Monday 14th November - John 17

Today’s chapter is John 17, you can read it here

Tom writes:

I can’t believe Jesus prayed for me.  I sort of knew he did but the hammering force of him actually doing it has only just hit me.  My heart feels like it is charging around in my chest.  That he would think to do that!  It’s staggering. But what he prayed for me is not what I expected. I would have expected him to pray for me what he prayed for the disciples - protection from the evil one, experience of the full measure of joy, sanctification - this is all good stuff that I long to see happening in my life. But instead Jesus prays that we will all be “one”? This needs some thought. As he reclines with a few guys in an upper room Jesus casts his genius mind forward to the billions scattered across every nation who would be swept into his sheepfold. And he sees the battleground will be fought over our “oneness”. We’d be dumb not to dwell on this. Already - even with the few in the upper room - Jesus has seen the “oneness” begin to break apart as the devil entered Judas. The seed that leads to the scattering of the 11 has been sown. If Jesus’ Kingdom was to be extended on earth the church would need to cling more closely to “oneness” than the disciples were currently doing.

And that context - I believe - is the key to understanding what Jesus is praying for. It’s not a pitch for a bland ecumenism. It’s not a fuzzy smile and shoulder rub for anyone who says they believe in Jesus. The thrust of this prayer is for the church militant - hard pressed, outmanned, outgunned - holding the line, living as a band of brothers, working for the good of the sisterhood, not letting fault lines crack, lifting one another up in prayer, all for one and one for all. I’m remarkably unfussed about denominations and church titles. Doing joint projects with other churches is fine as far as it goes. That is not what Jesus is praying for here. What really matters is that whatever our title, whatever our project, we love the church. We love the whole of Jesus’ church. We fight for them, mourn with them and rejoice with them. We hold them up in prayer and earnestly desire that they should know the Father. That they would be in the Spirit and in Christ just as Jesus was in the Father and the Father was in him. If that is where we get to, then we will really appear to be the body of Christ that God has made us.  If that is where we get to, then it will be clear to all of creation that the Father is real and that he loves his world.

Question for reflection

Do you love the whole of Jesus’ church?