John 17:20-23 (NIV)
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you 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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Jesus’ vision for the future of God’s kingdom reached far beyond the group of followers who were with Him that night, and even beyond their families and friends. He knew that God’s kingdom was to be a global kingdom that would stretch across boundaries of language and culture. Thus, as He looked forward to the time in the not-too-distant future when people from every nation, tribe, people and language (Revelation 7:9) would come into the kingdom, He had one request for those people: unity.
The unity of God’s kingdom is not a cookie-cutter kind of sameness, where everyone looks, acts and talks exactly the same way. Instead, it is a unity of heart, a unity of belonging to a single body, and therefore united in a single purpose.
It is much like the parts of a human body. A finger looks nothing like a tongue, and functions much differently. But in a well-tuned body, both the finger and the tongue use their special abilities to ensure the health and well-being of the whole body of which they are a part, so that the whole body can accomplish its mission.
Jesus knew that the only way that the good news of the kingdom could reach the whole world was if all His people, wherever they came from and wherever they lived, shared in that unity of purpose, unity of focus, unity of faith, a unity that was actually very much like the unity that exists between the members of the Trinity. That unity would amaze the people of the world, whose core worldview is based on division and self-interest, and would make an impact far beyond what mere words could ever communicate.
This kind of unity is not something that can be worked up on our own, a product of inspirational sermons, vision-casting, potlucks or rallies. Instead, it can only come from the core beliefs and core experiences that all Christians have in common. As Paul put it in Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV): There is one body and one Spirit– just as you were called to one hope when you were called–one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Father, I have experienced for myself this miraculous unity that is not of human origin, but of Your divine power, and it really is amazing, and an amazing testimony of Your reality to the people of the world. Help us, Lord, all across the globe, to experience and to demonstrate to others that unity that Jesus so powerfully prayed for, and that the church and the world so desperately need. Amen.
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