him. It is in the first place in our communion with God, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that we have an essential unity. We belong together because we belong to him. But that is not all: the nature of our unity is further revealed in the purpose for which we should be one: that is, according to what Jesus prayed, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

• that they may all be one. As you, Father, 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. -- John 17:21

He went on the describe that unity more fully:

• The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, {23} I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. -- John 17:22-23

Unity in God

That they may be one as we are one is a prayer that the kind of unity that we might have is the same kind of unity that exists between the Father and the Son. As Jesus said elsewhere The Father and I are one." -- John 10:30

[It is interesting that he spoke of that unity between himself and God the Father when he was speaking of himself as the shepherd and giving his followers eternal life, in the passage we read three weeks ago:

• My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. {28} I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. {29} What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. {30} The Father and I are one." -- John 10:27-30 ]

His unity with the Father is closely related to his caring for his followers I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one; and the purpose is reaffirmed: so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. -- John 17:22-23

So he prayed that we may be one as God is one, sharing in the divine mystery of communion within the Holy Trinity. The love which binds together the persons of the Trinity is extended to include us. We share in the love that the Father extends to the Son, which Jesus acknowledged when he said, You love me before the foundation of the world -- John 17:24b, and

• I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." -- John 17:26

We are called then to be completely one so that the love that is in the very being of God and the love with which we are loved may be shared. Jesus will then himself dwell in us and we in him, as he dwells in the Father and the Father in him.

Jesus himself spoke of that indwelling of us in Christ, and of him in us, in various ways, calling on us to abide in him, as in the communion of his body and blood, as branches of the vine, and as members of the one flock of the one shepherd who knows his sheep and whose sheep know him:-

• Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. -- John 6:56
• Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. -- John 15:4
• I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. -- John 15:5
• I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, {15} just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. -- John 10:14-15

Implications for us today

There are personal implications in our relationship with God and in the fellowship of believers both within our own church and in the wider church. The unity for which Jesus prayed will be increased by

• renewal of our personal relationship to Jesus Christ, in private prayer and devotion;
• participation in public worship and especially the Lord's Supper;
• learning from the teachers of the word, listening and questioning with honour;
• and recognizing Christ in one another, accepting and serving each other in his name.

Achieving a wider unity will not be possible unless and until we develop more of the essential unity of the church within our own fellowship by such means as these. But that is not all. It is clear that we must have be a spiritual unity, but just as God reached out to us in a real live human being, in the real historical man who was the Word made flesh, in the man Jesus, who was visible in the world, serving humanity and showing this life in action, so our unity must be visible and practical. It must be visible so that the world will see and know that God loves them; indeed so that they may see that God loves them in the same way that he loves his only Son: as he prayed so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. -- John 17:22-23.

If anyone then says that we can have spiritual unity and still maintain visible disunity in our witness to the world, as if divisions in the body of Christ did not matter, then the prayer of Jesus is not being fulfilled. The unity that Christ wills for the Church, for which he prayed and which is his gift for the Church, is a unity that the world can see and so believe.